Starfish Friend or Foe?

AustinReef · Apr 1, 2021

Corals going into new tank soon. This guy came in with some live sand from Florida about 2 months ago. See him almost every day. Keep or remove?

CMMorgan · Apr 1, 2021

Awww.... keep! Who did you order the live sand from?

pseudorand · Apr 1, 2021

Remove. And mail him to me in an insulated container.

Seriously though, I have no idea if it might be harmful but he looks so cool I wouldn't have the hearts removing unless I had hard evidence he was eating a coral.

iMi · Apr 1, 2021

Looks like a baby brittle starfish. Reef safe, good critter. Keep it.

PanchoG · Apr 1, 2021

Friend, brittle star fish, good CUC.

CanuckReefer · Apr 1, 2021

Keep this one and watch it grow. You got a freebie!

AustinReef · Apr 1, 2021

CMMorgan said:
Awww.... keep! Who did you order the live sand from?

Gulfliverock.com
It turned out great. I started with bare bottom, dry rock. Cycled. Added a clown that came from marinecollectors. It immediately came down with some type of bacterial infection and died within 3 days. Put some more thought/research into things and decided it was a biodiversity issue. So I mixed 15 pounds of this live sand in with about 80 pounds of Carib sea special grade (it’s a 140 display) Also added a cup of live mud from floridapets.com to my fuge. Has been about 6 weeks. Added a pair of clowns about a month ago. All are great. More fish in order and will do some test corals here shortly.

This starfish was the only hitchhiker of any kind (I’ve seen) that came from adding the sand or mud.

iMi · Apr 1, 2021

AustinReef said:
Gulfliverock.com
It turned out great. I started with bare bottom, dry rock. Cycled. Added a clown that came from marinecollectors. It immediately came down with some type of bacterial infection and died within 3 days. Put some more thought/research into things and decided it was a biodiversity issue. So I mixed 15 pounds of this live sand in with about 80 pounds of Carib sea special grade (it’s a 140 display) Also added a cup of live mud from floridapets.com to my fuge. Has been about 6 weeks. Added a pair of clowns about a month ago. All are great. More fish in order and will do some test corals here shortly.

This starfish was the only hitchhiker of any kind (I’ve seen) that came from adding the sand or mud.

Dan is great. FedEx mishandled my package, unfortunately. He’s now collecting the next batch and I just couldn’t wait. I ended up with another rock, but I’ll absolutely order from them again.

rockdiver · Apr 1, 2021

Yup it's a good place received all my LR from there I found a black urchin 5 or 6 brittle stars and I haven't seen him yet but I here the clicking in the tank so I know I have a mantis shrimp

reefinatl · Apr 1, 2021

AustinReef said:
Gulfliverock.com
It turned out great. I started with bare bottom, dry rock. Cycled. Added a clown that came from marinecollectors. It immediately came down with some type of bacterial infection and died within 3 days. Put some more thought/research into things and decided it was a biodiversity issue. So I mixed 15 pounds of this live sand in with about 80 pounds of Carib sea special grade (it’s a 140 display) Also added a cup of live mud from floridapets.com to my fuge. Has been about 6 weeks. Added a pair of clowns about a month ago. All are great. More fish in order and will do some test corals here shortly.

This starfish was the only hitchhiker of any kind (I’ve seen) that came from adding the sand or mud.

How long had it been since you added the sand? Mine was crawling with white and black banded brittle stars after a week or two, and happily so.

AustinReef · Apr 2, 2021

I saw this starfish the day I added it. Nothing else since. Again was only 15 pounds of the live stuff. Would have been cool to have some more but happy I haven’t seen any bad critters either.

CMMorgan · Apr 2, 2021

Would you say that the sand you got from Gulf was about the same diameter as your special grade or sugar fine? I have truly been wrestling with going with live sand. I want it for the biodiversity - Tampa is my Biome actually. That said, I will have an acrylic DT and I can't have sand storms. Given that you have sand from the Tampa Bay, how would you compare it to the special grade?

AustinReef · Apr 2, 2021

It’s definitely much more fine. Very fine. That’s why I only went with 15 pounds and mixed with 80 pounds of special grade. I actually used the live sand in the back portion of the tank as well as I know this would separate out over time if I went with a more proportionate ration. This stuff pretty much disappeared into the special grade with the proportions I used. I was trying to get the best of all worlds and so far am pleased. Biodiversity of the real sand mixed with the aesthetics of the special grade.

AustinReef · Apr 2, 2021

Also I’ve got 4 MP40s on the back here. Wrestling with the special grade blowing away in front corners if I turn them any higher than 60%. Again really just testing as corals not yet in but might pick up the first batch tomorrow.

CMMorgan · Apr 2, 2021

AustinReef said:
It’s definitely much more fine. Very fine. That’s why I only went with 15 pounds and mixed with 80 pounds of special grade. I actually used the live sand in the back portion of the tank as well as I know this would separate out over time if I went with a more proportionate ration. This stuff pretty much disappeared into the special grade with the proportions I used. I was trying to get the best of all worlds and so far am pleased. Biodiversity of the real sand mixed with the aesthetics of the special grade.

Thank you @AustinReef .... That is incredibly helpful. I think I'm going to go with Tropic Eden Mesoflakes and Tonga Pink. When TBS gets going, I'll add a nice piece from them. Those early batches they are pulling up should be spectacular.

rockdiver · Apr 2, 2021

Is TBS back ?

CMMorgan · Apr 2, 2021

rockdiver said:
Is TBS back ?

TBS was sold and the new owners are working their little tails off getting it launched again. They have the warehouse, the boat.... it's almost go time.

CanuckReefer · Apr 2, 2021

CMMorgan said:
TBS was sold and the new owners are working their little tails off getting it launched again. They have the warehouse, the boat.... it's almost go time.

I think this would be a dream job, throwing on the dive gear and lugging live rock out of the ocean lol. Actually, I have no idea how they do it, just surmising.
Either that or being the diver that cleans the tanks at a Ripleys Aquarium, or someone here that has a monster tank. And in thinking, who has the largest tank on this site I wonder ?
Anyways, enough of my ramblings....