What should i add from the chaeto i bought?

[the_chef_pierre]

Been trying to identify what came with the chaeto from my lfs I'm planning on adding to my new tank. It had a lot of feather dusters and I've decided to remove most of them. I'm not sure what the long thing is in the photo. Is it a feather duster that's just come out of its tube or something different. It kind of just crawls along but has antenna things. Should I keep it or not? I only have a 30 gal nuvo tank. I believe the grey thing is a copepod that I should keep but what is the red one? Any advice?

 

[BeejReef]

If there's anything you see that you're not willing to have in your tank, you're only real option is to throw away your algae.
You can try to remove various critters, but your chances are very, very slim.

I'm in the biological diversity/free clean up crew camp and would generally keep them.... but I've also had to deal with bubble algae and aptasia. If you want a sterile tank and a fuge, best bet is to buy the sterile algae from online... algaebarn or similar.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Living in Canada makes it a bit harder for me to order things online from the US as many places either wont ship here or charge a fortune for shipping. To be honest I dont mind a few critters that are beneficial. My fuge are is only in the back of my nuvo 30L tank so it's not really that big. I just spent last night pulling off pretty much all the critters I didnt want and added a smaller sized portion to my fuge chamber along with the two pods I saw.

 

[burnetb1]

Talk to your LFS and see how the cheato is grown. If they have it in an established system where they grow it themselves and they don't report any bad critters then your probably fine. If they purchase the cheato from other people there could be a potential problem, but more than likely you'll be just fine.
And since you already added some to your tank its too late now anyways lol.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Yeah, I saw their chaeto tank. They have it seperated and keep it in a large 55 gallon tank from the looks of it seperated from anything else (other than the critters in it obviously) lol. Technically, even thoough some of the stuff I found is creepy looking, it does seem that they are all beneficial for the tank in one way or another. That being said, I got rid of most of them before adding it to my tank so now its just a matter of seeing what pops up in the future

 

[the_chef_pierre]

At least the sold chaeto, lol. The other lfs near me said they refuse to sell any of their chaeto becuase they want to keep it for their own refugiums. Still cant believe they said that

 

[BeejReef]

I had a hard time finding it locally as well. Strange that something people throw away handfuls of every week can be so expensive. BRS just did a few videos where they list one of their most major mistakes as using borrowed (or any unsterile) chaeto. Probably bought some stock in the popular chaeto growers right before releasing that video.. lol.

IMH (and inexperienced) opinion, they get you either way. U can pay a premium for everything sterile, dry, and bottled... or you can pay a premium for wild, biologically diverse, and uncertain. There's an outfit called Garf Grunge that sells used sand from ancient aquarium systems. I imagine some people end up paying big money on both ends in some confused attempt at reefing perfection... lol

One thing is for sure, no one has a financial interest in telling you to grab some free stuff from a friend or club member's tank.

 

[Reef-junky]

I would have keep the feather dusters. They are filter feeders and harmless.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

I think a couple made their way in. There was definitely way to many originally for my small chamber though

 

[Reef-junky]

Oh I’m sure some of everything you picked out made it in and will multiply rather you want it to or not.

 

[old salt reefer]

In a few months your going to hate those amphipods if you don't have anything that eats them. They are a great member of the CUC but----. I have a conch(snail) that is pretty big. Conchs kinda jump to move. Mine jumped(moved) and landed on the edge of a small Acan wounding it. The dam amphipods attached that small wound that night, killing a good chunk of the acan. The next night they were at it again. I had to put the acan on the frag rack to save it(it's doing well). I have so many amphipods now that they are out durning the day as well as the night. They bother the crap out of my zoas. I haven't been able to find a small(1- 1.5 inch) reef safe wrasse at any of the LFSs yet so I have to trap them nightly with a planaria trap.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Dont worry. I'll be attempting a mixed reef complete with a pistol shrimp to attack any of them lol