Button Polyps and Lighting

[Darlene]

I've got a 30 gallon with 110 watt high output compact lights, 36". I mentioned to someone about getting a layer of algae at the top of my water and was told that I was leaving my light on too long. I was told to leave it on for only ten hours a day, instead of the twelve that I had been. It seems to have gotten better but that could be because of the two water changes since or that I put back on my proteain skimmer :-D . Also started using R/O water. (knowledge is a wonderful thing) But my question is...since I have cut back on the light time my button polyps don't look as good as before. Some of them have been closed up for days now. Would this be because of lighting or because of some other problem I'm sure is going on in my tank that I just don't know about yet :?:

[MikeS]

the skimmer and use of RO water should go a long way towards helping rid the tank of algae....you can probably try to go back to a 12 hour photoperiod....

Mike

[Charles Poole]

I agree with Mike... :)

[Darlene]

Lights back on and I was moving the tiny rock with polyps on it to where it would get better light. And when I moved it a little telescope-like black worm came out of a whole. Scared me to death! It only came out not even a half an inch but it did it whenever I moved the rock. At least the first couple of times. I tried getting a picture but of course by the time I got all that going he was back inside. I've been sitting here watching and now it seems he has pushed a small string of powdery looking poop (sorry, don't know how to describe it properly) from the hole. And now that I see that I have noticed that they has been quite bit of that around these polyps. I just assumed (wrong, again) that it was from a snail or someone going buy. Now I think it's from him. I'm sure it's probably hard to tell from this discribtion but is he friend or foe? I'm going to post this in the "help" forum o see if I can get some quick answers.

[Charles Poole]

Is this critter living in a hole or a tube?

When you say telescope, that does brings a familiar and harmless worm to mind, no name though. :(

The white powdery stuf has me at a loss though...

[Darlene]

He went back into a hole in the rock. Maybe I shouldn't have said powdery. I only said that because when the shrimp walked over the little trails of poop before when they were by the polyps they turned kind of powdery looking. Right now it just looks like something an ity bity dog would leave. Any idea where I would look to find more info on worms?

[Charles Poole]

Not sure about a good source for ID's on worms. I have been searching the net for some of the worms I have found in my tank as well. It seems that if the worm isn't a Polychaete ( many hairs ), then ID's are quite hard to come by.

By telescoping, would you consider the worms retraction to be something like an old "pirates" telescope? It seems to pull itself into itself. I know that may sound a bit wierd, but I have several worms that only seem to come out at night, and they retract by pulling themselves into their own body as they pull back into their hole in the rock.

[Darlene]

Yup, that's what it's like. Your right, it does sound weird but it was just like you said, an old pirates telescope. The worms you have seen in your tank that do that, do they do any harm? Are they black with color rings around them?

[Charles Poole]

Black with white and medium brown rings. No harm, they just reach out and eat something off the rocks. I have seen the come out at the farthest, approx 2 inches. They are strange really. Kinda remind me of thin elephants trunks. The way the end is shaped that is. I feel like giving them a peanut and seeing what they do with it.... :lol:

[Darlene]

Okay, so I'm not crazy. That is exactly what I saw. Thanks for setting my mind at ease.

[Charles Poole]

Don't worry, I only say them for the first time a few months ago. I thought to my self "How did you not see these things before, they are all over teh place."

After that, I got a totally new plant growing in my 20 gallon tank that has not had anything added to it in over a year. Eric Borneman said this is not all that uncommon, but I will try to find a link to the discussion we had on this plants ID.

Red Fluorescent "algae"? (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=335343&perpage=10&pagenumber=1)

[Darlene]

Hey, thanks for all this good reading. I will read this one as soon as I finish the one on the deep sand bed. Boy, what I'm reading is so facinating. I haven't to the part where he says that sand sifter starfish aren't good, that thought doesn't make me happy. But I'm learning and I will do what it takes. Thanks again.

[Charles Poole]

Glad you are interested. There is so much info available out there. You can likely spend your whole life reading about these tanks, and still be surprised by the things that you read... :)