stupid impulse buy

MatthewJ

Member
I stopped at the lfs to get some hermits and left with something called a yellow polyp. The rock is small but includes some other interesting (albeit small) growth like some macro algae, other really small greenish polyps, some weird whitish tentacles coming out of the rock (i'm curious what these are). Anyway, I'm totally clueless and the lfs convinced me to buy cylopeeze and phytofeast live. In hindsight I can't imagine that both are necessary and they cost as much as the coral. Do I need to feed the polyps one or both of these?
 
Not a bad choice: Yellow polyps are very nice and hardy. They are easy on the wallet too: I have a medium sized rock with about 50 polyps that I got for $25 at my favorite LFS.

Usually there is no need to feed them at all, especially if you feed fishes in the tank. Unfortunately, the peppermint shrimp has a tendency to eat them.
 

MatthewJ

Member
I was looking for something cheap and hardy. I'm finding that local prices are higher. This was the cheapest coral they had and it was $32 for about 15 polyps on a very small rock. Most of what the have is between $80-100. It's probably the last time I buy from the lfs unless it's an emergency. I'm kind of pissed that they told me I needed both of these very expensive foods when I may not need either. I share some of the blame for buying without researching.

I think my clowns will eat the cyclopeeze, but the phytofeast seems like I'm dumping waste into my tank;-)

Will my emerald crab eat the polyps? When I went to bed last night, I think he was making quick work of any macro algae that was on the rock.
 

sambrinar

Well-Known Member
I would take the phytofeast back for sure, it will prolly cause an increase in trates and hence increase in algae (they were making $$ off ya). My clown does eat the cyclopeeze. My emerald doesn't eat my yellow polyps
 

ZAPCOnj

Active Member
Can you post some pics of your new addition. No one wants to admit it but we are all photo junkies >:)
 

MatthewJ

Member
sure. I already took some "before" pictures, I'll upload one or two tonight. I'm not sure if I got one of the tentacles, but I'll get one. They look kinda like brittle star arms and they seem to move "intelligently".
 

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Everybody loves Cyclopeze. That one is not a waste at all.
All my fish and corals go crazy for the stuff.
 

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
myusernameRocks - don't feel bad - I dished out a lot of money for DTs (live algae) and a few other phyto type things - JMO, but I think most are a waste of money and just add bioload to the tank. Cyclopeeze will be eaten by the fish and any corals they land on, but as said above - a little goes a long way, so don't add a lot of it. I don't feed my corals anything anymore and they still grow like crazy, almost too much in fact. I've always avoided the non-photosynthetic types (sun corals, etc.) as I don't want to pollute the tank with uneaten food from target feeding things, but that's just my style. Aquarium International recently ran a 2 part series on clams, and some of the experts determined that most of the clams we keep (such as Crocea) do not need to be fed, and will grow just fine on light energy and other tank nutrients, without adding extra stuff like DTs live algae to the tank.

Hard to tell without a picture, but what you described does sound like micro brittle stars. Usually all you see of them is their tiny arms poking out of a hole so small you can't even see it. I have a lot of those and the arms are usually white with tiny black bands.
 

MatthewJ

Member
My name is Matt. I got frustrated trying to find a valid username and so ended up creating a stupid one.

myusernameRocks - don't feel bad - I dished out a lot of money for DTs (live algae) and a few other phyto type things - JMO, but I think most are a waste of money and just add bioload to the tank.

I've already decided I'm not going to use the phytofeast. I already opened it though, so live and learn on this one.

Cyclopeeze will be eaten by the fish and any corals they land on, but as said above - a little goes a long way, so don't add a lot of it.

duly noted in another post too, but I still over did it. I really had no idea how much to use and the next thing I knew I had a cloud of red. I really tried to be conservative too. It was pretty darn cool to see the polyps eat it though. It was even more cool too see the little white tentacles steal it.

Here are some pictures:

the white tentacles
DSCF1157.jpg


yellow polyps and a few other polyps?
DSCF1178.jpg


TONS of microbubbles. This is getting ridiculous.
DSCF1176.jpg
 

JBmynes

Member
That is a cool little rock! I think it would have been the same price around here too. The only food that I drop in is Rod's Food and some nori for the Tang and Lawnmower, My LFS turned me on to that stuff and its Amazing IMO.... give it a try its got all kinds of goodies in it...
 

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Looks like you have some nice yellow polyps and some zoas and some micro brittle stars. I love to watch the little arms wave.
You may want to break the rock where the zoas are. The polyps will likely grow over the zoas and kill them over time. Any time you handle zoas (or any coral but zoas are worst) be sure to use gloves.
 

MatthewJ

Member
Looks like you have some nice yellow polyps and some zoas and some micro brittle stars. I love to watch the little arms wave.
You may want to break the rock where the zoas are. The polyps will likely grow over the zoas and kill them over time. Any time you handle zoas (or any coral but zoas are worst) be sure to use gloves.

good to know, I haven't been. One of these days, my wife is going to find me passed out on the floor in the basement with a bunch of polyps in my hands:bugout:

So, what do you use to handle them? would those cheap little latex gloves work and not get crap in the water?
 

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
I think the only time I have seen the complete stars is in my filter floss. Once in a great while I see one floating through the water column if I disturb stuff in the tank like if I have a coral on a plug that is in a hole in a rock and pull the plug out there will be a bunch of them there. They are a really good indicator of how much you are overfeeding. I overfeed in a big way so I have lots and lots. If you feed less the population will decrease. They are good as a part of the CUC though since enough of them eat a lot of excess food etc,
 
You may also wish to set the overflow gate a bit higher to get better surface skimming: On the FTS picture, it can be seen that some cr*p is present at the water surface.

I have solved the bubble issue by adding two rotating Hydor Flo diverters on both pump outputs. This reduce the flow in the filtration chambers and much less bubbles are are captured from the skimmer bottom. If you do so, you will need an extra powerhead in the tank: Koralia #1 or Vortech MP20: Your choice between the Pinto and the Lamborghini... ;)
 
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