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.