Multiple starfish in newly setup tank

bsmith

bsmith

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May 29, 2007
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My buddy just set his tank up (37g corner) on Sunday. He has about 45lbs of live rock and some of that arogonite substrate that says it quickens the cycle that comes packed with water and what not. Anyway, he has like 4-5 little starfish crawling around and doesnt know where they came from or what do do with them.

Any ideas?
 
Leave them be! Unless they bother him for some reason.

I started with a few in my tank and now it seems like they are EVERYWHERE.

My Black clown & Watchmen Goby like to pick them off the glass. It's funny to see.
 
Just leave them. They are pretty cool to watch. I bought a piece of liverock that had probably 15 or so in it and it was very interesting to watch. They never came out of the rock, but you could see the tentacles sweeping along.
 
They are probably just asterina stars if they are the common starfish shape, or brittle stars if they are the long thin tentacle variety, which i personally feel are fine in a reef tank as long as population is kept under control.
 
Thanks for the responses guys. I am going to have him take some pics tomorrow so I can post them. It also seems that there are quite a few polyps and other organisms that are coming out of no where.

There are a few rocks (the biggest in the tank) that have a thick white film on them, he says it looks like cotton???

Also, what temp should the tank be? He doesnt have a heater and his house is 73 so the tank should be somewhere around there. I have a heater I am going to give him but im not sure he needs it.

TIA.
 
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Thank you. So, 77 is the coldest no matter what?
 
75 is actually what I would call the absolute coldest before really bad things can happen. I would never want to go much below 77 though to be safe. 80-82 is the normal range people keep their tanks at.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I'll post a pic as soon as I can. Also, there are about 4 or 5 small slug/snail looking things that seem to blend into the color of the rocks, they come out mainly at night. Are they coral eating pests, or ok???
 
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