white "buildup" in tank?

[Davidl]

Not sure how to explain it, but I have noticed small white deposit buildups ,I guess you can call it that, occuring on my rocks and on some of the hermit crab/snail's shells. it's basicalyl little granual about the size of a grain of salt or so. kinda reminds me of the mineral deposits that form on showerheads when you have hard water or whatever.

[corriewf]

How is your alk and ca.

[mogurnda]

Sound like small calcareous tubeworms to me.

[corriewf]

Or it could be a type of calcareous snail, but what I was getting at was high alk or ca will make your tank snow. ;)

[mogurnda]

Just providing an alternative. Tubeworms tend to form white dots all over the place, while Ca precipitation is more of a white, cloudy coating.

[OrionGirl]

Do you recall if these white spots had coraline algae on them?

[Davidl]

no corraline on them, I just looked at them a little closer, they are predomenantly on my turbo snails' shells as well as a few shells on the sand. They look little swirl with a hollow center,. like a '9' with a short tail. they're white , but I don't see anything like a work and they don't move at all (from what I can tell)

[OrionGirl]

If they have an opening on one end, they probably are worms. The white is a calcareous tube the worm builds and then lives in--they are several different kinds, raning from small feather dusters, to the serpullid worms, or what I call "two-armed stickies"--you'll just see two thin, hair like strands that extend out, and reel in food that sticks to them.