My 1st marine tank

Hi just looked up the harlequin shrimp and it's a stunner alright but it says it will eat all starfish and maybe even slow moving fish or corals? Maybe doesn't seem to good of an idea getting one if that's the case

Yeh if that is the only rock that has all the stuff you don't want I'd get rid, that's what I'd do

I've had harlequins a few times their to slow and small to harm any fish and it never done any harm to coral, all sorts,
You only buy them to eliminate the stars when their 100% gone bring it back to the store and get half ur money back they fo threw the stars quickly
If u have other star fish ur fish store will mind them for you or if u have a friend close by with a marine tank

If ur serious about getting the stars out this is the only way to beat them

Sorry Dave those little fecky starfish are my fault....have loads of them in my tank but don't really see them as much of an issue.......never had them to start with so must of come in on a coral or something....

I like coraline algae but would rather not to have my rocks completely covered in it....just want a bit

Every couple of weeks what I do is .....get a bit of hose and start a syphon....put the other end of the hose into the sock in the sump and syphon out as many as I can see........all your star fish will be in the sock.....I then pull out the sock....turn the sock inside out over the sink and quick rinse and they've all gone down the drain .....sock then goes on hot wash througgh washing machine

You'll never get them all but ya do keep them at bay......they will eat zoas if ya let the tank get over run with them.

jeff wrote:

Yeh if that is the only rock that has all the stuff you don't want I'd get rid, that's what I'd do

I've had harlequins a few times their to slow and small to harm any fish and it never done any harm to coral, all sorts,
You only buy them to eliminate the stars when their 100% gone bring it back to the store and get half ur money back they fo threw the stars quickly
If u have other star fish ur fish store will mind them for you or if u have a friend close by with a marine tank

If ur serious about getting the stars out this is the only way to beat them

Thanks buddy, think il do just that with the rock tomorrow and look more into getting that harlequin

carlowchris wrote:

Sorry Dave those little fecky starfish are my fault....have loads of them in my tank but don't really see them as much of an issue.......never had them to start with so must of come in on a coral or something....

I like coraline algae but would rather not to have my rocks completely covered in it....just want a bit

Every couple of weeks what I do is .....get a bit of hose and start a syphon....put the other end of the hose into the sock in the sump and syphon out as many as I can see........all your star fish will be in the sock.....I then pull out the sock....turn the sock inside out over the sink and quick rinse and they've all gone down the drain .....sock then goes on hot wash througgh washing machine

You'll never get them all but ya do keep them at bay......they will eat zoas if ya let the tank get over run with them.

Chris you have nothing to be sorry about buddy it wasn't your rocks it came in on, it was a rock that my gsp's came on, also came with bristle worm, bubble algae green and red and aipstasia. Your rocks were perfect

So finally removed that rock today with the aipstasia and bubble algae, scraped off as much gsp's as I could and attached to another rock. Hopefully they survive. Didn't throw the rock away just put it in a bag somewhere and will scrub it and maybe put it back in in the future

Good to hear you got that out! I've a load of rock that was very high in po4 that I removed from my tank! Like yourself I'll use it again another time, I'll keep it and treat it before it goes anywhere back near the tank! It's dry now so I'll have to cure it again and probably treat for po4 with agent green and lots of RO

hammie wrote:

Good to hear you got that out! I've a load of rock that was very high in po4 that I removed from my tank! Like yourself I'll use it again another time, I'll keep it and treat it before it goes anywhere back near the tank! It's dry now so I'll have to cure it again and probably treat for po4 with agent green and lots of RO

Yep il have to look into how to do all that but at moment I'm in no rush as it's not a big rock anyway. It's only been a few weeks since I added anything to the tank & Jesus am I getting the itch to add more! Addictive doesn't describe it have to order more salt tho and thinking about getting a filter sock, any ideas where ro pick up one and does one sock fit all tanks?

SH do 2 different company of socks, but the blau one comes with a sock while the other one, cant remember the name right now, doesnt. 30 euro for blau, 35 for the other without the sock.

For cleaning the rock, i was told to do a 24hr cold ro bath, with a powerhead running and it killed off everything in one of the rocks i had thats gone into my new tank, i mean you should have see the critters running away lol. had a 20kg built structure of rock in a 100liter tube of ro for 48 hrs with a 3200l/h and a 2700l/h pump swriling it around.

Everything seamed dead but i did use aptasia x 24hrs before hand on an aptasia i found on the rock. all the bristle worms that were in the rock were long dead, maybe after just about 30mins in bath.

I seen another filter sock in sh called aquareef filter sock and holder for only 12.99? That one any good?

www.seahorseaquariums.com/Aquareef-Filter-Sock-%2B-Holder/7848

Possibly not the "highest quality" but that just means life span might not be as good as the more expensive ones!
I'd probably start with 2 and see how they go!

hi , this is not a marine question but saw the posting about the socks ,I was wondering now Bart is building me a freshwater tank with a sump would it be worth using a sock on the system , hope I am not throwing the thread off line .Robert

hammie wrote:

Possibly not the "highest quality" but that just means life span might not be as good as the more expensive ones!
I'd probably start with 2 and see how they go!

Thanks hammie think il go down that line and see how it goes!

robert wrote:

hi , this is not a marine question but saw the posting about the socks ,I was wondering now Bart is building me a freshwater tank with a sump would it be worth using a sock on the system , hope I am not throwing the thread off line .Robert

Hi I wouldn't be the best person to answer that I'm fairly new to this, I'm sure some of the lads will have an opinion for you

Hey robert, all a sock does is help remove larger peices of, we shall call it "stuff", from the water, bit like using filter sponges, so i would say it would be fine to use one in a freshwater. would save you from using floss or something in the sump or overflow to polish water.

did once try a sock on a koi pond filter it clogged over night and overflowed the filter box losing half the pond water , I know a pond is different in that with the uv working one is taking a lot of green flocculated algae out ,but might try it on the tank

Best place for filter socks is Amazon......you can get them for about 4.Euro and delivery is about 2 Euro......your better off buying a few and changing them out every couple of days.....once they're dirty just turn inside out and run on a hot wash in washing machine...

carlowchris wrote:

Best place for filter socks is Amazon......you can get them for about 4.Euro and delivery is about 2 Euro......your better off buying a few and changing them out every couple of days.....once they're dirty just turn inside out and run on a hot wash in washing machine...

Thanks Chris, have you a link to these & also do I need to get a holder for them?

www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=i%3Aaps%...0141L80SC,B00S5HATGA

the holders are the expensive part

www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_n_shipping_...4781&rnid=2944662011

sorry these are the ones that ddeliver to ireland

Don't worry about the stuff on the rock just check your water the little star fish will die off in most tanks I always have them there nice to look at I personally just leave the rock of the back if there something I don't wAnt on it.. but make sure there's there nothing in it as in fish,shrimp, crabs.. I have my tank 12 years now

came home from work today to find my gramma dead and half eaten and my red scooter missing, checked my ammonia, nitrite & nitrate and salinity and all fine!! something has to have killed them but I don't know what!

Red scooter blenny can be well blended into sand. So have a good look for him.

Can you put a pic of the gramma up. Do you have bumblebee snails or narcissus snails ( or whatever way they are spelt) they could have been getting rid of it. Also list of anything else in tank and did you start live rock or dead?

Sorry to hear about your fish Lakes

Sukahn wrote:

Red scooter blenny can be well blended into sand. So have a good look for him.

Can you put a pic of the gramma up. Do you have bumblebee snails or narcissus snails ( or whatever way they are spelt) they could have been getting rid of it. Also list of anything else in tank and did you start live rock or dead?

Started with live rock, there's a bristle worm in there somewhere came in on a rock with coral, 4 turbo snails, 1 nassarius snail, 1 conch, 3 blue legged hermits and 1 red. 2 small clownfish 1 chromis and a starfish

Iv black live sand and it's always been so easy to see the scooter, he's always at the front of the tank

Just found the scooter he's dead too