is there a good way to find out what life hitchhiked in?

[Steve973]

I saw a million of what I think are baby 'pods, and a very small feather duster in my sand. I'd like to know if there's a good way to find out what other cool things might be hiding in my rock and sand... Any ideas?

[Aiptasia]

Not without smashing it all up into powder and examining it with a magnifying lense.

 

If you want to try a cool experiement and see more life than you ever thought possible in your LR, grab your average flashlight and cover it with red cellophane (like off an empty valentine's candy box, burp!). Use a rubber band to secure it in place over the business end of the flashlight, and turn off all of the lights in the room with your reef tank (including the aquarium lights). Do this at night (duuh) and wait in the dark room for about 15 minutes. Be patient, give it the full 15 before you cut the light on.

 

Your LR is full of life, most of which is noctournal. Most noctournal reef animals are not sensitive to red light, so you can shine this red flashlight into the tank and see all of the cool stuff in your rock you never knew you had. I'm willing to bet you'll see lots of different kinds of worms, copepods, amphipods and shrimps. You might even see a brittlestar or two. Who knows!

 

Just do eet! It's fun!

[trmiv]

I need to get a red flashlight and do that, I've been meaning to. I have seen a few worms and things that scatter as soon as the lights come on.

[Steve973]

Yep, if the copepods are tiny white "bug" looking things that crawl around on the glass and hop quickly through the water, then I see tons of them when the lights are on, but I can only see them well if I turn my powerhead off.

[Aiptasia]

Usually, a runaway pod population is caused by something dead/dying in your reef rock. It's fairly common with new tanks and pods make great zooplankton for corals. However, they can irritate corals in plague proportions. Usually, their populations will balance back out after a week or two. No big whoop.