Newbie questions
 

I got a tank and everything that was already being used and cared for. I kept 90% of the water so that the tank stayed stable over the move. I have nothing in it but the liverock that was already in it and live sand, both cycled. My water parameters have been good for over a week and are still good. I have 3 questions for you wise people. 1) I have a hang on skimmer rated for 100 gal, tank is 60. At first the cup was getting full in a day with gross looking water, now it gets full within a few hours but with a lot clearer water, is this normal? 2) I left for a couple days and have come back to these whiteish particles stuck all over the glass on the back, mostly where the powerheds aren't pointing. What is this stuff and should I be concerned? 3) I've noticed a new creature in one of the rocks, it's very small almost plant looking thing that is round with lots of almost tentacles, almost like a flower with petals. When I go near it, it retreAts into the rock, should I be concerned with it? Thanks. Bunch in advance.

1) skimmer should be almost black and smell disgusting, not clear....you need to fiddle with it a bit
2) a picture might help us better ID the white-ish things
3) sounds like aiptasia to me....goggle it....if it is you want to nip it in the butt before it spreads to much

The Skimmer was producing the gross smelly stuff, then I left for the weekend and now it's pretty clear, not totally though and I've done nothing to the skimmer in between. I googled aiptasia, that's exactly what it is, how do I get rid of it? I'll try to get a picture of the other stuff.

You need to play with the skimmer a little bit until you find the the right water level and bubble production. With the aptasia you need to get rid of it as soon as possible before it spreads too much, that's an awful pest that if not under control, it can overrun your tank pretty much. The white things could be calcium deposits?

I wouldn't worry too much about the skimmer. You say there's no livestock yet, only rockwork, so there's probably not much left to skim after it removed the stuff stirred up from moving the tank.

are the white things pods? if you look real close they could be.

nice if you have pods already, if you watch them closely you will see them move around

Is there only one aiptasia? If so, do yourself a giant favour and remove the entire rock it's on. Then blow torch the hell out of the aiptasia in it's hiding hole until there is literally nothing moist left where it was attached.

Once the aiptasia starts to spread to other rocks (and it will do so VERY quickly) your options for eradicating them completely dwindle rapidly.

Awesome, thanks for the info

Now just out of nowhere I have this real deep red/burgundy algae looking stuff to grow. What should I do about it?
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a67...ps63a4e536.jpg