Still not sold on Saltwater =)

[rupertswife]

Hello, everyone!

My husband and I just recently set up a 75 gal saltwater tank. (It's been cycling for over a month with live rock and sand only)

We love the look of our empty tank! Probably because we have gotten so much advice from so many sources that we are just about scared to start! We've been told not to buy pre-mixed water, not to use tap water, and we have no way right now of setting up a RO/DI system. We've heard more bad stories about almost every LFS in the area, and every store we go into talks down about all the others. (With the exception of Gerbers - who seems to have the worst reputation among those online! UGH!!!)

Is it REALLY THIS HARD? If so, why would anyone want to do it? The corals are beautiful, and the fish are amazing, but frankly the whole industry seems so cut throat it's getting hard to tell the truth from the sales pitch! Now, I KNOW not everyone is this way, but really?!?!?!

After reading the 'Experiences' forum, the best SW LFS is no longer open!!! We live in Dayton, and are in the Centerville/Bellbrook area often. Is there any where around we can go to get objective advice on getting started? We subscribe to several mags, and have done tons of online research. We have decided we want a mix of corals and fish, and know pretty much what we are looking for livestock wise and what the requirements are for them, or biggest issue seems to be we can not get any consistent advice on how to make sure our water is acceptable. Everyone seems to have a different opinion and for us 'newbies' it's getting frustrating!

Sorry to dump this way, but I would really like to see something ALIVE in the tank, soon! I'm really a nice person! Honest!! LOL

Michelle

I have a large fully planted fresh water tank, and we have two other FW tanks that we have had for several years with not a single issue.

[larrynews]

once it is up and running it is easy, patience is the most important thing. i do use ro water and recommended it not all that pricey i do buy pre-mixed salt i hate the messiness of doing it myself. we all have different opinions on the way things should be done. i find what works for me and do that just use common sense that is the key. you cant keep hard corals with florescent light that the normal tank has. it is fun and you will love it. it is hard to start slow but that is the best way i lost many fish and corals by not taking my time and adding things slowly. i hope you stick with it and when you read things or people tell you things that is there experience  it is not always the way or the only way to do something.
hope this helps a little

[slandis3]

Well welcome to the club and the hobby. When you first start out in the hobby you will ask 100 people for advice and get 100 different answers. The basics are pretty easy, salinity,water temp, that stuff. But filtration can turn into a huge argument because there are so many ways to set them up. A good lfs in the centerville area is aquarium ect. The are right down from the centerville high school.As far as buying premade water, I would stay away from the stuff in a bottle on a shelf. I know aquarium ect and some other shops have nice ro/di units that sell water, all you have to do is get some jugs to carry it in. You just missed our club meeting last weekend. It was about filtration and setting up a sump or wetdry.Many of us on this site have been at this for quite a few years and will more than willing to help you out with any questions you may have.

[MechanicalEngineer]

Awww!  Well, think of it this way.  Most people start the "wrong" way, and end up with just as much frustration (and wasting a lot more money) than those that try to do it the "right" way.

The problem I've found is that there are a few sorts of people.  

1.  Old hats that found what works for them...and are still doing the same thing 20 years later (which is why undergravel filters still sell.)
2.  Old hats that keep trying to learn everything...they fail, they succeed, and pass the good advice on to us...you just have to know good advice when you hear it.
3.  Moderate level aquarists just struggling to get by
4.  Newbies who think they know everything b/c they managed to keep a non-photosynthetic gorgonian alive for 4 months and give poor advice to everyone else
5.  Newbies trying to soak up every ounce...and get swamped

Yes, this hobby has a HUGE learning curve.  But, it's not insurmountable.  The best thing you can do is to join a club like this...unbiased (or relatively so) that can give you info that is best for *you*, not our wallets.

Let's start...how are your chemicals testing?  What are you testing for?  When do you think your tank will be ready (what are you basing "ready" on?)  How much live rock and live sand do you have?

My fiance and I started our tank, and *got by* with dechlorinated tap water for about 6 months.  What happened after that was not worth the few pennies we saved.  My rocks had soaked up all of the phosphates in the water...and spent the next several months leaching it all back out into the water.  My tank really struggled for a few months.  If you're not willing to drop the money into an RO/DI unit, no worries.  What I would do is buy a $20 TDS meter (total dissolved solids) meter (measures the number of junk in the water), and check the purity of the water at LFS.  Or, only use LFS's water that will test it in front of you.  You don't need 0 TDS necessarily (I run at 11 TDS with no problems, but the lower, the better.)  Each tank is different though.  Some people have algae problems when their TDS gets to 5.  Anyway, that's a fairly inexpensive way to run a tank (although RO/DI water does cost a bit more than tap water.)  Several of our sponsors sell RO/DI water, and they'll probably show you the TDS.

Each LFS is unique and has their share of pros and cons.  Everyone probably has a preference based on their unique needs.  Some people may love a certain store because they carry awesome fish.  Another person may love a different store because they carry awesome SPS corals.  Regardless, people are going to bad mouth each store for what may be stupid reasons.

Please feel free to post any and all questions you have.  We also accept rants and raves.    Welcome to the club and hobby as well.  FWIW, I looked into a planted tank a while back, and remember thinking to myself, "wow, I could have a crazy saltwater tank for all the effort a planted tank would take!"  So, you can do it!

One last note, please feel free to post your "wanted" livestock list.  We'd be happy to look over it.

Nikki  

[lazylivin]

I think we can all relate to your frustration because all of us were there once. Most of us will recommend RO/DI water. I personaly feel it is one of the most important things. Just like we rely on fresh air our fish and coral rely on good water. Before I had a RO/DI unit I bought distilled water from the grocery store for 1$ per gallon. If you are going to buy it from a Local Fish Store ask them to show you what it reads on a TDS meter. Should be as close to zero as possible (like less then 10). If they say they don't have a meter don't buy it, it is likely not much better then tap water.
BTW: Nothing wrong with retail packaged premixed commercially available saltwater. It is expensive.

Just curious what is turning you away from RO/DI unit; the installation and space or is it the cost. If it is cost you should know that they can be had brand new for 125$, I say this just to be sure you know because places like jacks sells them for 250$+

[cyberwollf]

I think it is important to look at the goals for your tank.  some fish/coral require more maintenance, some less.  Do you plan on getting lights for SPS or stay with fish only... or somewhere in between.  the list goes on and on.

I have to admit I am just over a year in and and the information available today online is overwhelming, but if you try to define what kind of tank you want (realistically for your effort and skill level)  you can better home in on the right information.

Lesson learned: As a cheapo, I bought crap the first time to save money, and had to buy it again for quality.  As much as i hate to say it, like most other hobbies this one is expensive and addictive. <open wallet, pour into tank> 

[Arcade_Guy]

Is it REALLY THIS HARD? If so, why would anyone want to do it?

i always always thought saltwater was just too difficult and time consuming from what i'd heard from people and from what i had read on the internet. Really it's not all that bad. Of course it depends on what you want to keep in your tank that determines difficulty.. but for the most part just patience, and good solid advice. And you're in the right place for the latter. Everyone here is super nice and always ready to help.

All the great fish stores are up by you! Aquariums Ect, Marine Solutions, and the Coral Ranch isn't too terribly far from there i dont think.

anyways, welcome and enjoy the hobby!

[rupertswife]

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone!

Well, for starters so far what we have:

75 gal. overflow tank
Wet/dry sump (Not totally sure what size - standard store bought) w/ bio-balls
700 gph pump
Coral Life 130w/10k actenic (The blue lights =)) compact florescent
55-60 lbs of live rock
50-60 lbs of live sand

The tank has been cycling for just over two months, we had a pretty severe breakout of brown algae a week ago, but we pulled out all the rock scrubbed it down and it seems to have died off. As we were reading this seemed to be a good sign that the tank was completing the cycling process. We just added 10 hermits (5 ea. red and blue leg) realizing that we need MANY more! LOL So far they are the only live stock in the tank. (Other than a couple spaghetti worms...) We are starting to see some pink coralline algae and some pink coral growths.

As for what we are testing the water for....we don't really know WHAT to test for other than the nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, and Ph, and GH from a standard kit and salinity. We will look into getting the TDS meter soon, as that seems to be a highly recommended item. =) We started the tank with dechlorinized tap water and Instant Ocean salt, and our salinity is pretty stable at 1.024. We just bought a new meter that tests the water 6 inches down.....? We were told this was the proper depth to get an accurate reading.

The hold up on getting the RO/DI unit is not necessarily cost per se, but storage and set up locations. We are looking into plumbing a new sump into the basement, and setting up storage tanks, pumps, etc. We just don't want to do it twice, so we are waiting until we can plumb everything the way we want it so we won't have to tear it down.

*Just a question, does anyone sell their RO/DI water? We are thinking that if we put a system in we would have much more water than we would need, and so possibly sell what we don't use. Until then, is there anyone around who sells theirs?

A week ago we started buying water from a lfs (both pre-mixed and RO/DI) but since we have no livestock in the tank and no TDS meter we have no idea if it is effecting anything. Good or bad. It just seemed like an easy way to switch over.

As for livestock he wants mostly corals - no real idea what, we have a friend who is willing to give us a frag or two of just about anything we want to get us started. He grows only corals and live rock. As for fish, chromis, and anthias are our first choices. 

We are more than willing to be patient, it's just sorting out all the data that's getting overwhelming....We would love to attend the next meeting seeing and hearing things in person is just so much easier.

Sorry this got so long, and thanks in advance for all your help!!! I'm looking forward to posting the successes very soon!

Oh, and FWIW - MY next project is moving up from my current 55 gal planted tank to a 90 gal. =) The saltwater tank is my hubby's!

Thanks again!
Michelle

[MechanicalEngineer]

Oh, I forgot to mention...glad to have another girl on here!  (This hobby is rather male-dominant.) 

Sounds like you're in the right direction.  You're testing the right stuff until you add corals.  At that point, you'll want to test for alkalinity, magnesium, and calcium.  You'll go through several algae cycles...first are diatoms, next is usually cyanobacteria, then hair algae, then coraline algae, then sometimes the nuisance algaes like bubble algae and/or byropsis.  You can skip over stages or have multiple at once.  Regardless, it's normal.

Once piece of advice...  I started this hobby as a poor starving college student.  I got the tank for free and figured the expensive part was over.  I bought junk from Jack's, had bad advice, and luckily stumbled on this website when the worst hit my tank.  I was about to leave the hobby due to a declining wallet thickness and terrible hair algae.  I invested some money to buy the right equipment (the right equipment isn't cheap in this hobby...found that out the hard way.)  I really recommend coming up with a complete plan.  Figure out exactly which fish you want, which corals you want...and plan your equipment around that.  Otherwise, you'll upgrade constantly.  I started with normal flourescent lights (thought I wanted fish until I saw corals.)  So, I got compact flourescents and my first coral (green star polyps.)  Well, then I decided I wanted to keep SPS corals...and upgraded to metal halides.  Ugggh.  I would've saved so much money if I had just gone to metal halides to begin.

As far as you don't think you'll use your RO/DI unit enough to pay for itself...I doubt it.  We have a 75gpd unit, and all I have set up is a 40g system.  I usually make about 25 gallons of RO/DI water per week.  If I was buying that locally...figure the cost of the water, cost of the containers, the hassle of hauling water around, and gas...ugh.  We bought our unit used for $80.  I spend about $20 per year on filters.  We've had the setup now for a year and a half...worth it to me.  But, it doesn't matter.  What you guys decide to do is totally up to you.  I don't own stock in RO/DI products! 

I hate saying this, but you may want to separate your hermit crabs.  Eventually one color will win out over the other color.  I wouldn't put different species in with each other.  I started with red, blue, and zebra's...I'm down to just blue's.

Homework assignment for you guys:  look on here or any other website, and see what you think is really awesome.  Within reason, we'll help you plan a tank that can support those creatures (keep in mind, some things can't be kept well in captivity, like my avatar.)

Nikki

[UDJustin]

Im curious as to what is the only good fish store that went out of business?

[lazylivin]

As much as i hate to say it, like most other hobbies this one is expensive and addictive. <open wallet, pour into tank> 

Well said 

[Joel]

Im curious as to what is the only good fish store that went out of business?

I am curious to this as well, when you say "the best SW LFS is no longer open!!!" what shop are you making reference to?

[jjw2121]

I make about 2.5 gallons of RO/DI water per day. My TDS is about 8-10 on average.  I do a 10-15% water change every 2 weeks on my 120 gallon.  I easily make you some RO water FOR FREE.  Let me know how much you want.  I probably have 15 gallons on hand currently that I wqon't need right now. You just have to supply the buckets.  I live in Huber. Hope this may help you some. 

Welcome to the club BTW!  There is some very good info and knowledable people on thi site that has helped me since I have been a member. 

[rupertswife]

Again, thank you all SOOO much for the advice.

And, yes, I had noticed that is was mostly men. =) But that's not abnormal for me. I ride a motorcycle, too! LOL

I promise we will get a specific list of what we want written down, and go from there. The LFS that was listed as closed down was North Dixie Reef....We were in there once just after we set up the tank, but haven't been able to catch them open since. Are they open again? I work just down the road from Aquariums Etc. in Centerville and we've stopped in there a couple times just to look. We've also heard good things from a friend about Marine Solutions in Waynesville, so we will go check them out.

As much as i hate to say it, like most other hobbies this one is expensive and addictive. <open wallet, pour into tank>

Another reason I'm thankful for all your help. We want to <pour in> as little as possible, by not making too many costly mistakes....Esp. about the RO water. We will keep looking for used equipment and make that our next priority. (Along with the livestock 'wish list.')

Thanks again, all!
Michelle

[verper]

Not sure why you think that NDR was the best fish store. We love all of our sponosor LFS - Aquariums Etc, Marine Solutions, Aquatic Specialist, and the Coral Ranch.  All of them support this club and not one of them will steer you wrong.  So welcome to the forums and check them out when you get a chance.

[rupertswife]

I'm sorry to have suggested that the other stores weren't good! Not at all what I meant!

I had read the threads under "Experiences" and sooooo many people had soooooo many good things to say about them that I took that to mean they were one of the best and highly recommended.

I truly didn't mean to offend anyone!

[MechanicalEngineer]

Each store has its own following.  Like I stated before, a person may only like xyz store because they carry cool fish...and that person doesn't care about corals...and then bashes every other store.  I highly recommend the rest of our sponsors. 

[joelbegt]

The thing I regret the most was buying 100% liverock in my first seup.  My new 75 has 50LBS of bulkreefsupply.com dry rock and maybe 15Lbs of LR from the last setup, and It ended up being the perfect amount for me.  I personally recomend buying mostly dry rock If you havent bought rock yet and want savings.  The difference of $250 for 50Lbs of LR to fill my 40g compared to maybe $120ish for 50Lbs of bone dry very light rock for my 75g was worth the extra time spent curing the dry rock.


Don't forget that you can find good deals picking up frags from people on hear when your getting started.  keep your eyes pealed in the classifieds.  Lately I've been buying corals from online venders to get some harder to find stuff. 

Locally Coral ranch also seemed to have some good cheap starter corals such as large green zoa colonys for a good price.  MS is an good experience if you have never been there.

[rupertswife]

Okay! So we took the plunge!

We took our water to two different stores and had it tested, they both said everything looked great so.....


We bought our fish! =)

We have one psudanthias fasciatus - Red Stripe Anthias (aka Omen - Nemo spelled backwards!) He just needed a name, he's a real character! He will swim up to the corner of the tank where we feed them, look at us for a minute, then turn sideways, then turn back and forth until the food hits the water. As I've read about them, the adults like to swim upside down. Too cute to watch! He has great color and is very active during the day. He hides in the rocks at night but comes out looking for food when the lights come on in the morning.

And 8 itty bitty green chromis that look great as a group.

They are all eating well, and playing happily in the water flow from our powerheads. We also discovered that growing on one of our rocks is a featherduster!!! It's tiny, but very cool to watch it filter the water as it eats.

As we have been shopping the corals and other inverts, one in particular has caught our eye every time we see it. The stores have it marked as a 'pulsating xenia.' How difficult is it to keep?

[rmstevensiii]

If you do decide that you'd like some green star polyps, let me know, and I will give you some.  I'm not far from Centerville.

Pulsing Xenia can be easy to keep for some, and grow like a weed, and tough to keep for others.  IME, they grow great under PC's but at some point, 99% of entire colony seems to die out.  I've read and talked to others who have had the same experience.  I'm not sure if there is something that they need, which we cannot supply via water changes or the addition of supplements, or if a large colony (per gallon of tank volume) creates a chemical which is toxic to the colony.  Either way, if you decide to try them, start them high in the tank, if you want to confine them to a particular space.  If you start them low, they're going to move up over time and could take over that space. 

Mitch

[larrynews]

ha ha ha...we've got ya. congrats on the fish the fun now starts

[rmstevensiii]

Pic of Xenia, taking over my 75.  The upper right side is Xenia.  The left side is mostly Anthelia.  Pic is from 2007.

[rupertswife]

Thanks for the offer on the green stars! We may take you up on that. We have another friend that may be giving us some frags, we're just not sure what he has.

And, um, wow, to the Xenia's! Do they take high or medium light? We have medium light and with the Red Stripe it's recommended that we don't go to halides or to a higher powered system. Even with that warning about their growth I think we might still like to try them, it would make us feel special if our first coral grew that much! LOL

[rupertswife]

Uh, after reading about the green star polyps I might just pass! LOL Sounds like they are as invasive as the Xenia's can be! LOL

[Arcade_Guy]

both gsp and xenia can grow out of control pretty easy, placement is important i still wouldnt give up onn xenia tho, its just too cool to watch lol  i have 4 different types, one of which died off 90 percent but the others are unstoppable.
 id give you a frag of the pulsating pom pom xenia i have, but im all the way in hamilton. if youre in the area let me know!

otherwise the coral ranch has nice sized pieces for a great price!

[jhart]

Hey for only the cost of a small colony it would be worth a shot to try either of the star polyps or xenias, worst case scenario is that they don't make it but if they do you can always frag them out! Not trying to sound like a broken record but I used to have an awesome colony of xenia's that did awesome for months and finally just fizzed out to nothing . But you win some, you lose some. Also- I'm in Centerville near the Dayton Mall, I've got a 150 GPD RO/DI and I would be more than willing to make up some water for you just let me know a few days in advance and how much you want. I have a 40 gallon container so dont you can pretty much have as much as you want. Trust me- you will not regret it using RO/DI!

[Joel]

I'm surprised that it was suggested that a red Stripe was a good  fish for your aquarium. In theory, your tank is not fully biologically established, it is only established to the load that the rock generated. Adding 8 chomis is a fairly big  increase in waste for that small of an aquarium. They (chromis) are pretty hardy fish an most likely will survive the mini cycle your aquarium may experience with the addition of them. Pseudoanthias although very capable of being kept in captivity are not a beginner / starter fish and definitely will not care for the potential water quality issues that may occur. If your aquarium experiences minor amounts of ammonia & nitrite, the red stripe will not deal with it very well. I would suggest monitoring this daily and have either water made up to perform a water change as needed or have a stable quarantine system on stand by (best option) I'm also surprised that if the person who sold you this fish knew it was a 75 gallon and new it was your intent to keep corals - still thought it was a good idea. This specie easily gets over 6". Your tank can  house a 6" fish but that does take up a lot of real estate. My other reason for surprise is that this is a deep water fish, it doesn't like bright light -  Most corals need bright light for survival. In this small of an aquarium, I don't see a feasible compromise that will keep both light loving / needing corals happy and a low light preferring fish happy. May want to reconsider your choice in inhabitants so they have more similar preferences and requirements.

Joel

[themissinglynk]

The LFS that was listed as closed down was North Dixie Reef....We were in there once just after we set up the tank, but haven't been able to catch them open since. Are they open again?

North Dixie Reef isn't quite closed down...  I actually talked to Dodd a few times last week, and he purchased my tanks from me, to get to other people starting up tanks.  Even the day I brought stuff up to him, he had to leave to go home.  I think there is a sign on the front door that instructs people to go next door if they aren't open (to the barber shop).  They were able to call him, and he came back to get the tanks from me.

For the health problems he's had, I'd say he's still doing an excellent job.  Just be sure to call him first, and be sure he can be around when you are coming.

But -- good shop, and great guy!

[Vinnbelle1]

I have been in the hobby for some time, back when much of today's products didn't exist.  Much of the knowledge didn't either.  Things can get really technical or you can keep things simple.  I think most of us would agree to buy good equipment that will suit your now and future needs.  If you have the good/right equipment right from the get-go, things will be much easier.  If you are going to keep fish, or a good amount of coral, I would recommend to add a protein skimmer to the system.  The RO unit and an auto-top off saves on the boring maintenance. 

Once past that, it will just take time, the algae cycles stated earlier.

As far as what to add you start off with the most hardiest of organisms, usually clean up crews like snails and crabs.  Then add some hardy fish like damsels.  Then some softies, if you like those, then LPS, then at the end some SPS.

[rayviv]

I'm in Huber and am more than willing to share some rodi water with you. I have 3 five gallon containers you can use. Just let me know ahead of time so I can make some. Anything I can do to help you with I will. I'll give you some waving hands if you want. Just P.M. me and let me know.

And welcome to the club!    Rayviv

[rupertswife]

A little good news, a little bad.....

Bad news first.....we did loose the red stripe to fin rot or something else like it. He started coming out in the morning with sand all over him. We figured out that's what it was because it would be gone in a couple hours after the lights were on and he became active, he was apparently 'sleeping' in the sand bed. Over the next two days he still ate like crazy, but his fins started to get frazzled. Everyone else in the tank was fine. (Chromis, snails, crabs, hermits) Then one day he just never came out from behind the rock, and later that evening he was dead. All the water parameters were still well within range according to our tests, and since nothing else in the tank got ill, we have no explanation. He never stopped eating until the last day, so we had hoped he would recover. We miss him! =( We've never treated any of our tanks with any success so we opted not to medicate at all. Everytime we've ended up spending too much money and loosing the fish anyway. *shrug* We had no way to set up a quarintine salt tank and we figured the shock of moving him from one to the other might just kill him anyway. We've been there, done that, too.....

The good news is we have added the rest of our cleaning crew, and I think they are my favorite part of the tank! We have Nassarias (?) snails, more blue leg hermits, some turbo snails, another kind of snail, and 5 emerald crabs. Feeding time is hilarious! The entire tank looks like it's vibrating when the hermits and the emeralds get wind of the food, and the snails are actually not slow! LOL

We also discovered we have two feather dusters in the tank. Both are very small, but growing. One is a bluish green, and attached to a piece of coral. It's been there a while. The other is in the sand just below one of the rocks. It looks white or cream colored and has dark red or brown spots on the feathers.....I wonder what else is in the tank we haven't discovered yet!?

[Reefd Up]

...but his fins started to get frazzled. Then one day he just never came out from behind the rock, and later that evening he was dead.

...I wonder what else is in the tank we haven't discovered yet!?

My thoughts exactly...I'm wondering if you have a fish-eater behind those rocks....

Any green brittle starfish by chance?  There are many creatures that prey on sleeping fish.  You might want to take a flashlight to your tank late at night and watch what goes on.

[rupertswife]

Hadn't thought of it that way. We've not seen and starfish, and the only 'moving' creatures we've seen are the ones we added. I worried at first that maybe the hermits were picking at him, and the emerald's were not in the tank at the time........Hmmmmm.....

[Reefd Up]

Emeralds have been known to get aggressive toward fish as they get large...but they have to get really pretty large.  The hermits usually won't pick at fish unless the fish is already dying.  If you have any (and I'm going to screw up this spelling) narsiariuss snails...might want to check that they aren't whelks (although I'm not sure if even whelks would gang up on sleeping fish...)

[rayviv]

Whelks???

[rupertswife]

Well, we are still in the dark as to what happened to the anthias, but since everyone else in the tank seems to be quite happy, we'll chalk it up to being incompatible with some condition in the tank. =(

We did add two nice large feather dusters and they look wonderful. All the information I've been able to find about them says they don't need any special food, and that they are very easy to keep in a stable tank. Is this valid? We bought them because we already had two very small ones that 'came with the tank.' One was attached to a piece of rock, and the other we discovered in the sand bed. Both are TINY but have been in the tank for months.

The one in the sand bed looks just like the larger ones for sale in the stores, but the smaller one has me stumped. I can't find anything online to tell me what it might be. It is a bluish-green and is inside a crevice in the rock. It is not a 'Christmas Tree Worm' because the fans are not paired and they don't look like a 'tree.' It looks just like the others, but is blue green and attached to the rock.

I don't have anyway to get a photo of it because it is soooo small, but any help in identifying it would be greatly appreciated!

Have a great night, y'all!

[Reefd Up]

Most small feather dusters live perfectly well in aquariums of all sizes (they are filter feeders); however, worms like the coco worm (and some larger feather duster types) live only 6 months to a year in captivity in all but the largest aquariums.  I wouldn't recommend a tank less than 300g for a coco-worm...and even then, I don't know if it'd live (I've just heard about a few people with 300g+ tanks keeping them alive successfully for 1+ years.) 

There are many many many species of feather dusters...not very likely to get a good ID other than, "it's a featherduster." 

[rayviv]

Those tiny dusters (tube worms) are all over my 90g and many different colors. I have 6 feather dusters that I've had for about 10 months that are still healthy and two of those are Hawaiian dusters. And at least one of those lets my blue-line cleaner wrasse get all the way into it without even closing.  I use plenty of DT's so they have plenty to eat. Also cyclopeeze makes filter feeders open up. I use that before I target feed the meat eaters, Aussie Eleagantz, Open Brain, Plate, And 2 Bubble tips.