questions from a newbie

[palileo]

white bugs: i have 2 different types of white bug-looking things on the glass of my tank. one type looks like some sort of mite or something, about the size of newly hatched brine. the other looks like some sort of star fish. small body like the other but has very fine legs. are these ok?

cleaning hair algae: since adding in the last bunch of live rock, i've done two 20% water changes, I'm ready for another. I have alot of algae growing on the glass... i was thinking that if scrape it off the glass, it'll go into the rocks and spread everywhere. should i worry about this?

also, i'm going to be moving at the end of the month. i'm thinking of removing all the sand and going bare bottom so i won't have to worry about the sand needing to cycle again. someone also mentioned to me that it'll be better for when i'm ready for sps. is this because of the sand movement in the high water current needed in the tank for sps? in my tank now, i'm doing about 900gph in a 75 gallon, i think. 270 for each of the power heads and 340 from the fluval. the 2 powerheads are at the back corners pointing to the middle of the front with the fluval pointed straight at the middle of the front. will i need more water current for sps?

 

[Bdimas]

As far as the bugs, those sound like pods and hydroids. They are common and wont harm anything except dwarf seahorses.
Now for the hair algae are you using ro/di water? If so your tank is pretty new and new tanks get algae blooms. Test to see if it is still cycling and test for phosphates. Otherwise keep doing your water changes.
On a side note the fluvals are'nt usually recommended becase they can contribute to high nitrate levels which can feed hair algae. I just run a skimmer and filter sock.

 

[palileo]

my tank is very new... just started about 6 weeks ago... is that the reason for the algae?

i also have tiny bubbles floating around everywhere... can this cause any problems... i think the bubbles are coming from the skimmer. it's a seaclone 100. can't seem to get it to stop spitting bubbles back into the tank. right where the bubbles spill in from the seaclone that's hanging off the back of the tank, there is a power head that shoots them everwhere, then i think the powerheads and the fluval suck them up until there's a big enough air pocket inside them that then gets blasted back into the tank. unless there's a better explanation as to how i'm getting bubbles from the powerheads and fluval. i don't have any air tubes connected to the powerheads. and i don't think there are any vaccum leaks in the fluval. it was a brand new unit. it actually looks ok to have the bubbles but don't want them to cause any problems.

oh yeah, if i remove all the sand from the tank, i'm worried that if my LR collapses or a piece falls for whatever reason, could it break the glass on the bottom? i was thinking, would it be ok to cover the bottom of the tank with LR rubble? will i run into the same issues that people were mentioning when using crushed coral? i was thinking maybe i can find a bunch of small pieces about the size of lava rock for landscaping... if i find the time in the move, i'll try to paint the back and bottom of the tank. well, maybe not the bottom. if i go bare bottom, it might be cool to be able to look up from inside the stand if i was searching for something.

sorry for all the rambling...