Live rock changing colors?

[lorenz0]

So i picked up live rock almost 2 weeks ago and within the first 2 days I started to see white form on it.

Its slowly turning green now.

PH - 8.2
nitrate - 0
nitrite - 0
ammonia - 0.25
gravity - 1.024

I am going to pick up a calcium test tonight and check out where i am at

I read once that this happened to someone as well, turned white and than turned green later but i never found an explaination. To my understanding white in a sw tank = bad

[xtreme]

Not sure what the white stuff would be but I would recommend getting a quality Ca test kit as I have seen one brand test about 50ppm off what it really should have read.

[marie]

When coraline algae is exposed to air for any length of time it turns white. The green is probably just film algae that everyone gets while cycling a tank. Once ammonia and nitrites have gone down a big water change will help get cal/alk back in line and then you can add a few snails to get rid of the film algae

[lorenz0]

The tank has been running for 4 weeks. In the first week I filled the tank with water and than added sand a week later. Than added the live rock a week after that and it went was only out of the water for 30min. The only thing my tank has that is exposing the rock to air is where the fuge is. That is also where it is mostly white. The rock was also covered in feather dusters and now there seems to be none. hope this helps out a bit more

I also have snails and 10 hermits in the tank already

[lorenz0]

Taken from a member off nano-reef

"Coraline algae can also be green! It probably started to die off when you first brought it home and now is coming back! The back tank of my tank has as much green coraline as pink! The key is to feel it if its hard not soft and doesnt come off easily its probably coraline!"

So i guess it was coraline algae

and for search referance for other begginners

http://www.algone.com/coralline_algae.php

[Myka]

I doubt it's green coralline algae for many reasons, but mostly because your tank is new. My guess is exactly what Marie said...but got a pic??

You've already jumped the gun by adding a cleanup crew too early. SLOW DOWN! You're going to get yourself into costly trouble. Remember, nothing good ever happens fast in a reef aquarium.

You have no need for a calcium test kit until you start adding corals or if your pH drops. As suggested, spend the money and buy quality calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium test kits when the time comes. Cheap ones are inaccurate, and aren't worth the cardboard they're packaged in. Try Elos or Salifert.

[lorenz0]

umm well here is a picture from saturday

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e69/lorenz000/IMG_1187-1.jpg

and from just now with the flash on and off

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e69/lorenz000/IMG_1199.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e69/lorenz000/IMG_1200.jpg

[Myka]

That's just film algaes starting to show up, not coralline. What kind of lighting is that? How many snails/hermits do you have in there? There is hardly anything for them to eat yet, they may starve to death.

[lorenz0]

I went overboard on the snails so i am getting rid of them right away (tomorrow actually)

I was running a old aqua-glo that i used to use for a baby discus tank i am just in the process of switching everything up. Since its a bit of a buget tank I am going with 1 marine-glo, power-glo set for 8 hours (adding timers tomorrow as well) and in the next few weeks a lunar led

honestly i thought i was going at a reasonable pace but it is my first tank and most of what i know is from reading articals. Is there any supplimental food i can add to the tank to help these guys out if there isn't enough food?

[marie]

Once you get better lighting your algae is going to bloom so you might want to hold off on getting rid of the snails or else you might be out buying more again :mrgreen: .
The ammonia cycle appears to be nearly over so it should be alright to leave them in there. I am assuming of course that the .25 ammonia is test kit error seeing as how there are no nitrites or nitrates.

As far as feeding the snails that you have, I have noticed my snails appreciate a bit of Nori now and then so you could try supplementing their diet with that until the algae starts to take over

[Myka]

I went overboard on the snails so i am getting rid of them right away (tomorrow actually)

I was running a old aqua-glo that i used to use for a baby discus tank i am just in the process of switching everything up. Since its a bit of a buget tank I am going with 1 marine-glo, power-glo set for 8 hours (adding timers tomorrow as well) and in the next few weeks a lunar led

honestly i thought i was going at a reasonable pace but it is my first tank and most of what i know is from reading articals. Is there any supplimental food i can add to the tank to help these guys out if there isn't enough food?

So how many snails and hermits do you actually have? I ask because I only saw one snail in your pictures. Maybe you don't have too many...?

Do you plan to get any corals at all, or is this a fish only setup? If you plan to get corals, you will need better lighting than that, so save up until you can get a Tek T5 strip. I would save my money on the LED too if I were you, and add that later since it is not required. :)

You've gone ahead and added a clean up crew before your cycle is over, so that is ahead of schedule. I was trying to scare you a bit so you'll learn now instead of later when you have a lot more money in your tank. ;)

I notice that your rocks are placed on top of the sand. You should dig your sand out where the rocks are so you can place the rocks directly onto the glass bottom of the tank. This way, when you get some fish or other critters that may dig they won't be able to dig under the rocks and get squashed and/or cause a rock slide.

I was skeptical when you posted your readings too...odd that you have ammonia, but no nitrite or nitrate. Can you take your water to an LFS and get them to test it for you to double check your readings?

[lorenz0]

I used to scare the dart frog beginners all the time, I guess karma caught up lol. Just thought i would take up the challenge of a salt water this time around.

Right now I have 10 snails, which will be down to 3 or 4 tomorrow. There was a deal on 10 and I am a sucker for deals. Than I have 10 left handed hermit crabs, which I think are the coolest little guys so far. My plans for the tank is a mushroom tank. I was talking to a fellow at elite aquatic's in calgary and he told me that just the marine-glo and power-glo will be enough. The rock is actually close to he glass but i for sure will take your advice and put it all the way down.

As for test kits, the ones I have been using are Aquarium Pharmaceuticals nitrate, nitrite, and ph. Than for ammonia I am using the nutrafin hagen one. I do want to pick up the Elos master kit.

Thanks for all the help btw, it means alot

[naesco]

Add a few spirulina discs to the tank and the snails will eat them.
They stay hard for a long time giving the snails an opportunity to eat them.
Also it your lighting on

[marie]

Than for ammonia I am using the nutrafin hagen one. I do want to pick up the Elos master kit.

Thanks for all the help btw, it means alot

I would blame a faulty test kit, I have no faith in hagen. They may be good for fresh water but I have never found any of them to be accurate for salt water.

Just go slowly and you'll do fine. Before you spend more then $20 on a piece of equipment do some research it will save you money in the long run :mrgreen:

[lorenz0]

Once again thanks for the help

I put in some algae waffers to see how the hermits would resond to them and they just have been having a feild day on them. so right now I am just going to throw one in every odd day for the little guys till my tank is a bit more established

[chevyjaxon]

IMO get rid of the hang on filter you have on the back for starters they are nitrate factories and will lead to alot of algea in the future the next money you will want to be spending is on a good quality protein skimmer they are worth their weight in gold for removing dissolved organic waste, as the rock cycles you will have more waste being introduced to the tank, the white stuff you are seeing is the die off of micro organisms sponges and other things that used to live on the rock sad but true your ammonia will go through the roof as your rock cycles please for the sake of anything else you are going to put in there, wait until your tank has fully cycled and you have a good quality protein skimmer also make sure during this period you have your power head facing your rock to blow off any waste that it is producing. the biggest thing here is take your time, a stable marine tank relies on bacteria to break down ammonia and nitrites, let your tank stabilize and populate its bacterial filter then and only then you can start to add fish nitrates are okay but nitrites and ammonia will kill your fish and corals next is lighting you should read up on zooxenthele and the way corals produce it through photosynthesis. enjoy your new found hobby and remember nothing good happen right away in marine:biggrin:

[lorenz0]

I actually picked up a coralife 65watt 50/50 yesturday. Before anyone says anything, its putting out more than the power and marine glo so that was a good move on my part and its sufficiant with what I want out of the tank.

But a quick question; How long does it take for a tank to cycle?

I have been testing my ammonia and it every day with no issues. Today i am going to swing it by a local reef shop. I want to see what they think of the water before i move any more ahead.

[chevyjaxon]

the tank can take up to a month to cycle but every time you add something the tank will go through a mini cycle as the bacteria that consumes waste populates to keep up with the increased bio load like i said, before you add anything else buy a good quality protein skimmer a good skimmer should cost no less than 200.00 btw a sea clone although it looks good and is somewhere
around a hundred bucks is not a good skimmer and is just a waste of money
IMO a good needle wheel skimmer will keep your tank healthy for a long time also with the lighting you will want to simulate the suns natural rays im not too sure what you have but corallife is a great place for a beginner to start with. keep up the good work :wink:

[0sprey]

If all you want is softies, the lighting you've got should be fine. You'll see some interesting stages of algal growth, and if you're lucky, you may even find some macroalgaes sprouting from the rock.
*removed*
If you aren't keeping stony corals, don't worry about calcium. Seriously. You won't have any heavy calcium consumers, so regular water changes should be more than adequate to keep calcium, magnesium and alkalinity balanced. That's the most important thing- don't skimp on the water changes, especially in a nano like the one you're running.

A protein skimmer is a real boon to a tank. They remove all kinds of dissolved organics-once you've seen what a good skimmer can pull out of your water, you won't want to go without one! Buy the best you can afford. The usual recommended HOB skimmers (I'm assuming you don't have a sump) are the CPR BakPak, the AquaC Remora, and the Deltec MCE series. Most people would agree that the Remora is probably the best 'bang for your buck'. Do some searches online, read the reviews, and decide which one you want. Don't just settle for what's readily available- it's worth it to order a better skimmer online if you can't find it in the store.

Nothing wrong with a HOB filter... but ditch the bio-media. Just use it to run chemical filtration (carbon, phosphate remover), and make sure you replace it every month. Then you don't have to worry about organics building up and causing problems.

[lorenz0]

I ditched the media in the HOB except for the carbon. After I added the coralife light the tank has started to color up alot. Yesturday I brought my water to a local reef shop for a second opinion of where i am at with my cycle. Don't get me wrong, i was just a little mis informed earlier and my steps right now is once my NO3 cycle is finished I am going to be adding some softies. Today i did a water change and at elite aquatics they reccomended using their house brand Bio Stabilizer so I added a bit of that in with the water change. My gravity was a bit up there so right now i am trying to bring it down to 1.024 and it was at 1.028. I did a 20% change with water that was at 1.022 and the water is now 1.026 so with the next water change on the weekend I hopefully will have hit my goal.

I started this tank while i was at school so money was a bit tight and I start my new job on monday. debating about flat rate or not but I could add a protein skimmer with the first paycheck. This is actually the build that I am following right now;

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=149926

The tank is doing great and I am happy i switched over my lighting and got rid of those glo bulbs