Newbie with some questions

[Skinner]

Hi all. Just a couple of quick questions for you. I recently bought a tank set up from a fellow in Edmonton and had to transport everything from Edmonton to Hinton. I put the tank in my back seat and everything else in the back of my truck. It was cold on the 3Hr drive home, and I am wondering if that would have killed the live rock or the bacteria in the filters in the sump? The rock was covered in water for the trip and was also a nice pink and purple but now that I have had it in my tank for a week or so it seems to be turning white and brown. I know there is not enough calcium in the water and was wondering what the best thing to do is. Should I add anything or wait for a while. I plan on letting the tank cycle till the end of Feb. Thanks for the info.

[gobytron]

whether the beneficial life died on that cold trip or not, you are going to be letting your tank cycle now before the next move.

Just test your nitrates and ammonia and when the cycle is over, it' over.

My best bet is that bacteria might have a hard time surviving for that long in the elements...

Are you still running the same lighting on the same cycle as the previous owner?

sometimes, If it wasnt the abject cold, coralline algae can be quite sensitive to changes in it's light regime.

[Skinner]

The guy that I got the tank from said he had his lights on for 12hrs day and 12hrs night. That seems a little much to me but I'm new to this. The lights are T5 Tek Lights and there is 2 day and 2 night. What is the typical light rotation I should be following?

[gobytron]

lol...
there is no typical light cycle.

I was only referencing a potential cause for the coralline bleaching you had expressed some concern about.

There was/is a very recent poll on light cycles you might find usefull in the polls section.