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



and from just now with the flash on and off

[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 .
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