questions about reef tank!!!

[bronco8622]

hey guys!


i just bought a 45 gallon (tall) tank.


i bought a penn plax 1000 canister filter, heater, etc.

anyways, i bought about 50 pounds of beautiful fiji rock from a friend, and noticed it seems to have been changing colors.


i let live sand/crushed coral sit in my tank for 3-4 days before bringing the live rocks to my house. one of them seems to be growing green algae or something on it, and another is turning colors. i dont think it's turning white, it's more of a brownish color (i thought it was just sand sticking to the rock at first).


any ideas as to why this is happening??

also, my pH is also in the high 7.0 range now that i added the rocks  (yes i tried changing 25% of the water yesterday evening).

i added bacteria supplement before adding the rocks, and also added marine buffer.


thanks!!

[bigalulrich]

Hi. Congrats on the new tank. Hang in there, it can be tricky getting these off the ground.  Sounds like you purchased some cured live rock from a friend--was the sand from the friend too? What type of sand is it, and any chance the sand and/or rocks suffered through some conditions that would cause the bacteria/inverts to die off?

is the color change in the rocks is different from the brown and algae growth, or is that what you're referring to?

Do you have a kit to test nitrate, nitrite and ammonia? what are those levels?

You're pH is very low. With Live rock, sand, and a good salt mix, it should be much higher--that's the pH of freshwater....something isn't right....

One thought is that your live rock/sand is having some die-off related to acclimating to your new tank (or the low pH), causing an ammonia/nitrate spike which in turn is causing an algae outbreak.

Green or red slimy looking stuff is cyanobacteria, and is 'normal' for new tanks. It's hideous, no one likes it, you need to get your tank parameters under control--ammonia needs to get to zero, after the tank cycles and you should keep nitrite almost zero and nitrate low (alright to have some, but it will be fertilizer for algae/cyano).  Also make sure you have proper water movement/flow in the tank, once the water parameters stabilize, as this will help keep the water from settling and allow for a cyano foot-hold.

Anyway, that's a start. Let me know if your pH stabilizes and if you have any ammonia/nitrite/nitrate

Have you added any livestock?