live rock questions

[jeffjets]

I setup a new 39 gallon tank Saturday morning and am new to salt water. I let the tank sit overnight to stabalize the temp and let everything settle. The tank was at 77 degrees, the PH was just over 8.0, the SG was 1.021 and there was no ammonia, nitrites or nitrates. I went Sunday and bought some live rock from the local fish store. I wasn't exactly sure what to do with it to start so I asked the person at the store and he said since it was a fresh tank with nothing in it I would be ok putting the rock directly into the tank. So I took it home and put it in the tank and arranged it however I wanted it. By Sunday night I noticed there was some white patches appearing on the rock. I read up some to see if I could find out what it is and figured after reading some it was some die off from moving it to a new tank. So I left it over night and all today and came home from work and noticed there is quite a bit more white on them now. I was wondering if this is normal or if I should do something to the rock to help fix it? Pictures are at the following link.

http://www.socom-punishment.com/images/aquarium/

 

[ianrich147]

let it be its part of braking down the die off

 

[pkremer]

This same thing happened to me. When I purchased the rock, there was a lot of green colored algae on my rock...over the first several days after getting the rock, however, most of those spots turned white, and I had white spots all over my rock where it had once been green.

One month later, however, there is new algae growing on these spots, and there are no more white spots. Can I explain it? No. Would I worry about it? No! Eventually new algae will grow on these white spots.

Paul

 

[jeffjets]

Thanks for the couple responses, eases my mind a little. I was worrying that something was wrong and I was "killing" the live rock.

Do you think I would be ok to add in additional live rock this week to get the ammount I want? I currently have about 27 pounds, and was thinking of picking up another 20 when the LFS gets their next batch ready. I figured that would give me a good base ammount for my 39 gallon tank. Or should I wait till this batch of live rock loses that whitish color to add more?

Lastly any idea what type of live rock this is? I didn't ask at the store and was kind of curious after reading on this forum about all the different types of live rock.

 

[pkremer]

Not sure what kind it is...I don't recognize it right off hand.

I would buy it all now if I were you and get the rock set up like you want it. Some of that rock will be buried and won't probably get colorful. This way you can have your aquascape ready and only have to go through 1 cycle. Adding live rock after a month or so when the new algae has grown may just make you have to go through another cycle, and then you might bury some of this rock then anyway.

Paul

 

[Salttanker]

I would agree. Get all the LR you can get now before adding species to the tank. Other than that, you are off to a great start.

Mike