live rock turning white

[lulabulla]

i had a question about my cured live fiji rock turnign white. when i bought it a week ago, it had purple and red on it. as of 2 days ago i started adding biozyme to my cycling tank. today i noticed that almost all of the purple and red have turned white. could it have anything to do with the biozyme? or is it dying? IF this is a problem can it be fixed and how?
just fyi my levels are as follows in case it may have something to do with it...
ph~7.8
ammonia~0ppm
nitrIte~0ppm
nitrate~0ppm
salinity~1.021
(all these levels have stayed the same since i set it up about a week ago,cycling with live rock only)
thanks in advance

 

[lance]

Stop adding chemicals. If your LR was exposed to high light out of the water for some time this would cause the coralline to die off. And the amount of dieoff would effect it. My guess is your tank had a high cycle that killed it off. Its fine though as it will grow back. But adding stuff will not help.
There is a basic setup that will give great results and as your tank matures and you learn more it will become easier.

 

[mr_X]

calcium and alk levels are also important for coralline growth. btw- don't worry about the coralline turning white. it will come back.
and +1 to "stop adding chemicals". just let it cycle on it's own.

 

[Fierro Nights]

does it look like this? my rock did this after i got it.

but i have some red patches on it now.

 

[lulabulla]

yes thats what it looks like! i was told to use the biozyme to add good bacteria to the tank. i didnt do it becase the lr turned white though, i just think it was coincidence it happened the time i started and wasnt sure if it had anything to do with it. so should i stop using the biozyme? (if its bad why?)
also will the lr change color as time goes by?
thanks for the great input im just trying to do the right thing!

 

[mr_X]

you already have bacteria on your live rock. that's the component that makes it "live". not coralline or hitch hikers...it's simply bacteria.
the rock will most certainly change color, depending on the parameters, and what spores/remnants of life are available on it. you don't need to add even more bacteria.

 

[lulabulla]

ok thanks

 

[Fierro Nights]

biozime or w/e has nothing to do w/ crowing coraline. try test your calcium or you can do what i do and just add purple up through out the week and never test the calcium and watch the coroline grow, you might have to top off your tank water more often, seems to evaporate faster.

 

[lulabulla]

OH NOOO... i just checked on my tank, i bought macro algae plants today and one of them is almost completely whit too now. what is going on?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

... or you can do what i do and just add purple up through out the week and never test the calcium and watch the coroline grow, you might have to top off your tank water more often, seems to evaporate faster.

It's good habit to never add anything to your tank that you aren't testing for. Adding Ca and Alk without testing (you mentioned alk in another thread) is a really good way to start a tank with your water parameters really out of whack. With Ca between 380 and 420, and alk between 8-12 dkH, coralline will grow just fine on its own.

Adding PurpleUp will not change the evaporation rate.

 

[lulabulla]

i dont think i wrote anything about alk in a thread. i havent tested for that.? all my levels for ammonia, nitrIte, nitrate and ph all seem fine. does anyone think a WC is needed?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

i dont think i wrote anything about alk in a thread. i havent tested for that.? all my levels for ammonia, nitrIte, nitrate and ph all seem fine. does anyone think a WC is needed?

Sorry... I was talking to Fierro Nights about the alkalinity.

My mantra in this hobby is "If in doubt, a water change will NEVER hurt anything!" I don't use macros, so I can't really help you. But I think that when certain macros go "asexual" (reproduce) they turn white.

 

[Fierro Nights]

hello there guy w/ the macro that is turning white, is it grape macro algae? i just got some too and some of its turning white, do not put this stuff in your tank. if its in your tank already, then get some water in a bucket, and very very carefully remove the macro algae from the tank, try not to move it much, be slow and cautious as the white part of the algae is mushy and will fall apart making your tank cloudy, im just starting to filter it all out after a day, put the macro in the bucket and shake it really good, this will remove all of the dead white macro.

if your putting it in a fuge, do not turn off the lights in the fuge, i placed my macro in a 1 gallon tank w/ the light on 24/7 in salt water from my tank untill my sump/fuge arrives in the mail, i had gotten some iron supplement and my macro turned from light green to a dark forest green and is firm, no longer soft, i have it in a dish right now, but youll have to plant it so that it will grow roots, id recomend placing it on a rock so that moving it later will be easy and trimming it will be easy, so you will cut the right ends w/out worring which end to cut if your macro is currently in a tangled ball,

if its in a ball, its best to untangle it under water.

and about the purple up, my tank seems to be loosing water faster since its addition. just an observation. my tank filter didnt make much noise but now im adding more and more water everyday to prevent the slashing noise at night.

 

[Fierro Nights]

yes, the macro needs a light cycle to reproduce, night and day, thats why i dont turn off the light in the tank i have the macro in.

 

[lulabulla]

well its macro algea i have i think but i have turned the lights off and opened the hood to cool the tank, its at 83F and the plant is turning greenish again. could it be to hot? i cant get my tank to get cooler, what can i do?
(its a 14 gal oceanic biocube)