live rock is always clean and almost white looking

[jessimiff]

Hi,

We have a marine tank that we have had for approx. 2 years now and from a lot of trial and error we are starting to make progress. However, when i look at pics of other tanks, their live rock is always clean and almost white looking, whereas we seem to have a constant algae prolem, its green and ruins the entire look of the tank. Any advise would e soooo appreciated.

Thanks,

Jess

 

[Soundtrigger]

First off welcome!!!! This is a great site
Well I'd ask how many times are you doing PWCs (partial water changes ) that makes a huge difference another thing what type of lights, what's in the tank and what type of filtration are you using ?
These are some questions that will help if not me someone here give you a better answer
Posting pics don't hurt either

 

[ryshark]

It could be a lot of different things.
What are your readings for:
Nitrate?
Phoshpate?
What are you using for top off water and water change water?
How old are your lights?
Welcome to AA

 

[jessimiff]

Wow, thank you for the welcomes and the quick responses!
Ok, well water changes we try and do every 3 weeks however with the cost of salt, i have to admit we can be slack on that. In our sump tank we have bioballs, active carbon, ceramic rings, cupusorb and biochemsorb. We try to keep the tank at a constant 25deg celcius with uses of heaters and and external chiller for summer. We only have to 2 lights (a powerglo and a marineglo tube) I believe that the cupusorb and biochemsorb are supposed to take care of the nitrates and phosphates, however we are novices and there is next to no local knowledge available.

We have a few fish (2 clowns, keyhole angel, blenny, 5 chromis, puffer, cardinal and a slug) and have not long started to try some soft corals. The clown live in a BTA (which has since split into 2)

Ummmm, i think that is all i have to offer besides the [moderator edit] algae that is spoiling the whole thing.

Thanks

Jess

 

[Soundtrigger]

Are those lights Power Compacts,halides or T5HO or....

 

[jessimiff]

T5's

 

[ryshark]

You really need to at minimum test your Nitrates. With the bioballs and ceramic rings I am betting it is high. Read up on removing the bioball and ceramic rings slowly and replacing them with live rock rubble if possible... and if they are submerged.

 

[mr_X]

you don't have enough light to support many corals, if any at all. are the anemones holding color?
you need to at least double the amount of light you have over the tank now.

you have a cannister filter on the tank also, correct? i would clean this out weekly.
as ryshark stated, start removing those bio balls, or at least take some out and shake them off in salt water to remove any detritus.

i'm afraid water changes are vital to keeping your inhabitants happy, and your tank looking good. this is not a cheap hobby.

what kind of slug is in the tank? most of them have enough toxins inside of them that if they die, can nuke the tank and kill the rest of the inhabitants.

 

[cmor1701d]

All good advice above. The BTA probably split due to lack of light. If you don't increase it per mr X's suggestion you will most likely lose both of them.

You MUST start testing for pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates at a minimum. Adding tests for calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and phosphates are also a good idea if you plan on adding corals.

Please test the water parameters and let us know the readings you get for:
pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Alk, Calcium and Magnesium reading would also be helpful.

Regular partial waters changed of 10% per week or 20% every other week are essential to maintain a healthy tank.

Also, what do you feed the tank and how often?
If you are having algae problems it is because of excess nutrients in the tank. Cut back the feeding to just once every other day.

 

[jessimiff]

ok, thanks to everyone who has offered help. I will get onto the testing and let you all know how it goes... While i do this, i have a question for you all... how many light hours a day do you recommend?

will keep you posted

 

[ryshark]

You will get a lot of different answers ranging from 6-12. I typically like to do 8-total hours. With 1-hour dawn before the 6-hours of full light and 1-hour dusk after the 6-hours of full light.

 

[mr_X]

try to mimic the natural day. 10-12 hours is what i would shoot for.

 

[cmor1701d]

Most of the livestock in our tanks come from near- or equatorial waters. They are used to a 12 - 13 hour light period day. The standard advice is for 12 hours of actinic and 10 hours of daylight for PC, T5 and MH-combos.
That would include the actinics on an hour before the others and an hour longer.

 

[mr_X]

the morning evening transition is great for fish, so it doesn't startle them with a sudden on/off, and it's great for the human keepers to see their creation under the blue lights, but it doesn't effect the corals either way.

i have used the morning/evening transition for most of my tanks, except for my last tank, which was a shallow reef. i used plant grow fixtures over that tank which only had one cord, so i couldn't do the morning evening thing. the corals didn't care either way. they grew just fine.

 

[cabezon]

Hi,

We have a marine tank that we have had for approx. 2 years now and from a lot of trial and error we are starting to make progress. However, when i look at pics of other tanks, their live rock is always clean and almost white looking, whereas we seem to have a constant algae prolem, its green and ruins the entire look of the tank. Any advise would e soooo appreciated.

Thanks,

Jess

do you use 0tds water from a RO/DI? how old are your bulbs?

none of my rocks are white, and most get covered in coraline.

 

[kingman8610]

I've heard that if LR turns white its called Calcination or something like that... I may be wrong but I think that means your LR is Dying? IDK for sure hopefully someone can verify for me b/c2 of my LRs are doing the same thing

 

[mr_X]

live rock is not really alive. it's the bacteria that resides on it that makes it "alive". turning white could be a few things:
some times folks upgrade their lighting which kills all the coralline, and the rock turns white.
sometimes they have an urchin in the tank that eats everything on the rock rendering it white.
sump rock that doesn't see any light is usually white.
some times it's just going through a stage. for instance, you buy live rock with all sorts of stuff growing on it from the lfs. put it in your tank and between the transport out of water or wrapped in damp newspaper, and the cycle, all that colorful stuff dies off and white rock is left. this is usually the case for new tanks.
that rock you get from the lfs sits out of water for days before they get it. damp from a sparse coating of wet newspaper- hardly enough to sustain some of the life on it. then you put it in the tank. all the dead stuff causes a cycle as it decomposes. ammonia kills more stuff....white rock is what remains.

 

[kingman8610]

Oh ok