Live rock curing-Live Rock - Page 3-3reef Forums

Matt Rogers · 08-24-2004, 05:41 AM

[quote author=Redbeard link=board=Newbie;num=1093236601;start=15#19 date=08/24/04 at 00:04:59]
Jay, if you use your photo gallery you can upload 4 or 5 pics at a time. *

[/quote]

Beat me to it Redbeard!

Jay look at the Help Faq for instructions.

Nice looking rock!

Birdlady · 08-24-2004, 06:35 PM

Jay had PM'd me about the rock changing color (I happened to be online at the same time as he was) and IMHO, I thought if the purple coralline was turning white, that was due to the coralline not faring so well in the short term and that should come back eventually....

Anyone else wanna field that question?

JohnO · 08-24-2004, 06:52 PM

BL,

I will come back :-) Generally there is a bit of die off, the white patches will probably be populated by brown and then green algae for a while and then the coraline should return.

John

Birdlady · 08-24-2004, 07:21 PM

[quote author=JohnO link=board=Newbie;num=1093236601;start=15#22 date=08/24/04 at 21:52:36]
BL,

I will come back :-) [/quote]

Where ya goin'?

JohnO · 08-24-2004, 08:52 PM

Yeah LOL My 't' key got stuck :-)

It will come back is what I was supposed to write :-)

John

Jay · 08-24-2004, 11:25 PM

Tuesday night and the nitrites have began coming down like you said Johno. the test looks like it was between 0.1 and 0.5 while before it was 20 to 25. After the next water change on thursday it should be done. My nitrates are still way high. How long do you think before the nitrates come down now. There is some brown algea forming on the substrate and a little on the tops of the LR that is exposed to the light. If I understand right this is caused by to much nutrient in the water from the die off combined with silicates in my water from not using 1 of those Reverse RO thinawhoppers. Vacuming up the die off should help with the algea till I get a snail and later if it gets worse 1 of those RO conditioners to remove the silicates durring water changes. My remora skimmer is getting some good skimmate. .5 inch today. Looking forward to some of them blue legged hermet crabs.

Thanks again for the help.

Jay

Craig Manoukian · 08-25-2004, 02:33 AM

As your tank matures you will see green algae, brown diatoms, and red cyano bacteria. *All tanks go through this and yu just need to focus on water quality and good circulation and things will take care of themselves. *Oh, just a little time and patience will help.

JohnO · 08-25-2004, 03:54 PM

Jay,

There is nothing much you can do to avoid the inevitable algae cycles, so IMO it is better to suffer them now while things are new.

What you need to aim for now is stability, that is to let the tank go through the cycle properly. If it was my tank I would not do a water change just yet. My plan would be to wait until the Nitrite levels are zero and then introduce a small fish. Certainly keep skimming and getting rid of anything else by 'vacuuming'. While the biology in the tank is stablising I would start to test and adjust the Alk/Calc/Mag levels and keep them maintained.

What you will find happens is as the algae uses up the food ( Nitrate ) it will die and either get picked up by the skimmer or your vacumming. The surface area that the algae populated will then be used by coraline and it should grow fairly well because of the water conditions you have created.

Once you feel that the algal cycle is near an end, that's when I would do a water change if your Nitate levels are still very high

John

Jay · 08-25-2004, 04:33 PM

Tanks again Johno, I will wait and just do some vacuming. I received some chemicals today and a salifert test kit for nitrites. This is a much better test than the ones I have been using. The nitrites register on the last bar next to zero so thats pretty close. I got Kent coral vite, Essential elements. I think I will wait till my Bionic and keny turbo calcium along with the other test kits get here b4 I use any supplements. I bought another tank today.....what a steel. Its a 80 gal acrylic rectangle with a Oak stand with doors and Oak canopy with a light ficture that is big enoigh to house probably 5 or six tubes. Ihe fixture sits inside the hood which opens with hinges. It sits right ontop the acrylic top of the tank inside the hood. I could mount lights directly to the inside of the canopy if I want too. Im excited to get it home. I need to get rid of my other 55 and the oscars...they gotta go. I payed 350 for and there isnt a scratc on it. I bought it from a Dentist whos computers I take care of. She said she payed 850 for it new. I also got all her filters food bags of gravel and stuff I probably wont need. Anyone in eastern washington want a good deal on a 55 gal with stand let me know.

Again.....thanks Johno!......another good tip

Craig Manoukian · 08-25-2004, 05:19 PM

Just a caution, never add anything to your tank until you have tested and know there is a deficiency.

Blind supplementation can lead to an ionic imbalance and subsequent crash of your system. A good salt, I use Marine Environment 2 Part Salt, will eliminate the need for most supplementation.

Good luck and keep up the good work!