Brown rocks (not diatoms)

[BZreef16]

Hey all, Im trying to figure out why tank lacks the biodiversity that I can see with the naked eye. My rock is and has been brown since it cycled. Since the rock was purple to begin with, I would assume what has grown is a little more green than it looks but for the most part I get brown algae growth on glass and rocks between cleaning. It's not diatom or cyno. I have encountered both for years the in past and know the difference. If I brush it off, its seems more like general detritus and what remains is a brown stained rock. I have very little Coraline even after trying a Coraline additive. I also cycle with microbacter 7 and xstart

Tank is stable with good lighting. I have acros growning fairly well along with other sps and softies.
lighting: 2x OR4s. 2x AI primes
Flow: 2x Mp10s 1 Nero 3

Calc: 400-420
Mag-1300
KH 8
Sal: 1.026
po4: .04-.08
no3: 4.0-6.0

 

[Rocks reef]

It looks completely normal. It lacks the biodiversity because none has been introduced. If you can a rock from an older system, that will help. You can always buy a small package of live rock from TBS that will add great biodiversity. Nothing in a bottle will be able to add what will happen naturally as the tank matures or by using well established live rock from another system or actual live rock. TBS for example.

 

[BZreef16]

It looks completely normal. It lacks the biodiversity because none has been introduced. If you can a rock from an older system, that will help. You can always buy a small package of live rock from TBS that will add great biodiversity. Nothing in a bottle will be able to add what will happen naturally as the tank matures or by using well established live rock from another system or actual live rock. TBS for example.

Ah sorry I must have deleted that important part. I actually do have 10lbs from 3 year tanks and recently added a seed package of sand and premium live rock from TBS.


Maybe that will help... but more so, I was used to green film algae and more Coraline on past tanks. This tank has been the most stable of them all with good numbers so just curious why I'm only seeing brown film and zero Coraline.

 

[Rocks reef]

Perfect! The TBS live rock a wonderful!

As far as the brown film on the glass and coralline. The brown film is more likely a dusting of diatoms, completely normal and healthy. Coralline depends a lot on lighting. Are you running heavy blues? How old is your tank? That is a contributing factor as well.

 

[BZreef16]

Perfect! The TBS live rock a wonderful!

As far as the brown film on the glass and coralline. The brown film is more likely a dusting of diatoms, completely normal and healthy. Coralline depends a lot on lighting. Are you running heavy blues? How old is your tank? That is a contributing factor as well.

yes I do tend to run a bit more on the blue spectrum's. Tank is about a year old

 

[AgentKooper]

I started a tank with about 30 pounds of dry Marco rock about four months ago. I seeded that with a couple pounds of live rock rubble from KP aquatics, and with filter media from a mature tank. My dry rock looks a lot like the rock in your photo now, encrusted with brown and patches of purple and green here and there. I assumed the brown was diatoms, but it doesn’t blow off (or even scratch off), so I guess it’s something else. I don’t mind it — it makes the rock work look more mature, and isn’t hair algae or dinos, so it’s all good to me. The live rock rubble is still more purple, but it’s getting harder to tell the live and dry rock apart.