Dry rock not becoming alive?

[bryan071108]

This is my first tank. I have done a lot of research and listened to my friends (which maybe I shouldn't have). Anyways, tank has been running for 2 months now. Bought live sand and a couple of live rocks and mixed in some dry rock. Waited, got inpatient and added Turbo Start to speed up cycling. Keep testing and waiting, tank was cycled and my friend told me that he always adds cleaner crews first so I did. Waited a week and a half and added a pair of clowns. Everything is going well, dry rock was starting to become yellow/brown which I know is normal and added some coral, seeing great growth from them but then started to get really large amounts of hair algae everywhere. Did some research and added a turbo snail. He did amazing and cleared it all up in days...but now I'm afraid he did too good of a job because my dry rock no longer has any color and has gone back to completely white. My live rock still looks ok I believe. Will the turbo snail deplete everything too quickly and they won't come back? Or am I just being paranoid?

 

[blaxsun]

What are your water parameters?

 

[bryan071108]

I checked them on Monday with my test kit and everything has consistently tested in the normal range (pH, nirtates, nitrites).
PH is 8.2
Temp is 77-78
I dose every couple days with reef fusion 1 & 2, iodine, and magnesium.

 

[bryan071108]

I also have a hob filter, skimmer and 2 circulation fans.

 

[Jekyl]

My ugly phase didn't even really start until around 6 months. The fact that your fish haven't died means your rocks are just fine.

 

[reefandfish85]

at this stage you should really not be dosing anything yet. what is your ALK, CA , MG, No3, No2, PO4 ?

You shouldn't be dosing anything you are not testing for ... just FYI

 

[bryan071108]

I've already order the testing for those, they just haven't come in yet. :/

 

[jda]

You are good. The white rock could take years. Be happy if you don't have lots of hair algae, dinos or diatoms, which still might come. Let the snail do it's work.

 

[reefandfish85]

not sure how much corals you have , but if you are doing A+B and magnesium, I can almost bet those levels will be super high

 

[bryan071108]

Right now, I only have a small frogspawn frag, duncan, and 6 small zoa frags

 

[reefandfish85]

I wouldn't be dosing anything as your water changes should take care of most trace elements

 

[bryan071108]

I wouldn't be dosing anything as your water changes should take care of most trace elements

Ok, thank you!

 

[areefer01]

This is my first tank. I have done a lot of research and listened to my friends (which maybe I shouldn't have). Anyways, tank has been running for 2 months now. Bought live sand and a couple of live rocks and mixed in some dry rock. Waited, got inpatient and added Turbo Start to speed up cycling. Keep testing and waiting, tank was cycled and my friend told me that he always adds cleaner crews first so I did. Waited a week and a half and added a pair of clowns. Everything is going well, dry rock was starting to become yellow/brown which I know is normal and added some coral, seeing great growth from them but then started to get really large amounts of hair algae everywhere. Did some research and added a turbo snail. He did amazing and cleared it all up in days...but now I'm afraid he did too good of a job because my dry rock no longer has any color and has gone back to completely white. My live rock still looks ok I believe. Will the turbo snail deplete everything too quickly and they won't come back? Or am I just being paranoid?

Long and short of it is you can't speed up Mother Nature. You rush, you lose. That is more or less it.

Sounds like you seeded dry rock with a live sand kit and rocks from LFS / bag. That is well and fine. The missing part is patience. It is going to take a lot of time to turn that dry rock into something more natural. The so called ugly phase is going to happen. Diatoms, hair algae, and other things and the key is not to over react or over correct.

Personally speaking after using 170 lbs of dry Pukani as my base and seeding with my previous 6 year old rock / sand I didn't consider it mature until 18 months. Just my opinion.

 

[Koh23]

Your tank is 2 months old, give it some time, you dont do any good with random dosing...

if u dont test, dont dose. If you dont need, dont test... Meaning, no dosing until needed...

 

[Karen00]

Dry rock becoming live rock can take a long time. Two months isn't a long time. Also, dry to live has to go through stages. First the bacteria gets established then come things like coralline and other algae. Also other living things like pods, etc get established especially if you also have live rock in there. Live rock will allow for that transference of all of those creatures but it still takes a long time. Remember, when you buy live rock it's typically dry rock that has been put in the ocean for months and months and months so it can become live. I'm not sure what the standard cure time is for aquacultured live rock but it's quite awhile. You need to slow down and enjoy the ride. You are expecting too much of your tank too soon and you are setting yourself up for disappointment. I agree with the others to stop dosing stuff especially when you don't have the test kits yet to know where you're at with your parameters. :-)

 

[LiverockRocks]

Howdy,
We suggest seeding new systems and troubled tanks with all natural organisms found in hand harvested live sand and ocean aquacultured living rock.
Save yourself the headache caused by bottle bacteria rock cooked at an LFS and get back to nature for a healthy and stable mini marine ecosystem.