live rock dead or dying?

[Firepower]

please go easy on me, i'm very new to this hobby...

ok, i know i could do searches all night and maybe, just maybe find what i'm
looking for, but i'm hoping one of the purposes of this group is for direct,
timely feedback....

sunday i added 30 lbs of live rock and yesterday i added 20 lbs more of live
rock to my newly set up 55 gal soon to be reef/fish aquarium, everything
was in spec yesterday prior to adding the rock (temp/specific gravity) at
least so i thought....

i had just taken a sample of the water to the pet store to get analyzed,
everything was in spec..i also asked the guy what temp i should be running
it at, he said 78 degrees

i came home and increased the temp and added the new rock yesterday around
4pm, also added some charcoal to my filter (i was told it keeps the smell
down)

today when i came home the rock seems to have a whitish film over what was
once red coralline algae (so i was told) and the film seems to be peeling
away from the rock, i also see some brownish algae growing (i think that's
what it is)

i checked and the specific gravity of the water had somehow jumped up to
1.030 and the temp was closer to 80, i adjusted the setting on the heater
back down to a lower setting around 75 or so and did water changes until now
the specific gravity is at 1.024 or so and the temp is about 78 (i had to
add a ziplock bag of ice to lower it)

so my question is...did i kill my live rock? is it possible it's just
recovering from the transport from the store to home?

any help is appreciated,

james

[Billy]

"Firepower" > wrote in message
news:eFcXc.149516$Oi.85200@fed1read04...
|
| today when i came home the rock seems to have a whitish film over
what was
| once red coralline algae (so i was told) and the film seems to be
peeling
| away from the rock, i also see some brownish algae growing (i think
that's
| what it is)
|


All sounds pretty normal, though I've never experienced the salinity
increase. I'd surmise that perhaps you had a chunk of undissolved
salt mix that later dissolved, raising the salinity. It's just
adjusting the the new tank. A large amount of die-off occurs during
the various transport, so the dead stuff is going to rot, raising
ammonia, and eventually nitrates, requiring water changes before
adding the first fish.
here: read
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/filterselection/a/aa111901_2.htm
if you haven't already:)


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[Pszemol]

"Firepower" > wrote in message news:eFcXc.149516$Oi.85200@fed1read04...
> ok, i know i could do searches all night and maybe, just maybe find what i'm
> looking for, but i'm hoping one of the purposes of this group is for direct,
> timely feedback....

Only one night of research is not enough in this hobby...
Get used to spending time on research or you will not run successfull tank.

> i had just taken a sample of the water to the pet store to get analyzed,
> everything was in spec..i also asked the guy what temp i should be running
> it at, he said 78 degrees

It is impossible to run the tank in a regular home with regular temperature
swings at fixed 78... It will fluctuate and this is not very harmfull if
these fluctuations are not too rapid. During the day, when the hot lights
are over the tank, the temp will increase and cool down during the night.
In my tank I see daily swings between 78-80, sometimes even 78-82 in the
hottest days and my live rock is not dead because of the temperature...

> i came home and increased the temp and added the new rock yesterday around
> 4pm, also added some charcoal to my filter (i was told it keeps the smell
> down)

What was the temperature before you have increased it to 78?
How long did it take to increase?

> today when i came home the rock seems to have a whitish film over what was
> once red coralline algae (so i was told) and the film seems to be peeling
> away from the rock, i also see some brownish algae growing (i think that's
> what it is)

Coraline algae turns white when exposed to air for a prolonged time.
White parts are dead algae, but do not worry - in correct conditions
it will grow back.

> i checked and the specific gravity of the water had somehow jumped up to
> 1.030 and the temp was closer to 80, i adjusted the setting on the heater
> back down to a lower setting around 75 or so and did water changes until now
> the specific gravity is at 1.024 or so and the temp is about 78 (i had to
> add a ziplock bag of ice to lower it)

When you observe increase in salnity and you did not add salt, the only
reason behind it is evaporation. Evaporation removes water leaving salt
behind, so the tank water WILL NORMALLY increase in salnity and you need
to top it off with clean, fresh water to correct salnity to desired value.
Water changes are not needed - to lower down salnity just add fresh water.
In very dry air condition evaporation can be very important problem and
many people have to top off the tank twice a day or add automatic system
to keep salnity on a stable level. Additionally, increasing temperature
of water help it to evaporate more quickly...

How big is your tank? Do you blame the heater for the temperature increase?
Have you seen it turning on? I would not suspect the heater, rather lights
or powerheads giving up heat to the water. Consider purchasing a chiller.

> so my question is...did i kill my live rock? is it possible it's just
> recovering from the transport from the store to home?

Yes. When I clean my powerheads submesed in the water and covered with
coraline, I try not to expose it to air for longer than couple of minutes.
If they dry out, they will turn white in the next couple of days...
But white die off algae does not make your rock dead- dont worry.

I would suggest you do more basic reading - get some good books before
it is too late. If your only knowledge about keeping fish tank comes
from asking several question to the store clerk you will have no chance
running successfull fish tank.

[skozzy]

Everything is normal so far, the small die off on the rocks is most likely
from the rocks being out of water too long and the external life is dying
back, it will re grow again in time. Be ready for some water changes tho, as
curing rock with new filter is going to turn into a soup of smell rather
quickly. Don't add any fish for many months yet. Do lots of reading
andasking questions. From this stage your maybe going to have to wait up to
8 weeks before you can add anything more then extra rock, anything you add
now without the proper knowledge will suffer the same fate as the small
amount of life of the rocks that is dying now.

This is a slow hobby, if you jump the gun you will fail and waste a lot of
money, time and effort.

We are all here to learn, help and advise. Some might go hard on you at
times but it's all in the learning.

Good luck with your new hobby and I wish you a good start up.


"Firepower" > wrote in message
news:eFcXc.149516$Oi.85200@fed1read04...
> please go easy on me, i'm very new to this hobby...
>
> ok, i know i could do searches all night and maybe, just maybe find what
i'm
> looking for, but i'm hoping one of the purposes of this group is for
direct,
> timely feedback....
>
> sunday i added 30 lbs of live rock and yesterday i added 20 lbs more of
live
> rock to my newly set up 55 gal soon to be reef/fish aquarium, everything
> was in spec yesterday prior to adding the rock (temp/specific gravity) at
> least so i thought....
>
> i had just taken a sample of the water to the pet store to get analyzed,
> everything was in spec..i also asked the guy what temp i should be running
> it at, he said 78 degrees
>
> i came home and increased the temp and added the new rock yesterday around
> 4pm, also added some charcoal to my filter (i was told it keeps the smell
> down)
>
> today when i came home the rock seems to have a whitish film over what was
> once red coralline algae (so i was told) and the film seems to be peeling
> away from the rock, i also see some brownish algae growing (i think that's
> what it is)
>
> i checked and the specific gravity of the water had somehow jumped up to
> 1.030 and the temp was closer to 80, i adjusted the setting on the heater
> back down to a lower setting around 75 or so and did water changes until
now
> the specific gravity is at 1.024 or so and the temp is about 78 (i had to
> add a ziplock bag of ice to lower it)
>
> so my question is...did i kill my live rock? is it possible it's just
> recovering from the transport from the store to home?
>
> any help is appreciated,
>
> james
>
>
>
>
>