Yup, it's hard to explain to people knew to the hobby. My clients freak out when their white sterile build turns into a green flowing mess within few weeks of me installing the tank. And sure enough a few weeks after the clean up crew is added, things stabilize, coralline begins to grow, and I start putting frags into the tank that absolutely love the fact that there's nitrates/phos and plenty of copepods to snack on every night.I couldn’t agree more. That rock in the original post is about as clean and sterile as rock can be. I don’t see a spec of nasty on there. And the “nice and white” phrase lends me to believe there’s a misunderstanding going on about what rock should look like in a thriving tank. White rock = dead rock. The whiter it is, the more biologically poor and unstable the tank is.
Yes...rock covered on green hair, bryopsos, and bubble algae isn’t the ultimate goal, but even those unattractive algae do serve a purpose and if you approach the tank correctly they’ll be gone on their own really.
This is an excellent example of super healthy rock that if you filled the tank with this, you’d have as stable and mature of a biofilter as you can imagine. Note, not a spec of white on it
You folks with new tanks worrying you’re going to lose the pearly white look to your rocks....good, that is the idea
That's so funny was watching a video the other day. The guy was talking about back in the 80s or whenever where reefers were taking out their rocks periodically and bleaching them back to white then wondering why their takes were always crashing lolI couldn’t agree more. That rock in the original post is about as clean and sterile as rock can be. I don’t see a spec of nasty on there. And the “nice and white” phrase lends me to believe there’s a misunderstanding going on about what rock should look like in a thriving tank. White rock = dead rock. The whiter it is, the more biologically poor and unstable the tank is.
Yes...rock covered on green hair, bryopsos, and bubble algae isn’t the ultimate goal, but even those unattractive algae do serve a purpose and if you approach the tank correctly they’ll be gone on their own really.
This is an excellent example of super healthy rock that if you filled the tank with this, you’d have as stable and mature of a biofilter as you can imagine. Note, not a spec of white on it
You folks with new tanks worrying you’re going to lose the pearly white look to your rocks....good, that is the idea
I couldn’t agree more. That rock in the original post is about as clean and sterile as rock can be. I don’t see a spec of nasty on there. And the “nice and white” phrase lends me to believe there’s a misunderstanding going on about what rock should look like in a thriving tank. White rock = dead rock. The whiter it is, the more biologically poor and unstable the tank is.
Yes...rock covered on green hair, bryopsos, and bubble algae isn’t the ultimate goal, but even those unattractive algae do serve a purpose and if you approach the tank correctly they’ll be gone on their own really.
This is an excellent example of super healthy rock that if you filled the tank with this, you’d have as stable and mature of a biofilter as you can imagine. Note, not a spec of white on it
You folks with new tanks worrying you’re going to lose the pearly white look to your rocks....good, that is the idea
@Bpb
Thank you for the lesson on I will never see pearly white rocks again.
When I initially started this post I was fully expecting the brown algae and everything I was just making a comment in reference to my cycling process. However I did not know about the rock never going back to white again unless it's dead.
So again thank you for the lesson. Because of your information In a few weeks I Will Not freak out because my rocks aren't White again.
Even though it makes the tank look like it's not being taken care of, it's kind of cool seeing the changes in a cycle of a tank.
If you don't mind answering another question, should I do any kind of a water change? I haven't done one of those yet. My ammonia and nitrite are zero my nitrates are running about 80. I do have Chaet in the sump but it's just possibly a softball-size with what appears to be microbubbles coming out of it.
It's definitely an exciting time in the process. Probably a tough time as well as the urge to start throwing stuff in is probably difficult to resist@Bpb
Thank you for the lesson on I will never see pearly white rocks again.
When I initially started this post I was fully expecting the brown algae and everything I was just making a comment in reference to my cycling process. However I did not know about the rock never going back to white again unless it's dead.
So again thank you for the lesson. Because of your information In a few weeks I Will Not freak out because my rocks aren't White again.
Even though it makes the tank look like it's not being taken care of, it's kind of cool seeing the changes in a cycle of a tank.
If you don't mind answering another question, should I do any kind of a water change? I haven't done one of those yet. My ammonia and nitrite are zero my nitrates are running about 80. I do have Chaet in the sump but it's just possibly a softball-size with what appears to be microbubbles coming out of it.
Just got two balls of chaeto today. Stuff is so dense it just sank right to the bottom lol. Was hoping for some tumbling
