Does live rock need light?

[taulgrl]

I just purchased 20 lbs of rock from Gulf Live Rock. It’s in a bin cycling separate from my 75g DT (with live sand, dry rock and a few fish). The rock came with some very nice coralline that I want to keep alive esp since all of the clams died within 3 days and fouled the water up pretty good (so much for 3 day ship). Do I need to keep a specific type of light on it while it cycles to preserve the awesome coralline? I have an LED “shop light” on it now but one of my NICREW lights just came and I could set it up w blues On. I’ve been keeping the lights off my 1 month old DT to minimize algae outbreaks. Thanks for the help!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Having macro algae on it- light and water flow will be beneficial

 

[Azedenkae]

I just purchased 20 lbs of rock from Gulf Live Rock. It’s in a bin cycling separate from my 75g DT (with live sand, dry rock and a few fish). The rock came with some very nice coralline that I want to keep alive esp since all of the clams died within 3 days and fouled the water up pretty good (so much for 3 day ship). Do I need to keep a specific type of light on it while it cycles to preserve the awesome coralline? I have an LED “shop light” on it now but one of my NICREW lights just came and I could set it up w blues On. I’ve been keeping the lights off my 1 month old DT to minimize algae outbreaks. Thanks for the help!

Live rock per se does not need light, but if you want to keep any organism that are photosynthetic then yes, you'd need light.

 

[taulgrl]

Having macro algae on it- light and water flow will be beneficial

Thanks for the quick reply! Most of the macro algae died but the big, green fern-like one in the pic is hanging on. Is the LED shop light adequate (I think I have it on ~12 hrs) or should I rig up the NICREW which can do more blue light? The rocks don't seem as vibrant as when I first got them ~4 days ago (pics are from day 1). It may be from all of the die-off I've had but I also worried it was because of the lighting.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I think I see a clove polyp on there. I'd have some light, so that anything living doesn't die. Everything will open and you can assess what you've got.

 

[vetteguy53081]

S

Thanks for the quick reply! Most of the macro algae died but the big, green fern-like one in the pic is hanging on. Is the LED shop light adequate (I think I have it on ~12 hrs) or should I rig up the NICREW which can do more blue light? The rocks don't seem as vibrant as when I first got them ~4 days ago (pics are from day 1). It may be from all of the die-off I've had but I also worried it was because of the lighting.

Shop inadequate. Blue and white acceptable but not the required type in the long run for tank

 

[LRT]

Yeah I just pulled a bunch of gulf rock out of sump after a year. Only had 2 x 24 watt daylight cfls on it. Really wish I had gotten a cheap black box and put it over rock. Even after a year with no real light I have clove polyps and all kinds of stuff popping up. Cant imagine what I lost though.

 

[taulgrl]

Yeah I just pulled a bunch of gulf rock out of sump after a year. Only had 2 x 24 watt daylight cfls on it. Really wish I had gotten a cheap black box and put it over rock. Even after a year with no real light I have clove polyps and all kinds of stuff popping up. Cant imagine what I lost though.

good to know. I'm going to put my black box over them when I get home. Hoping that (and another big water change) perks them up some more.