Rock crumbling??

[Lazydayz]

Been searching all over the site and internet trying to figure out what is up with my live rock. I woke up this morning and checked the tanks like I always do and found what looks like a chunk of my live rock broken off.

Below is the tank on Sunday

I haven't checked my parameters for about a month since I had a little issue with Dinos that seem to be gone for the past week or 2. The last I tested Alk was 11 (I use Reef crystals always been 11) NO3 was 2 PO4 .05 salinity 1.026 CA 495 mag 1350. I use Salifert test kits. I have had this rock in this tank for about 7 years now. The tank sat for 3 years just running with no livestock, rebooted it 6 months ago. Should I be worried that the rock will just crumble away?

 

[Retro Reefer]

What kind of rock is it? There was a recent thread from another member on R2R where his Real Reef brand artificial rock was crumbling after a few years.

 

[Lazydayz]

What kind of rock is it? There was a recent thread from another member on R2R where his Real Reef brand artificial rock was crumbling after a few years.

I don't think it is real reef brand but could be wrong. I got it at a LFS in Pennsylvania 7 years ago, they just had it listed as live rock

 

[Retro Reefer]

Yeah.. I’m not sure it was even available that long ago? I purchased some for a nano build in 2015 and Thinking it was a fairly new product then..

Are you sure its just not coralline chiping off? in the thread about real reef brand crumbling he pulled a piece and was able to easily break / crush it with his hands, maybe if you can pull a piece of yours and test it that would give you a idea of how bad or if it’s even degrading at all?

 

[Lazydayz]

Yeah.. I’m not sure it was even available that long ago? I purchased some for a nano build in 2015 and Thinking it was a fairly new product then..

Are you sure its just not coralline chiping off? in the thread about real reef brand crumbling he pulled a piece and was able to easily break / crush it with his hands, maybe if you can pull a piece of yours and test it that would give you a idea of how bad or if it’s even degrading at all?

I don't think its coralline but I like the idea of trying to break up a piece. Tomorrow is maintenance day I'll give that a try while I'm in there. Thank you!!

 

[Lazydayz]

So I'm still not sure what it is, I guess it could be coralline but it looks almost like an epoxy. There is pink mixed in the white, and it was only the very front of the rockwork. I'll attach some pictures of the pieces I broke off, they are brittle but still takes some force to crush it up.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Have you kept calcium levels up throughout the rocks life?

 

[Lazydayz]

Have you kept calcium levels up throughout the rocks life?

I would love to say yes but that would be a terrible lie lol. I actually started as a FOWLR for a little over 2 years, then it sat with the no life in it just pump running and infrequent water changes for about 4 years then just rebooted it 6 months ago and started testing for calcium, alk and magnesium.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I would love to say yes but that would be a terrible lie lol. I actually started as a FOWLR for a little over 2 years, then it sat with the no life in it just pump running and infrequent water changes for about 4 years then just rebooted it 6 months ago and started testing for calcium, alk and magnesium.

My uncle had a similar event. His rock was brittle because all the calcium had been leached out of it. Not sure if that's what you're experiencing

 

[Lazydayz]

My uncle had a similar event. His rock was brittle because all the calcium had been leached out of it. Not sure if that's what you're experiencing

I never thought of that I'll definitely keep an eye on my calcium levels a little bit more. Thank you!!

 

[Lazydayz]

This is the only spot that seemed to break up and I broke off as much as I could to see how bad it was. I wanted to wait for lights out to get a good picture.