Rock question

[Ksturg]

ok so I was given some once live rock for my tank about 150lbs of it. It had been sitting in some boxes for about 2 years. When I got the rock I didn't bleach it or really clean in much just rinsed it off with hot water. It still had some carcasses on it of bristle worms which I left to decay in the tank to help out the cycling process. There is still some spots of purple coraline algae on it...My question is are those spots just a dried up shell of the algae? Will that algae come back without being seeded? Never used live rock that has been sitting this long out of water.

 

[Ty Hamatake]

The white spots appear to be Spirorbis shells. To me, they are super annoying little filter feeders that can eventually cover pretty much everything in the tank. They are most certainly dead though after sitting in a box for two years. I would have zero concerns about anything coming back from that. Though the old organics may create a bit of a smell while the rock is curing/the tank is cycling.

 

[Ksturg]

Here is some things I see popping up I'll add a couple more pics.

 

[Ksturg]

Here is one of my rocks I call the creeper

 

[Ty Hamatake]

Definitely some spirorbid and vermetid shells. Nothing to be concerned about seeing as the rock was dry for so long. If you don't like the look you can scrape/chisel the shells off. I use surgical grade tweezers for that job and it works rather well.

 

[Ty Hamatake]

Here is one of my rocks I call the creeper

Ahhh! I didn't see it at first lol. Almost looks like a little dragon face.

 

[Ksturg]

I'm ok with it...what about those purple spots? Is that just old dead algae that hardened? Will that have any spores left to seed the tank or should I find some coraline algae scrapings?

 

[saltyphish]

as for the question about coraline. What is on the rocks is dead. You can seed some if you like by either scraping some off of a live rock from a buddies tank. Most snails when you buy them have some on their shells which is how ive seeded mine in the past.

 

[saltyphish]

Have no worries it always seems to find a way. Mostly from frags introduced will seed it to

 

[Ksturg]

Yeah I still have to set up a quarantine tank for those to try to keep the critters out. My goal is a critter free tank but not sure if it's possible.

 

[Saltine]

I had a rock that was years old, covered in old spirorbid, they popped up in my tank shortly after the rock went in. They seem to be bulletproof. Spirorbid snails are likely to get into your tank one way or another though. Not a HUGE deal though, they seem to come and go, but if nutrients are extremely high I think that's when they take over.

Salt

 

[Ksturg]

Yes I am seeing the tubes pop up more and more. When they are coming up they are no longer looking like skeletons they are popping up see through. Which I don't mind I was just trying to keep bristleworms out.

 

[Ksturg]

I'm surprised they are popping up even though I'm in the middle of my cycle.

 

[lion king]

I had some once live rock laying around for several months, I was quite surprised when the coraline started popping up all over. I didn't re-seed the tank, so give it time and see.