Rock Turning White

3791eidde · Dec 3, 2012

I had my tank set up for a few days now. This morning I noticed that the rock is turning white. Is this part of the cycle?

The photo below is right before putting the rock in the tank.

Here is what it looks like now.

Any ideas whats causing this?

cdangel0 · Dec 3, 2012

My guess is the coraline algae that was already on the rock is dying off. How long was the rock out of water? What kind of lights are over the tank?

3791eidde · Dec 3, 2012

The rock was shipped out over night Air Cargo, and I got it the next day. It was packed with wet towel. The rocks were wet. They went straight into the tank after opening the box. I have 6x39 T5HO lights, 2 x ATI Purple Plus, 2x ATI Blue Plus, 2x ATO Coral Plus.

WillKatt · Dec 3, 2012

Yep just sounds like the corline is bleaching. It will come back when the conditions are right.

cdangel0 · Dec 4, 2012

Coraline doesn't like air or bright light. It will bleach out, but shouldn't take long to come back, purple up, and look just like it did when you purchased it.

Furiousreefer · Dec 5, 2012

Although, there are some coraline algae on the rocks, but I am not sure how safe they are when you add them to tank directly without washing.

cdangel0 · Dec 5, 2012

Furiousreefer said:
Although, there are some coraline algae on the rocks, but I am not sure how safe they are when you add them to tank directly without washing.

Coraline is safe and doesn't need to be rinsed, washed, or scraped off before adding to a tank.

3791eidde · Dec 6, 2012

It was too pretty to wash off. I had some pretty colors. Purple, green and some orange. I let it be. I did water change last night. My Ammonia was 2.0 and has now dropped to 0.50.

robby2782 · Dec 6, 2012

I don't mean to highjack your thread, but I like your shirt. I think your G.M. is just as big of a problem if not more though. I'm a Cowboy fan and wishing the whole organization could be replaced.

And yes, you're coraline will come back once you stabilize your conditions.

WillKatt · Dec 6, 2012

Yeah a nice pink and purple coralline encrusted rock is like gold leave that on there. I even tried pulverizing a small piece of coraline rich live rock and spread it through my nano about 3 weeks in to the cycle it seemed to really help seed things but I don't know this for certain.

bairdimusprime · Dec 6, 2012

make sure your calcium levels are right as well... coraline bounces back and when it does you'll be encrusted... enjoy

3791eidde · Dec 8, 2012

robby2782 said:
I don't mean to highjack your thread, but I like your shirt. I think your G.M. is just as big of a problem if not more though. I'm a Cowboy fan and wishing the whole organization could be replaced.

And yes, you're coraline will come back once you stabilize your conditions.

Rumor has it that Norv and AJ Smith are gone after the end of the season. Regarding the rock, Im am getting some color back. Glad that the bleaching is normal. Thank you everyone for your help.