Help ID stuff on rocks

Ajae

Member
Hey guys new to the saltwater hobby moving from years of fresh water tanks, quick overview of the tank: It's been up about 4 weeks now, 60G tank with overflow to Trigger Systems 30 sump with refuge, 60# live sand 50# dry Fiji rock from BRS. Tank cycled quickly using bio-spire and I've been dosing Kent Purple Tech, I know some people say it's "snake oil" but it's been working great for me as you can see my rocks have some coralline on them, however I have noticed some what looks to be brown spots on my some of the rocks. Can someone ID for me please, is this the start of something bad? I have a cleaner shrimp with 2 turbos and 2 red hermits.
 

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do the spots move, or are they stationary? i'm having trouble discerning from the pictures.

if you blow a little water their way, do they come off the rocks easily?
 
do the spots move, or are they stationary? i'm having trouble discerning from the pictures.

if you blow a little water their way, do they come off the rocks easily?


I just noticed them last before heading out to school, I'll have to have another look at it when I get home later today. Have you seen anything like this before?
 
The spots in the 1st pic are the ones I'm referring to, they're right where the light is hitting the rock.
 
i'm really having a tough time picking out what they are. these kinds of things can often be a Rorschach test of sorts

they could be some brown flatworms, they could be some spots of algae, cyano, or diatoms starting. it's really tough to say.
 
i'm really having a tough time picking out what they are. these kinds of things can often be a Rorschach test of sorts

they could be some brown flatworms, they could be some spots of algae, cyano, or diatoms starting. it's really tough to say.


Okay thank you, I'll have to check and post better pics when I get home.
 
its just some algae starting to form. from the pics its hard to tell what kind yet. It Could be cyano thou..
Just keep up with your water changes water testing and Make sure you have plenty of circulation and NO Dead spots. ALL NEW Tanks go thru this.. The trick is stopping it if it gets out of hand..
Be sure you are using RO/DI WATER
Be sure you have Decent lights
Be sure you are not over feeding the tank
That is about all you can do at this point . get your equipment tuned and in order the Echosystem is coming alive..


OHH That purple-tech. is no more then watered down Lime water with Magnesium in it.. It DOES no more then any other Two part or Kalk /MAG Dosing regiment .... SO i would not say snake oil. just a more expensive way to get there.
 
its just some algae starting to form. from the pics its hard to tell what kind yet. It Could be cyano thou..
Just keep up with your water changes water testing and Make sure you have plenty of circulation and NO Dead spots. ALL NEW Tanks go thru this.. The trick is stopping it if it gets out of hand..
Be sure you are using RO/DI WATER
Be sure you have Decent lights
Be sure you are not over feeding the tank
That is about all you can do at this point . get your equipment tuned and in order the Echosystem is coming alive..


OHH That purple-tech. is no more then watered down Lime water with Magnesium in it.. It DOES no more then any other Two part or Kalk /MAG Dosing regiment .... SO i would not say snake oil. just a more expensive way to get there.

ok sounds good, I think I may have been over feeding. yeah I knew that's what purple tech is but it's been working great so far. I have ordered the 2 part dosing kit from BRS that comes with the pumps but I haven't set it up yet because I don't have any corals in the tank yet. I thought it would be a waste dosing without any thing to benefit from it.
 
Speaking of water flow it's been a pain trying to get the pumps to not move the sand around the tank. Right now some of the sand is on the left hand side of the tank has moved over and left some of the bottom if the tank exposed. it there a trick to it?
 
Speaking of water flow it's been a pain trying to get the pumps to not move the sand around the tank. Right now some of the sand is on the left hand side of the tank has moved over and left some of the bottom if the tank exposed. it there a trick to it?

As far as the two part. i would start dosing as soon as you get it... Get your Calcium and Alkalinity stable now.Of Course over the months you will have to increase your Dosage as you add things that consume more and more.Many do this by hand to start with .I Just ordered dosing pumps for my Tank as i can NOT KEEP with everythign..

As far as the Sand Being blown around. As things start to grow in the sand bed and Bio matter on the particles they will over time get heavier and heavier. The finer grains will settle but yea its a Tricky thing to get just right. Especially if you have programmable pumps that change speeds.
This is one of the reasons i went to NO SAND BED IN MY TANK. I Have a deep sand bed in my Refugium in Containers linked together so i can clean one container at a time every 3-4 months to keep the bad stuff from building up... But of Course not everyone has room for a 5 foot fuge tank...

Just Keep watching and taking care of the water and the rest will almost take care of itself... We are NOT Really Reef Keepers but instead are Water Quality Control Agents.... :headwallblue:
 
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