Live Rock Turned Brown - Still 2 Months After

[Chief2036]

Hey everyone,

So about 2.5 months ago, I noticed that my live rock was starting to turn brown wherever the light from my LEDs hit it. I am pretty new to the hobby, so did searches and read a lot of posts saying similar things, such as that it is diatoms. I had assumed that is likely my case as well, so have waited. However, it seems that diatoms are supposed to fade away relatively quickly, and since it has been awhile, I wanted to get some input from people here. I have attached a picture, does this look like diatoms? I also read that diatoms come off pretty easy when the rock is rubbed or brushed, so I tried scratching the rock with my nail, and the whatever this is seems to be really on there, it almost seemed like it was the rock itself and not anything on it. I have also noticed that the rock seems to almost be somewhat fuzzy with little white wispy stuff covering the brown spots, if that helps with identification at all.

Thanks in advance!

 

[LED Jack]

Pretty normal. Probably just algae, sponges and other life. You will know if you add hermits and they start eating it.

 

[kegogut]

Do you have a clean up crew?

 

[Chief2036]

I do have a clean up crew (astreas, ceriths, a turbo and several blue and Scarlet hermits). They all seem to be ignoring the brown on the rocks as far as I can tell. I have not noticed any improvement over the last two months

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[Fbrondum]

Can you post a pic? I'm going through some brown algae too might help others give some advice

 

[Chief2036]

I have a pic on my original post, the top half of the rock is the brown that I am referring to. The bottom part of the rock (which isn't in direct light) is much more pale and what my rock looked like before.

Also in case it is helpful, my tank is about 4 months old at this point, and started with cured live rock. So it's obviously not an established tank, but it's not in its first few weeks either

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[GoVols]

I have a pic on my original post, the top half of the rock is the brown that I am referring to. The bottom part of the rock (which isn't in direct light) is much more pale and what my rock looked like before.

Also in case it is helpful, my tank is about 4 months old at this point, and started with cured live rock. So it's obviously not an established tank, but it's not in its first few weeks either

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Is there any other Diatoms / Algae in your tank like on sand, glass or is it just on the rock.

Was it cured Live Rock or Dry Rock?

 

[Chief2036]

The rock was cured live rock when I bought it. As for other algae, I had been dealing with a small amount of hair algae on the glass about two weeks ago, but that seems to be under control now. The sand looks clean and algae free. It's only the rock that seems to have this

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[lukewithcats]

i had the same thing with my new tank although much sooner. I bought turbo snails and hermits and they cleaned it up in no time. You would be amazed how fast turbos can clean that stuff up.
The diatoms in my case grew most where the high rock got alot of light but also any sand without much flow, it went nuts in my fuge probably because of some pumice filtration rock i put in there without rinsing enough. I turned the lights down and it slowed the growth right away and then the snails/hermits picked it clean. I think the snails actually did the best work. I think the snails and hermits miss the stuff but I am fine without it lol.

 

[ericarenee]

Things we need to know more about

1. Water Circulation
2. Nutrient test results
3. water change routine and water source
4. Feeding and amounts of food
5. type of light..

Each one above is equally important in Diatom and other algae Control..

New Tanks do often go thru a cycle of diatoms but if its taking hold of your system you need to not RIDE IT OUT You need to take a Proactive stand..

My Opinion..

 

[Fbrondum]

Ah I missed the picture last night it didn't load. My apologies there is an experiment you can do to try and get an ID if you google dinoflagellate ID there is a forum post about trying to ID what the brown algae is I will try and give you a run down. Siphon out a bunch of the brown algae into a container with a cap. Once you have a bunch shake vigorously to break up the algae and strain it through a paper towel into another container. If it re-coagulates it's likely Dino's.

I have some of this same brown algae in my tank and I thought it was Dino's but after doing the above test the algae did not regather. I am now trying to starve it out by only doing a water change if the numbers say I need one and manual removal. Good luck!


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[Chief2036]

@ Fbrondum: No worries, and thanks for the idea. I just tried scraping a dark spot of the rock, and it seems that nothing will come off even with some decent force. It almost seems like the rock is stained a dark brown, so not sure what to make of that honestly. I may try again here and see if I have more luck a bit later.

@ ericarenee: In regards to your questions:

1) For flow, I have about 60x tank turnover with powerheads. Some of the brown spots are in places that would be in direct flow from the powerbeads, while some spots are more near the bottom in lower flow areas.

2) By nutrient tests, do you mean things like phosphates? Unfortunately that is one of the test kits that I don't have (although I am realizing that it is one that I am going to want to add to my equipment). What nutrient tests are most common for testing for?

3) For my water change routine, I do about 10% every week with Instant Ocean Reef Crystals, using RO/DI water (just did a change yesterday, the TDS meter read 0)

4) For feeding, I do an alternating mix of mysis and pellet, with one feeding a day. I think my feeding has been a little on the high end as my tank is currently understocked, so I have been working on dialing my feeding back. When doing pellets I try to just add a pinch to see what my fish will eat, however the mysis shrimp I believe I tend to overfeed some.

5) I use a ReefBreeder Photon V2 LED light, that is on for about 10 hours a day (including ramp up and ramp down for about 2 hours each)

 

[ericarenee]

@ Fbrondum: No worries, and thanks for the idea. I just tried scraping a dark spot of the rock, and it seems that nothing will come off even with some decent force. It almost seems like the rock is stained a dark brown, so not sure what to make of that honestly. I may try again here and see if I have more luck a bit later.

@ ericarenee: In regards to your questions:

1) For flow, I have about 60x tank turnover with powerheads. Some of the brown spots are in places that would be in direct flow from the powerbeads, while some spots are more near the bottom in lower flow areas.

2) By nutrient tests, do you mean things like phosphates? Unfortunately that is one of the test kits that I don't have (although I am realizing that it is one that I am going to want to add to my equipment). What nutrient tests are most common for testing for?

3) For my water change routine, I do about 10% every week with Instant Ocean Reef Crystals, using RO/DI water (just did a change yesterday, the TDS meter read 0)

4) For feeding, I do an alternating mix of mysis and pellet, with one feeding a day. I think my feeding has been a little on the high end as my tank is currently understocked, so I have been working on dialing my feeding back. When doing pellets I try to just add a pinch to see what my fish will eat, however the mysis shrimp I believe I tend to overfeed some.

5) I use a ReefBreeder Photon V2 LED light, that is on for about 10 hours a day (including ramp up and ramp down for about 2 hours each)

It does sound like you are on top of things.. Only suggestions i can make is first test to see if its phosphate or nitrates causing the issue with Testing those.

You could have your lights to high.. I do not have those lights so cant comment on a suggestion . Maybe slow the ramp up and down times to take longer so there is less time at your brightest times.. I KNOW Leds are brighter then they appear to our yes. If your running the white channel above 30 to 40 % I am thinking are to bright..

You could do bigger water changes as well....Again not sure of nutrient levels.. Also if it is a algae issue and there is a large amount of it. nutrient test could be false as the algae could be consuming the nutrients.

When feeding frozen food i use the two cup method.. I put the food in a cup that fits down inside of another that has the bottom cut out and a piece of netting material around the cup with the food in it.. I let it though in a bit of aquarium water then put the food in the tank strained...

With my long winded post thinking while typing I am leaning to the lights being to bright...

My Opinion

 

[Chief2036]

I really like that two cup method for frozen food feeding, I will have to try that! I will experiment with lowering the lighting and changing the ramping a bit. I really appreciate your input. I will start with that and will report my findings if I notice any difference. Thanks everyone for taking the time to post!

 

[ericarenee]

I really like that two cup method for frozen food feeding, I will have to try that! I will experiment with lowering the lighting and changing the ramping a bit. I really appreciate your input. I will start with that and will report my findings if I notice any difference. Thanks everyone for taking the time to post!

I got the idea from on here i think..

some one took one cube and deslved it in ro water then strained the food out . poured the remaining fluid into a gallon jug mixed it up then measured nutrient levels . it was thru the roof.....

I dont remember what brand either..