Organics on rocks

[boxfishpooalot]

My live rock in my tank has organics that stick to it. Upon closer look, you see short hair algae(1mm) that traps organics(POC) that look like fuzzy brown hair.

But I noticed when i do water changes the rocks suddenly start turning bright white in spots. Why is this?




Some of my ideas are:

-less humic acid in the water(yellowing compounds) allow it to unstick from the hair algae.Iv seen people with bb tanks and ozone and their rocks are organic free. Perhaps the ozone cleans the rocks off. Also i noticed organic poc piles in ozonated tanks are grey piles. And in my case they are dark brown, almost like fresh poop. Ozone could be oxidizing them in the tank too?

-Undissolved salt attaches and makes the organics heavy and float off the rocks.

- Maybee its just my sea urchin mowing it down... But i only see it after a water change. Or my blue linkia starfish.

-More effecient skimming due to fresh saltwater.

-Density of water...?



This is really driving me nuts, any ideas?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You sure the POC is not actually a living organism? Fuzzy brown hair sounds more like an algae of some sort.

But I noticed when i do water changes the rocks suddenly start turning bright white in spots. Why is this?

Meaning the algae dies? Is there coralline?

 

[boxfishpooalot]

No no corraline at all, the phosphates are too high. But despite high P I dont have much algae growth at all with 20k 400 watt halide.

Im 100% positive its not an organism. If i blast this dirt off the rocks it reveals short(<1mm) hair algae.

I will try and get a picture for you but for now my camera needs new batteries. Ill post it later.

Do yellowing copounds effect the stickyness of dirt? I hear that adding barley straw can stop algae from growing completely. Because of the yellow in it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you are getting POC on rocks, I'd suggest either more water flow, or some sort of particulate filtration.

Do yellowing copounds effect the stickyness of dirt? I hear that adding barley straw can stop algae from growing completely. Because of the yellow in it.

I'm not surprised you heard that, but any effect has little to nothing to do with the color of the straw.

 

[boxfishpooalot]

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/salwaterfish123/Picture002-8.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>
With flash
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/salwaterfish123/Picture001-8.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>
Without flash


<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/salwaterfish123/Picture004-4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>
My messy boxfish, just for fun. And notice the white parts on the rocks, that is the shedding im referring to.

 

[boxfishpooalot]

I'm not surprised you heard that, but any effect has little to nothing to do with the color of the straw

I hear that the compound in it degrades to hydrogen peroxide when UV light hits it. Its popular in ponds.

 

[boxfishpooalot]

and a close up of the organics. Also the white spots where the organics are gone.

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/salwaterfish123/dirtyrocks.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

 

[boxfishpooalot]

Randy, I bought batteries just for you to look!

I think the white spots are nothing more than the rock breaking off in areas.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I can't see that brown stuff all that well, but it doesn't really look like POC to me. Does it collect in any dark places?

 

[boxfishpooalot]

no it does not collect underneath the rockwork. The rocks underneath look brite white. Like most sps tanks rocks look like. This tank is frustrating me. My girlfriend likes too many fish and we feed a ton. I want to start my own tank properly set up bb.

Im seriously thinking about taking the remaining rocks out and just sticking in a home made fiberglass rock structure. From wich i will attach corals when everything is under controll. But I doubt that will happen as phosphates and nitrates are impossible to keep under controll in this tank.

Whats your take on my tank? Start fresh? I got a stand made out of oak already.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

no it does not collect underneath the rockwork. The rocks underneath look brite white.

I think it is likely to be a photosynthetic organism, then.

Hard to decide what to do about it.

 

[akacable]

I've got this in my tank too. Brown fuzzy furball on areas not colonized by corals. What is this stuff???

 

[ShapeGSX]

I have the same exact problem. I blow away detritus and it reveals a very short algae underneath. But the algae seems to attract detritus like nobody's business. The detritus literally clings to the algae and makes it appear brown.

I used a toothbrush to get rid of it in a few spots, but it grew back almost 100% the next day.

My phosphates are zero by 2 of my test kits (one is Salifert). But I know that test kits can only test for inorganic phosphate.

Tomorrow I am getting a phosphate reactor and some GFO to try out. I'm also getting 2 Hydor Koralias and a Maxi Jet Mod kit. And I'm setting up a better return manifold for increased flow with 2 inductors.

And I'm replacing my 2.5 year old metal halide bulb with a brand new Reeflux 12k bulb.

I have a decent water filtering setup that I just got a few weeks ago.

Hopefully I can get rid this "grungy algae" as I have been calling it.

 

[poormanisme]

Does this stuff get little air bubbles in it during the day? And does it look alot like brown snot? If so, you may have what is commonly referred to as dinoflagellates. Hope its not, cause they are a pain.

 

[akacable]

Guys. Checkout my sig. I've got a Tunze wavebox, 2 ER skimmers, Lotsa PHs in tank 60X turnover. These are not diatoms. These are fuzzy brown hairballs that are even under ledges prote cted from light??? They look like the pics boxfishpoohalot posted. Oh.... I dose vodka. Could it be bacteria?????

 

[bertoni]

Maybe. A picture might help, might not. Do the balls fall apart easily?

 

[ShapeGSX]

It doesn't get any air bubbles on it during the day. I'll take a picture tonight.

 

[ShapeGSX]

Ok, I lied. I took some this morning:

 

[akacable]

THAT'S IT!!! Exactly. Good job. What is this stuff?

 

[akacable]

I just turkey basted my tank and removed a lot of that brown fuzzy on my rocks. My impression is that this "fuzzy fury detritus" gets deposited on the rocks or might be the rocks "shedding." That's my guess.

I've been wet skimming and planning to attach a micron sock soon.