black live rock...

[mrextc]

Hi all. I'm new to this group so i'm looking forward to learing from everyone. Here's my questions,I just aquired a used tank with LR and LS already in it. I bought some more LR today and realized that the LR that came with the tank is coated with a black not purple substance...any ideas what this is? is it bad? Is it some kind of algae rather than coraline? should i take it out and scrub it off? Thank you everyone!

 

[jennythebugg]

i'm fairly new too but from what i have heard is that coraline in hard and most bad algaes are described as soft,fuzzy or slimy . to me it doesn't sound like 'good algae' it sounds like the rocks sat in the water with no circulation or filtration and got yucky . do you have any pics? what are your water parameters? these are all questions that the 'pros' are gonna be asking so might as well get it out of the way .haha good luck and enjoy your new hobby!

 

[mrextc]

Here's a picture...i hope it show up okay. But you can see on the left is the nice stuff and on the right is yucky. I don't know what to do with this...just leave it alone or scrub it off. Thanks for your input!

 

[jennythebugg]

i guess you could scrub them if it will scrub off, i learned just recently that live rock can basically become dead live rock if there is alot of die off of the organisms that live in it.????.you need the help of one of the reefers they tend to know alot about the live rock. i read your other posts, do you have a water testing kit yet? if not get one right away so that you can get your tank cycled and your levels good until then nothing in your tank will be truly healthy- rocks ,sand, fish, shrimp- anything.and when you cycle please use a peice or two of raw shrimp not any fish or inverts because they would suffer and possibly die in the poor water quality while the tank cycled.the caribsea live sand is really good-don't use cc because it is a nitrate trap

 

[mrextc]

it looks like the hermit crabs i got are going to town on the black stuff? maybe it's some kind of algae or something im guessing...anyone else have any ideas or suggestions?

 

[1journeyman]

Do a search for "cyano bacteria" or "red slime algae". I suspect that is what you have.

 

[brstwv]

If it is cyano, try chemi clean works great. It'll be gone within 24 to 48 hours. If you try chemi clean follow exact directions. Hope this helps and welcome

 

[jennythebugg]

yay see i told ya the pros would come!!

 

[team2jndd]

Doesn't look like cyano to me... looks more like a layer of thin green slime. Either way, you could remove the rock and rinse it off.

 

[mrextc]

Thanks for the tips guys... I didn't think hermit crabs cleaned LR, but the hermit crabs have removed patches of it all over the rocks. Now the face of the rock has white patches of clean LR. I don't know much about hermit crabs, but they are liking whatever it is that is growing on the LR. I just went out and got 5 more to see if it would speed up the process.