I think my live rock is dead!?

[heather p]

Hello Everyone!
I have set up a new 38 gallon tank and am working on cycling right now. There's lots of brown algae forming, but from what I have read on here, that sounds ok. My question is that I ordered 20 pounds of live rock from saltwaterfish.com to get started. The tank had been set up for two weeks before I added it. I have had it for one week and not much is happening. It has little color -it's mostly plain brown and it just seems not very alive. There were also some live worms that I saw when I added it to the tank, but I haven't seen them since. Is it possible that I killed my live rock? (I have not added fish or anything else yet.)
Any recommendations?
Also, I have read mixed suggestions about what to do next...wait? add snails? add a damsel or two?
Thanks so much for your help!!!
Heather

 

[@knight]

Welcome to the board!
Did you put the rock directly into the tank or scrub it? did the rock look like that straight out of the box?
If you are unhappy with it, I would recommend contacting them to let them know about it.
Please give us a little more info on the history of the rock. I have heard nothing but good things about SWF LR, but it should have some corraline growth. Was it sent overnight to you?

 

[flydan]

Hey,
I'm with @knight. Need more info on the lr you got. It does take quite a while to cure once you put it in. Mine has been in since July and there is still stuff popping up on it. It took about a month for the coraline to really get going so I wouldn't worry about that. You could add a few more pieces, about 4 or 5 lbs at a time, until you get up to 40+ lbs. The "good stuff" will eventually spread if you have good water movement and the lr will help your tank cycle. The brown stuff you mentioned are probably diatoms, so your tank is cycling. At this point you could add a few turbos with no problem. (Make sure you know how to acclimate snails before you put them in though!)
Good luck and welcome to the board!
Dan'l

 

[fender]

Not all live rock has things popping up everywhere. I have had LR that "looked" completely dead, and later had sponges, macroalgae, polyps, mussles and other critters growing on it two months later....
There is always die off during shipping - hence the curing, but much of the life can/will spring back. The bacteria that you cannot see is really the biggest reason we get LR - that and it looks cool...
Wait it out, your LR is live.

 

[madd catt]

IT takes a while for the liverock to get started if you have coraline alge on the rock it might spread to the glass. i had some macro alge but the crabs got them.