live rock color

[italianwjt]

Can any veteran help me with this question? I bought some live rock that was deep purple a while back and its dying off. I went to the LFS and told them, and they said put iodine and liquid calcium in the tank and over time that should do it...well it didn't. I was just wondering if anyone else was using something different and could help me out...thanks.
(P.S they said this is natural, that it dies off and comes back is this correct? or are they feeding me some b.s?)
John

 

[beachlife]

Hi John...... lol my names john too.... It is natural for LR too lose its color overtime and the "living" parts of the rock will come and go.... Your LFS seems to be leading you down the path. Iodine and calcium are benificial marine trace elements. And n reef and in many cases FO tanks the greatly improve the health of the system between partial water changes....
And I assume what you mean by the live rock "dieing off" is that all of the organisms that grow off of the live rock are dieing? The organisms that grow off of live rock will come and go with time...... Live rocks are just peices of coral rubble....
Is your tank new? Is it fully cycled? Is it to be a reef or FO (fish only) tank?
All in all I think your going the a natural process but I could be wrong.... I would have to know more about your tank....
Hope I could help you out John....
John.

 

[klearstar]

I dont claim to be an expert but, I have had some purple coralline turn white occasionally and it will grow back over time. By die off I think they mean plant material, maybe some inverts that were hitchhikers on the live rock, things like that. If your water conditions are good with some occasional calcium additives and good light the coralline will thrive. I also have read that if you brush the coralline with a stiff toothbrush it will send its spores throughout the tank and spread on other rocks and glass. Good luck.

 

[beachlife]

Yes I agree with Klearstar.. Some of the "hichhikers" will not live in the closed system of an aquarium no matter what....
Keep adding Iodine and Calcium.... With proper lighting and you should be good...
Coralife make a nuber of Marine trace element supliments that support the growth of reef-building invertabrates....

 

[italianwjt]

thanks, i feel a little better now hearing it from someone other than the person making a profit.
I've had the tank set up for about 10 months now and is fully cycled. I just added a bi-colored parrot, flame angel, and a kole tang last week and they seem to be doing great. it has, as of right now roughly 50 lbs of live rock, i wanted to add another 50-90 lbs and that would be good for me.
thanks again for the input.
john