LR question

[goblinshark]

Hello,
I would first like to start off by letting you all know that I know nothing of marine aquariums (but I have been reading these boards and I am trying to learn). Here goes, My brother purchased a small 10 gal tank on Friday from a guy who was moving and couldn't take it with him. The LR that came with the tank was a beautiful dark, vivid purple and green. Yesterday I noticed that there was a fungus like thing growing on part of a rock. It almost looks like slime. There is also some white clumps growing in very close proximity to the slime. I also noticed that the temp is at 83 deg. The purple color of the rock is looking a bit lighter than when he first got it. Do you guys think that this is normal? This slime thing is growing at a pretty good rate and it doesn't seem to be good. Is there anything that I can do? There are two damsels in the tank which were purchased on Sunday to cycle the tank. The substrate is live sand. I took a sample of the water to a lfs on Sunday and they said that it was in good shape but the tank needed good bacteria and they then recommend that we buy the damsels. Well, as you can see I know nothing about this but I would really appreciate any and all help that you all can give me.
Thanks

 

[burnnspy]

I recommend that you purchase a good reef keepers book(The reef aquarium Vol 1 by Julian Sprung is good). You will get the important answers faster, especially since your tank is in trouble.
A tank that small is not recommended for novices because it is very unstable.
Get some test kits(ammonia, pH, alkalinity, nitrite and nitrates, phosphates) very soon.
Do a 50% water change as soon as possible and turn the lights off for a bout a week.
Check out my webpage for some good in detailed info for Reef Basics.
BurnNSpy

 

[@knight]

Welcome to the board!
burnspy's right,
a 10 gal is much harder to keep, but if goblinshark gets into this, it wont take him long to get a bigger tank.
I have refered to burnspy's website several times and i always learn or relearn something when im on his page.
as for the growth, no thats not normal. it sonds like it might be a bacterial infection, weve been trying to get some info on this from other post. you might search around.
burnspy gave you sound advice, do it and read up and youll be allright. The search feature on this board is an excellent rescource as well. any question that has ever been asked on this board can be found there.