White chalky base rock

[puffer32]

Got some base rock for my tank on line, won't do that again! Just a bunch of uninteresting shapes with lots of white powder on it. (I was told i would get different colors ranging from light tan to dark tan, but its all stark white, not near the color as my LR. It is supposed to be ready to put into tank, but I am soaking it to get the powder off, even so, i am sure my tank will be cloudy for days I got it from a reputable site, but i wonder if its safe to use as is. My tank is newly cycled, so don't want to mess it up, any opinions on this? I am actually hoping to get some algae growth to cover the albino color up some

 

[hermitkrab]

The white color in time will darken. But it sound like you got base rock not live rock.

 

[puffer32]

I posted that it was base rock, I am just saying its very white and wasn't supposed to be, and very blah shapes. My question actually was since its got a white dust on it, is it safe to put in my tank??? Is that normal? I am rinsing it now, but don't think i will get it all off.

 

[cprdnick]

I would think about boiling it after you rinse it. Any surface, including rocks, will take on coraline algae over time. It's ok to put stark white rock in the tank, just make sure you clean them off good, which should be the process for any base rock whether it has chalky white stuff on it or not. Just rinse it and you should be fine.

 

[monalisa]

Puffer,
I put 2 pieces of base rock in my tank when starting, picked them out myself though cuz of the cool shapes (sorry 'bout that for you though). They've been in my tank the whole time I've cycled and now have a teeny tiny bit of coraline on them, and at night when I check for critters, they're crawling. I have to admit I didn't expect that from those rocks, at least not this soon, but that's what's going on. Maybe as you have it in your tank the colors will be better, I'm pretty sure mine changed a little bit (but then, I kinda liked the color that I bought).
Good luck with yours,
Lisa :happyfish