Got my new aquarium setup! A few algae / live rock ?s

kyley · 12/18/2009, 12:29 PM

Hi All,
I just started my reef aquarium (Red Sea Max 250 - my first aquarium ever) and add 69 pounds of rock (only 18 pounds was dry - the rest was cured live rock from Fiji, Florida, and one big one from Indonesia). I have a few questions if anyone could help. First, here's a pic of the current setup:

One rock I got was covered in life - and now I'm a bit worried it's not good life... At first I thought some was hair algae - on another forum people weren't so sure and started to think it wasn't. Then there's this thick, somewhat leafy red stuff, and some yellow (and gray) sponge? I'm cycling my tank and some thought that most of this would die off on its own - others thought the red stuff was Lobophora variegata which apparently can grow a lot and take over corals... Thoughts on all this? Here are pictures.
The rock in question after a lot has been cleaned off:

A closeup of what I thought might be hair algae (now sounds more like it's a macroalgae) - much of this has been removed:

An extreme closeup of the rock out of the water showing 3 areas of concern:

A closeup of the back of the same rock showing two sponges? Should I be concerned about these as well?

Should I do what others suggested and put the red (algae) side down in the sand and the sponges toward the light to try to kill off both? Or am I worrying too much over life that will probably die off anyway? Thanks in advance for your advice,
--Kyle

cubsFAN · 12/18/2009, 06:13 PM

i think your tank will be fine during cycling and you can prune if you notice it getting out of hand, but you should be fine. you can pull out the dead sponge, but leave as much live as you can. it will come back and give you some nice biodiversity. dont hide the algae from sight. You paid good money for "live" rock. I'd let it do it's thing. just my opinion.

12/18/2009, 12:29 PM	#1
kyley Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 176	Got my new aquarium setup! A few algae / live rock ?s Hi All, I just started my reef aquarium (Red Sea Max 250 - my first aquarium ever) and add 69 pounds of rock (only 18 pounds was dry - the rest was cured live rock from Fiji, Florida, and one big one from Indonesia). I have a few questions if anyone could help. First, here's a pic of the current setup: One rock I got was covered in life - and now I'm a bit worried it's not good life... At first I thought some was hair algae - on another forum people weren't so sure and started to think it wasn't. Then there's this thick, somewhat leafy red stuff, and some yellow (and gray) sponge? I'm cycling my tank and some thought that most of this would die off on its own - others thought the red stuff was Lobophora variegata which apparently can grow a lot and take over corals... Thoughts on all this? Here are pictures. The rock in question after a lot has been cleaned off: A closeup of what I thought might be hair algae (now sounds more like it's a macroalgae) - much of this has been removed: An extreme closeup of the rock out of the water showing 3 areas of concern: A closeup of the back of the same rock showing two sponges? Should I be concerned about these as well? Should I do what others suggested and put the red (algae) side down in the sand and the sponges toward the light to try to kill off both? Or am I worrying too much over life that will probably die off anyway? Thanks in advance for your advice, --Kyle

12/18/2009, 06:13 PM	#2
cubsFAN Moved On Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Lake Tahoe Posts: 1,550	i think your tank will be fine during cycling and you can prune if you notice it getting out of hand, but you should be fine. you can pull out the dead sponge, but leave as much live as you can. it will come back and give you some nice biodiversity. dont hide the algae from sight. You paid good money for "live" rock. I'd let it do it's thing. just my opinion.