Will this ugly brown stuff on new piece of live rock ever go away?

[Golden Age]

I've been cycling my tank for a few months and needed another small 1 lb piece of live rock for aquascaping purposes so I bought one piece a few weeks ago that fit my purpose. It was an ugly piece with lots of brown stuff on it but I assumed my CUC would take care of it but it's been weeks and it hasn't changed at all and it's very unsightly and throws the aesthetic of my whole tank off. Don't think it's diatoms since it's been on it since I bought it and there is nothing on the sand.

Any idea what it is and if it will go away so the rock will match?

Also, bonus question, is this stuff in blue coralline algae? It was on the rock since I bought it and it was wrapped in newspaper and shipped to me. A piece seemed to fall off during aquascaping and is laying on the sand. It's hard and I can't get it off.

[scott3569]

INHO probably not, but hopefully you can get your tank to the condition to where it will be covered in coraline algae

[Crooked Reef]

It will all look the same eventually. If it dissapears at night and comes back in the day, and can be removed, it is diatoms. It doesnt look like it from the pic though. If it is diatoms they feed off of silicate so the rock may be leaching silicate but not the sand. The other stuff looks like coraline.

[Golden Age]

Originally Posted by scott3569

INHO probably not, but hopefully you can get your tank to the condition to where it will be covered in coraline algae

You and I started building our tanks at the same time. We both took our time and did things how we wanted. I really think what you're doing is amazing, but I'm going in a different direction.

I'm actually avoiding coralline algae. Im going to get rid of it as soon as it shows up. I'm trying something new. I don't want what every tank has, every fish store every reefer, etc.

I'm actually going mostly softies under led with select LPS and maybe the rare SPS that doesn't look a tree branch that only shows it's color under the best led's and the best conditions and LFS sale prices. I think its boring. You grow SPS? So does everybody. Your tank is purple with coralline and has SPS branches everywhere? Most basement tanks do.

I don't want my work to look like a random fish tank I bought at a random LFS that looks like I bought it at a random reef keepers house.

I think the next step in reef keeping is color and sway, so I'm avoiding boring purple coralline and boring branch SPS and attempting to culture colorful softies and enhancing their color with post-modern aquascaping.

Look at the best photos of the best reef tanks from the last 10 years. It's always a couple photos of softies with point of reference rock work and its always only a couple photos. Never more. Why do they only have 2 or 3 photos yet every run of the mill purple coralline tank with boring branch corals are a dime a dozen and have tons of photos every day?

Because softies are absolutely gorgeous for a few days, so they get a pic taken at their best moment. They don't look amazing day in, day out like the so called "more difficult" SPS corals do.

Why can't softies be beautiful and boring all the time, just like boring purple coralline and SPS are in every tank shot that looks the same until it changes every 6 months? That's what I'm trying.

Who's tank is this? CP Farm's, obviously.



On the ONE day it looked the best. Why can't it look that great everyday?

To me, every reef tank looks the same. It's covered in coralline and has purple branches everywhere. That's boring. Who wants to work really hard and spend tons of money to make their tank look like a tank looks like all tanks do when they're maintained in a basement when the wife and kids are out of town?

I want a tank that looks like it belongs in a museum every single day of the year. Not one that looks like what every reefer from the last 5 years was trying do to copy their local fish store who maintains their tanks 6-7 days a week, 12 hours a day.

Reef tanks are boring now. They all look the same. I want something different even if it means it isn't "as difficult." Making it what I want is a lot more difficult than making it what everyone else has, which everyone thinks is very hard.

[ca1ore]

A lot of pictures are 'staged', much like the one you posted. Some of the animals in that picture cannot actually be kept in captivity. If you want something different, by all means do so, but I'd demur that all reef tanks are boring and repetitive, particularly if you really look at them.

To your initial question, if the brown doesn't easily rub off then it's not diatoms. It may simply be a brown colored pice of rock The 'corralline' looks more like cyano to me, particularly if it just falls off, but if you say it's hard then probably calcerous.

[100%hydrophylic]

Golden Age, I like that you are going for different. I think that SPS acro reefs are very beautiful, but they are not my favorite. I really like softies and leathers, and I like that they are easier to keep (for the most part).

However, i do think it will be extremely difficult to avoid coralline algae completely. It may be impossible unless your lights are too strong for it, but lights that strong would probably damage many other corals you would want.

And there is an algae that i call coraline that flakes off like that. Its usually more red than purple, and it doesnt hurt anything.

[Golden Age]

Originally Posted by ca1ore

A lot of pictures are 'staged', much like the one you posted. Some of the animals in that picture cannot actually be kept in captivity. If you want something different, by all means do so, but I'd demur that all reef tanks are boring and repetitive, particularly if you really look at them.

To your initial question, if the brown doesn't easily rub off then it's not diatoms. It may simply be a brown colored pice of rock The 'corralline' looks more like cyano to me, particularly if it just falls off, but if you say it's hard then probably calcerous.

With the advancements reef tanks have made in the last 5-10 years, I want to try to make staged photos a reality day in, day out now. Not just photo op's on your best day out of 365.

Reef tanks have become stale the last few years. Your tank is purple with branches, just like everyone else's. Is that really a good job or just the norm? 5-10 years ago, good job, but in 2014? All tanks are the same. What was hard to keep are easy now that we have the knowledge. Anyone can make a random reef tank that looks like any other reef tank.

Reef tanks are art. An expression. Not just a copy of what your LFS has or what everyone else has.

When you think of a great reef tank what's the first thing that comes to mind? Probably purple. The easiest color for a person who puts salt mix and buys some frags to do.

What else is there?

I want aesthetics and color. Not just purple and branches on a frag plug.

I bet a tang would live in a 65 gallon if it didn't have to just swim around purple branches all day. If it had more color and variety it would probably rather stay in a 65 that is varied with colorful corals swaying than it would be stationary purple corals stationary until they're fragged and sold for monetary gain.

[Golden Age]

Originally Posted by 100%hydrophylic

Golden Age, I like that you are going for different. I think that SPS acro reefs are very beautiful, but they are not my favorite. I really like softies and leathers, and I like that they are easier to keep (for the most part).

However, i do think it will be extremely difficult to avoid coralline algae completely. It may be impossible unless your lights are too strong for it, but lights that strong would probably damage many other corals you would want.

And there is an algae that i call coraline that flakes off like that. Its usually more red than purple, and it doesnt hurt anything.

It will be difficult. It may also be impossible. But I'm trying. I just want something different than what everyone has.

Corraline is trying to grow everywhere and I'm using chemistry to stop it. To the point it attempts to grow on sand. My whole tank may crash, but that's fine. I'll start over and do better, but I want a tank where it looks great to me, not one that looks exactly like my local fish store or my favorite reefer who's trying to look like their local fish store.

Coralline is boring to me. I've researched and seen every beautiful tank, so much that, now, I can't even tell them apart -- they are interchangeable.

When I first started, I wanted a tank like what everyone had. I wanted to mimic what everyone had, but the more I learn, the more I see everyone is chasing a certain random tank that is impossible because so many things play into what you're going to get.

Now, I'm not chasing anyones tank or parameters. I'm chasing my own from the beginning. At first I wanted purple coralline and branch SPS because I thought that was success, but then I realized everyone gets that tank in their own way if they try, and that seemed so boring to me.

I want something that is beautiful to me and my space and that is softies that look gorgeous and colorful. Who cares if they sway? That is beautiful if I can do it right. To me -- everyone else may hate it, but I like it. Everyone likes the purple look, but I realized, while it may be the ultimate sign of success, it isn't really what I find pleasing to my eyes, and it also seems simple, however difficult it may be, because anyone can do it.

[ca1ore]

I pretty much disagree with everything you said - not much of a basis for conversation

[100%hydrophylic]

Knowingly teetering on a crash point is not very safe reef keeping, and is pretty irresponsible for the living animals in your tank.

Something somewhat different, but done before, is blue clove polyps. They will completely cover your rocks, and it will be blue, not purple

[Golden Age]

Originally Posted by ca1ore

I pretty much disagree with everything you said - not much of a basis for conversation

Hah. It's all good. I respect any successful reefer, because it isn't easy, so if you disagree with me, I don't blame you. What I am attempting seems crazy. Who doesn't like purple coralline algae and successful tree branch coral? It looks normal.

I just want to try something different and do something that isn't just purple coralline and a rehash of every other tank.

If I fail, I'l be sad, and maybe every home coral reef is meant to be purple and blue, but I'm glad I tried.

But if I succeed and make something that isn't as simple as a random purple reef tank, what will others in the future do with a tank that isn't just purple? Can you imagine the beauty? A reef tank that pushes the boundaries with new color and clarity?

WOW. I want to see what they do. Just wow.

This hobby is stagnant and very uniform right now. With the advancements we've made in the last 10-15 years, it's time to take the next step. We can do it if we look outside the box and work together and try new things instead of running in place and working against each other.

[Spork3245]

If you really, really want "different" then you should probably do a cold water tank. There is really nothing like them and the specimens able to be kept within them.
My next tank will likely be cold water depending on circumstances.

[Golden Age]

Originally Posted by 100%hydrophylic

Knowingly teetering on a crash point is not very safe reef keeping, and is pretty irresponsible for the living animals in your tank.

Something somewhat different, but done before, is blue clove polyps. They will completely cover your rocks, and it will be blue, not purple

Not gonna touch bcp, or gsp. Honestly I am having a hard enough time unacclimating pqrs (big mistake I made early, oh my beautiful, but takes over after 2 months). Thought it would join me in starting a new aquaculture, but it belongs in the ocean. Still have a couple polyps that I hope behave because they're stunning, but I'm keeping an eye on them.

If I can get either GSP or BCP on my overflow or parts of back glass without introducing chems and or superglue ill think about it, otherwise, I can't do it. Everything in my system is so sensitive now.

It's getting hard, but fascinating. Calk disappears fast and it's amazing. No dose, either. Don't want to start until I figure out why basic parameters deplete.

[mluntz]

Originally Posted by 100%hydrophylic

Knowingly teetering on a crash point is not very safe reef keeping, and is pretty irresponsible for the living animals in your tank.

First off, I totally agree with the above statement.

How long have you actually been in this hobby?

In defense of everyone here, all the tanks you see might look the same to you, but there are no two tanks that are the same. This is a very specialized and difficult hobby, which takes much education, trial, and error.

I take offense to the fact that you think all of our tanks are boring and I hope others do too. What we are all trying to create is an ecosystem full of different types of life. Yes, many of our methods are the same, but there are many different approaches to get to the same results.

The most important part of this hobby to me is learning how to be able to support all the different life forms which we house in our systems so that they can thrive and be healthy.

I wish you a lot of luck with your "one of a kind" tank. In the end, you're the one who has to look at it every day. In the meantime, the rest of us will just stare at our "stagnant and purple" tanks.

Just remember, everyone is here to help. That's the purpose of this place.

[ca1ore]

Originally Posted by mluntz

I take offense to the fact that you think all of our tanks are boring and I hope others do too.

Nah, don't take offense; beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the old saying goes. The premise that all reef tanks are the same is, of course, a preposterous one. By the same notion, all houses are the same because they use doors and windows.

Look, if one has been in the hobby as long as I have, you'd have an appreciation for how much progress has been made. It iS now possible to keep a lot of these animals successfully that were pipe dreams a decade ago. If that's 'stagnation', sign me up.

A quick perusal of this forum shows a bewildering array of different styles, aquascapes and livestock choices - both inverts and verts. Plenty of softie dominated, clam tanks, anemone tanks ...... and on and on.

As is said, I pretty much disagree with everything that OP said ..... but that's what makes things interesting.

[sublime9182]

Originally Posted by Golden Age

Not gonna touch bcp, or gsp. Honestly I am having a hard enough time unacclimating pqrs (big mistake I made early, oh my beautiful, but takes over after 2 months). Thought it would join me in starting a new aquaculture, but it belongs in the ocean. Still have a couple polyps that I hope behave because they're stunning, but I'm keeping an eye on them.

If I can get either GSP or BCP on my overflow or parts of back glass without introducing chems and or superglue ill think about it, otherwise, I can't do it. Everything in my system is so sensitive now.

It's getting hard, but fascinating. Calk disappears fast and it's amazing. No dose, either. Don't want to start until I figure out why basic parameters deplete.

Your basic parameters are depleting because your corals are using them...

[Vilas]

I have been out of the hobby for ten years,and have seen some startling, and sometimes stunning, differences. I am all for ground breakers, though my own tank will be very retro. It is what I know and trust.
We all count on the ground breakers to move us all along, even if we don't agree. If he fails, well, that is his money and problem. If he creates something amazing, we will give him kudos.
For now, I will stick to my outdated methods that have worked, while reading like a mad woman. In the long term, I will learn from ground breakers. The change from 2001 until now is flabbergasting to me. People keep things that I would have eaten them alive for way back when. No one could keep things I see regularly in reefs today.