My rock has funny coloured patches appearing on it!

[VickyH]

I set my new tank up last wednesday, I tested the amonia levels on monday and they were just above 1, today they have gone down and nitrite levels are high - this seems to have happened very quickly?! Now my rock and sand has lots of yellowy brown patches all over them and my rock also has a couple of bright red and green patches on it? Help!

[lotuskid]

Looks like it's the start of the normal algea bloom that newly set up tanks go through, so probably nothing to worry about. And it gets much worse before it starts getting better. Keep testing your water for Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate. If you have plenty of good quality live rock in the tank it should cycle quite quick.

[Subliminal]

Funny story:

I just set up my tank not too long ago, with a lot of good LR, and some base rock. The LR is all sorts of colors, and the base is just starting to get some color on it.

Well, my wife had a work friend over with her boyfriend, and his dad has kept a sw tank his whole life.

He tells me that if I really want my tank to shine, I should take out my rock and put it in the bathtub with a little bleach and then rinse it really good. It'll look awesome, all sparkly white.

Man. I don't use this word that much, but I was pretty indredulous, to say the least. :)

[VickyH]

I only set my tank up last week and it's got colours on already, does that mean my rock is probably live? When I bought it the bloke said it was just tuffa rock but when I got it home it had worm things in it but because it had been out of a marine tank and in tap water for so long I assumed everything would be dead!

[Reefscape]

as long as the tank is running well and the lighting is sufficient, the coroline algae will grow..what colour it grows will depend on the lighting you have..people do think that that coroline algae just appears, but, it is one of them things that will build up over months and years...

Niko

[Reefscape]

there may well be some live on it, not much i would not of thought though...

Niko

[Germanman]

yup just normal algae growth