Why Are My Live Rocks Brown?

cara

cara

"A MORRAY EEL!!"
Oct 11, 2004
37
0
0
Illinois
:confused: My new tank is almost done cycling. I was growing a nice carpet of brown algae all over everything but now that my tank is evening out it seems to be dissapearing. However, two of my live rocks (the ones that have been in the tank the whole time. I added more two weeks ago.) are so brown and gross. Are they dead or do I just need to add some hermit crabs and snails when my tank has completed cycling? (p.s.- can you kill your rock?) :confused:
 
The bacteria int he rock can be killed, and the organisms that live on the rock can be killed. If you had really high spikes, things like corals may have died off, but sponges and algaes are usually okay. How much light is on the tank? What was on the rock when you purchased it?

Some cleaners will certainly help deal with the algae issue.
 
What would it look like?

The rocks seem to be dried up, I think the bacteria has been killed. Nothing else was living on them, I haven't added any polyups or anything like that to the rocks. Can bacteria grow back? :confused:
 
What do you mean, dried up? As in, out of the tank, sitting in the open air? If so, this will kill the bacteria...The colonies will re-establish themselves (new colonies will grow, the existing dry ones will not come back), given the appropriate environment.
 
no, not in the air

No, they are still in the tank and have never been in the air except for the ten seconds it takes to quick dump them in the tank. They are no longer "slimy". Not that they are super slick but they don't seem to have anything growing on them. I don't know, my cleaner shrimp has moved onto better and newer rocks. Could it have cleaned them off?
 
cara said:
No, they are still in the tank and have never been in the air except for the ten seconds it takes to quick dump them in the tank. They are no longer "slimy". Not that they are super slick but they don't seem to have anything growing on them. I don't know, my cleaner shrimp has moved onto better and newer rocks. Could it have cleaned them off?
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Go to a bookstore and buy a book (ANY book) on creating and maintaining marine aquariums, the book will answer most, if not all, of your questions.
 
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