Rock From Beach Good Or Bad

HI ALL I WAS WONDERING FOR ABOUT 2 MONTHS NOW IVE HAD ROCK I GOT FROM THE BEACH (ON THE SAND OUT OF THE WATER WHEN I GOT IT) AND MY TANK HASEN'T BEEN RIGHT SINCE? WONDERIN IF IT IS DOING DAMAGE.asap!!

 

It may well be doing your tank some non-reversible damage.. It has always amazed me the way people will set up a quarantine tank fr their fish And will go out and pay big $$$$ for some nasty looking Live rock then toss that right into their tanks with never a concern of disease or damage...
That being said I have not ran a quarantine tank in 30+ yrs and I have never used a single piece of L/R or sand in 15 yrs.. Maybe be longer ?

Now with a rock you picked up from a beach and putting into your tank There can be no way of telling what you may have added could be a bacterial infection or that rock may have a hidden predator in it ? But then again it may well be a rock full of lethal minerals or metals ?

If you could explain what you mean by ( AND MY TANK HASEN'T BEEN RIGHT SINCE? ) Maybe we could offer more places to look for a fix to your tanks decline ..

 

hi there thank you heaps for your reply, ok well there would be no preditor in it there were no spaces in it but i may have had some lethal bacteria? Basicaly i have had the rock in there for a while and it sppears that the live rock has lost most of it's corraline alge with only a bit left? Most of the rock has brown fury alge on it now....
The calcium and carb hardnes levels have been correct and the only trouble has been phosphate, so ive been using phospahte spong in the canister filter and it's taking a while to bring it down. Ive also gone to doing 40% water changes weekly now. Also just got a metal halide light which has 2 actinic globs aswell. So see what u think? PLus my star fish keep dieing!

 

When you change your water, are you using RO/DI water for you new water? Have you tested your water for phosphate? The reason your starfish are dying, you have algea, and your rock doesn't have coraline is probably related to high phosphates. 40% water change every week is kind of on the high end to be doing all the time too, i wonder if that may be stressing the life in your tank, just a thought.

Test your water and let us know what the measurements are. calcium, alkalinity, and phosphates at a minimum.

Best wishes,

Ryan

 

One good word of advice when it comes to saltwater tanks is Checkdown!!! Basically it is comparable to a quarterback in football who checks on every option(wide receiver, Tight end, running back) to find the right person to be open. Basically the same hold true with the saltwater hobby.
You have to start with the basics(water parameters) first-DID YOUR TANK CYCLE CORRECTLY AND THOROUGHLY!!!??? If these are fine. Move on to the next checkdown. for example am I feeding to much, are my light bulbs new or do they need to be replaced?
In the case of the algae, you said you just got a new metal halide light. That could be the problem with regards to the spur of microalgae growth! Possibly you are ffeding too much food as well. What are you feeding, how much and how often?
40% water change is not a good habit to get into weekly, bi weekly or even monthly! The reason for this is stress on living organisms, possible drastic changes, due to human error, with regards to salinity, temp, pH and alkalinity for example. I would suggest doing a small 5-10% water change weekly therefore reducing the possibility of these arising. The other benefits of small changes weekly are, adding trace minerals(strontium, calcium, iodine etc.) and vitamins to replenish them lost due to absorbtion by corals, fish and inverts or removed by your protein skimmer. You are also removing some dirty water and replacing it with clean water-also you are removing some of the excess nutrients found in your water column from livestock defication, excess food and carbon dioxide due to respiration, photosynthesis and denitrification...
One last thing about phosphates and microalgae- a phosphate reactor and macroalgae will help to reduce the onslaught of bad algae. diatoms and silicates, by competing for the same nutrients. Also bulbs toward the red end of the spectrum have been proven to aid in the growth of microalgae!!!!
well, I'm done writing for now as I don't want to waste too much of your time or discourage you from keeping a saltwater tank-just want to make you aware of what to look out for when a problem arises!
Make sure to go slow and do alot of reading to help you to better understand, learn and be able to handle what bumps may arise down the road, confidently and correctly.

 

Where did you get the rock from? I wouldnt trust anything from the oceans around hong kong/macau or any of these over populated areas... cos there sure are a lot of heavy metals as well as other things in the water around these parts...lol

 

OH my god guys some huge replys you have given me? Im not that smart about all this but im giving it a go. My phospahte is around 0.5ppm and nitrate is 20ppm. You would all have to agree both readings are still high but they have come down. The skimmer wasn't collecting any b4 but gave it a good clean and is working better now. I took the rock out that was from the ocean. I live in AUSTRALIA near sydney so that is the pacific ocean. 40 % water changes are high i know i chose to do them so i could get rid of the high phosephate levels. Also been useing the phosphate spong in the canister philter which i take out every couple of days, cook it in the oven which recharges it and put it back in the filter. Pink has come back on the rock so its getting better. The tank actually took nearly 2 months to cycle, all the fish a wonderful and couldn't be healthier but its the just the coral im having trouble with. carb hardness level is at 200ppm, calcium is 400ppm aswell. P.H is 8.3. Brown alge comes up quite quickly aswell. Not suer wat that question meant about RO/DI means can someone explain!! When i add new water i but it in a 50 ltr tub, mix salt and then conditioner. IM also useing all trace elments aswell. Should i think about using a calcium reactor? One last thing my wate has been hanging round 24-28 so would the warmer be doing real harm?Prob gotta spend some morrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre money and get a chiller soon, Thank heaps guys and girls.
dave
p.s if anyone as any more ideas please add! cheers

 

dont think you will need a chiller in sydney... ac ouple of fans should do you fine. RO/DI reverse osmosis De-ionised water... but im pretty sure your safe on that as well with australia tap water... just out of curiosity...besides cleaning the phos sponge have you cleaned your cannister lately? and how old is the sponge... it might be leaking it back into ur system...what else are you running in your cannister... how old is the rest of the media in your cannister... these all could lead to a nitrate build up...last but not least... how big is your puffer? what type of puffer? maybe he has been sliming a lot...ive had a couple of puffers before...and i remember they put my system out of whack for a couple of weeks when they were stressed...

 

Save yourself some money and just buy a good fan. Just have to continually add fresh water to compensate for evaporation. Possibly invest in a top-off kit to aleviate that problem!

 

You have a large bioload for a 60 gallon tank. You are going to have to have a top of the line skimmer if you want to keep all those fish and corals too.
RO/DI water means that the tap water goes through a reverse osmosis filter and then a deionized resin bed this is to ensure you are using top quality water and not adding the phosphates or other impurities to your tank when you do water changes.

Jim