Brown stuff on Live Rocks

Kellsindell

I don't agree with leaving the lights off because it's needed for other things.

tilt86

Disagree, the only thing it does is promote the bad growth of uwanted algae from the extra die off protein. Algae blooms with the lights on and you dont have any cleanup crew in there for 2-6 weeks depending on you nitrogen cycle. No clean up grew= no algae control. What is your take on it, and what other things would you need light for in a empty tank with rock,sand and water in it. Even if you buy precured live rock you will still have some dye off from shipping. Worry about growing coraline and adding color to your rock after you have a cycled healthy stable tank! If you dose it it will come

Kellsindell

There are bacterias that need the lights to grow and for the control of algae, that's why it's the first thing you put into your tank, but hey it's on def ears so i'm done.

darrelljonesdc

you should only have your lights on maybe 4 hr per day that will stop the funky looking brown stuff and increase you waterflow in your tank.

onefish2fish

at first i was sorry that i missed this, then i noticed its almost a year old thread.

You do NOT want to do water changes while your rock is in the tank during the cycling stage. Water changes will just prolong the cycling process. After your tank fully cycles, perform your first water change.

Lights can be left on or off during the cycling stage. Leaving lights on will promote algae growth.
Using RO/DI water from the start will decrease chances of adding nutrients and minerals that algaes feed from. However, alot of foods contain these things that will just promote algae growth so be careful when feeding and pre-rinse your frozen foods in RO water if possible as the water they come in seems to be loaded with phosphates.
Increasing flow is also a good method of keeping algaes away, you can also suck up some of the red slime in a turkey baster or syphon in thin tubing and call it a small water change.
Anyways again this is an OLD thread but i thought i would answer questions incase others are reading this since it was dug up.

Kellsindell

I acctually joined this forum so that i can try to shed some light on the guy that asked the initial question. I noticed that he wasn't getting any good info on his tanks symptoms.