Live rock growth

[flounderer]

My live rock (35 lb Lalo) cured in my new tank about a month ago. I'm going thru the typical algae cycles now, which the clean up crew is handling nicely. The rock looks "dead" with respects to inverts. When can I expect to start to see all the random growth of worms, copepods, etc.... The ammonia reached 25ppm during the cycling, can inverts handle levels that high and still come back?

 

[taikonaut]

Ususally, some inverts do managed to survive the harsh cycling, and after several weeks of time, some night-time hunting for tiny critters may confirm this. Tracks and tunnel in the sand bed typically is one of the first sign that they are establishing well in the new environment.

 

[fishfanatic2]

COpepods require a system fully under way to start appearing in the large masses they are famous for.

 

[Johnsteph10]

A good way to see what life you have is to take a red light sometime after the lights have been out for a while...you will be surprised at just how many critters survived the cycling!

 

[shawn114]

I got this live rock about a month ago, and I dont know how it should look after a while. How are these?

 

[shawn114]

I trying to attach a couple of pictures so bear with me, I dont know how to do it. any help please.[/img]

 

[shawn114]

Ok, finally figured out how to use my new digital camera and it worked.
How does everything look in my 20 gal tank so far? I also have alot of white cocoons on the glass and some snail like things that are hard to get off the glass without busting them, is this normal. thanx, shawn

 

[taikonaut]

I see some pesty algae and diatom growth on the rocks, which can be problematic if it persists for too long. The purple coralline algae is good. Do you have a skimmer on that 20 gal?

 

[Anonymous]

But yes, Shawn- that stuff is all normal

 

[shawn114]

yes I have a protein skimmer and I run it all the time. How do I get rid of the pesti algae and diatoms that have formed?

 

[ChrisRD]

Time. For the first few months (sometimes more) you're going to see several algaes come and go.

Just make sure your skimmer is working well, keep-up with water changes, use quality source water (like RO/DI) and keep your feeding and stocking levels reasonable.

For the initial diatom and cyano blooms I wouldn't worry too much about having something to eat it. IME these algaes will pass on their own. For the turf/hair algaes that are coming later you'll need some veggie-eating fish/inverts to help out.

Personally, I just wait until things crop-up and deal with them on a case-by-case basis. IMO there's no sense in adding animals randomly as they may not have enough to eat down-the-road.

Just be patient, and in time things will settle down.

HTH

 

[flounderer]

I'm two months in on a new tank and my rock looked about the same as your pics, a nice coating of short hair algae. A few days ago I added 4 snails and 3 hermits (in a 29g w/35lb rock) and they knocked out the problem pretty quickly and are staying on top of it for now. Now the cyano is starting, black in the sand and red on the rocks, we'll see how this goes now. My protein skimmer (CPR BakPak) is pumping out mass quantities of sludge daily.

 

[shawn114]

I dont have any fish or inverts yet, i'll buy some red and blue legged crabs, but what kind of fish do you suggest getting that will munch on the algae, my tank is a 20 gal.