EXPERTS - Why is this happening?

gb530 · 07/15/2012, 11:57 AM

I ordered 95 lbs of live rock from my LFS for my new 90g reef tank. The rock I purchase is the synthetic man made rock that comes from Los Angeles. Not only is the rock cured for over 6 months before shipped to my LFS but has been sitting in their tanks for over 6 months. My tank has been up and running with the live rock in it for almost a month.

The problem/question: My tank is still reading low levels of nitrites (tested 2 different ways). How long does the typical nitrite period last? Shouldn't it have been almost instant because I was using all 100% live rock? (other readings: No ammonia, and low readings of Nitrates)

So I brought the water to my LFS and they tested it. They were kind of shocked and didn't know why because it has been almost a month. So they tested their water that the live rock they sold me is in. (the synthetic rock they sell is in a 120g tank, full to the top). That tank in their shop was reading low levels of nitrite! .... Why is this happening? Has anyone dealt with the synthetically made live rock from LA? Could it be the rock? Could there be a way that its throwing off false readings?

I found the same rock I have being sold online here: http://www.pacificeastaquaculture.co...-Prodview.html

Thanks in advance for any help!

gb530 · 07/15/2012, 02:22 PM

Anybody!?

sczlars · 07/15/2012, 03:36 PM

Bizarre. Try posting in the chemistry forum.. you may get more responses there. --Lars

gb530 · 07/15/2012, 03:39 PM

Thanks, good idea! .... Just posted in here because I'm somewhat of a noob!

zachfishman · 07/15/2012, 04:39 PM

Hopefully the synthetic rock isn't slowly leaching ammonia. Do you test your water with the same brand of kit as your LFS? It could simply be that the kit isn't reading properly, or is ambiguous at low levels.

gb530 · 07/15/2012, 07:35 PM

yes, me and the fish store have the same testing kits. BUT they have two different ones at the LFS and we used both. So its been tested by two different testing kits.

So your saying that it could be leaching Ammonia (Which I tested and is 0) but is quickly turning into nitrite? (which is keeping the tank at a low level of nitrite)

Steve175 · 07/16/2012, 06:54 AM

You stumped me with this on the chemistry forum as well . . . I suspect that it will eventually settle out with regular water exchanges and tincture of time.

bluewater921 · 07/16/2012, 07:10 AM

synthetic .. that is the key word .. is it a micro rock .. a lot of tiny holes in it ?? it sounds like also you might still be cycling .. your tank is going to cycle no matter what you do or where you bought the rock from .. a fresh starting closed system is going to cycle .. if you can take a pic of your test and show us what your dealing with . but the best thing to try and bring it down .. water changes .. skimmer .. just go slow ..

greech · 07/16/2012, 10:52 AM

The rock looks nice but maybe the rock isn't porous enough to provide enough surface area for beneficial bacteria to colonize on? In other words, you may not have enough bacteria to convert the trites to trates.

ramdude · 07/16/2012, 01:56 PM

Store by me has that, It does not sell at all.

owner told me it is a dye that they use on it. Maybe it's not as great as people thought ?? I dunno.

CRC88 · 07/16/2012, 03:02 PM

I have purchased this rock as well and I DO NOT recommend it. I had several weird things happen with my tank - mysterious fish death, brown slime covering all rocks, and lack of Coraline algae - and when I removed this rock from my tank, it all went away after a month.

After looking at this rock when it had been dried, it appears that this company applies paint to the surface of the rock to mimic the look of coraline algae. It honestly looks like the "splatter paint" stuff you see kids playing with. In addition, it's all synthetic rock, which looks like some form of concrete poured into a mold. I cant imagine anything good comes from concrete, and especially the paint. If you're getting weird reading from the tank, I'd guess it was the rock.

I bought this stuff when I was brand new to the hobby, thinking it was great rock, but after seeing other rock, I realized it's a ripoff! The amount of life you get on other forms of live rock is many times greater than that for this rock. It's just not worth it. I'm all for lessening our environmental impact on coral reefs - but sometimes you just need the real thing. This is not a place where I think the "synthetic" live rock is a valid replacement for real live rock.

gb530 · 07/16/2012, 06:13 PM

We'll we re-tested my water today at the LFS and it is now reading levels of Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate (So weird).

I have returned by rock and will trade it out for some real rock. Kind of a pain to move 95 lbs of rock but whatever, I'm just glad my LFS is cool!

I would not recommend buying this rock. Its called "Real Reef Live Rock", it very purple (and not from algae but from the dye they use). The rock is not that porus.

bluewater921 · 07/16/2012, 07:19 PM

glad your LFS is that way .. some are not .. really hope it all works out for you .. hope to give us a update with pix ..

gb530 · 07/16/2012, 08:55 PM

Thanks bluewater, the live rock I returned isnt cheap either (at $8/lb). Now I gotta decide on which live rock to get. Any suggestions?

Also, do any of you think the water has been compromised in the tank?

gb530 · 08/25/2012, 06:02 PM

I went with live Fiji rock at $6.99 /lb for 100 lbs and received it about 3 weeks ago. My tank fully cycled 4 days ago and I did a 50% water change yesterday. I now have some snails, a couple hermits, and a couple green chromis in the tank and will wait about another week/5 days before putting my already purchased true percs in the tank.

The Fiji rock is great and very porus. I'm very happy with the real stuff and thought I would share some pics with you guys/gals...

Day 2 of rock being in the tank

Just took this today (24 days after rock has been in tank)

SaltyWenStirred · 08/25/2012, 06:18 PM

That looks awesome. I'm on day 15 of my tank with 35 lbs of dry fiji rock ($2.48) and 4 lbs. of live rock ($6.99/lb). I couldn't bring myself to pay for all life rock.

gb530 · 08/25/2012, 09:07 PM

The dry rock you got looks sweet! Thanks for posting a pic! .... Yeah, I feel you on getting 100% live, I only did because I worked out a website trade with my LFS.

Good luck with your tank!

ltlevil · 08/25/2012, 09:30 PM

I just tried/am trying some Pukani and BRS Reef Saver. I think from now on I'll stick with the Reef Saver. It locks together nicely and looks natural, no pests or leeching etc... I guess I'm a little anal about that because I gave a muriatic acid bath to the Pukani and although I didn't need to I gave a quick dip of the Reef Saver if nothing else to disolve some of the smaller stuff to keep the tank clean. I somehow ended up with a piece of that same looking rock as you described. I couldn't figure out what it was so I broke it half. Virtually no pores to speak of. On top of that the paint or whatever it is, seals off what little pores there are, so really it looks to me to be useless. Glad you got it straight looking good now.

ryeguyy84 · 08/26/2012, 07:06 AM

Hmm I used some real reef rocks as a base for my other live rock and never had any issues. Of course it's now pink with real coraline instead of purple.

Chaotic Reefer4u · 08/26/2012, 11:13 AM

Glad it worked out for you, thanks for sharing!

gb530 · 09/19/2012, 12:20 AM

Got the tank finally going now. Added two clowns and a few corals since the last pic. Brown algae is completely gone now too.

Check it:

Cymonous · 09/19/2012, 05:53 AM

Looking good!

Motish · 09/19/2012, 06:04 AM

Don't panic if green hair algae comes next... Just another phase many new tanks are going through. It will go away

pop0tart · 09/19/2012, 09:27 AM

I have a question here: The one person's fiji live looks about the same as the other person's base rock. Shouldn't one expect live rock to be covered in the purple/red stuff, worms, etc., or is that an outdated notion? I always seed base rock with a few pieces of live rock, and the live rock sticks out like a sore thumb for the first few months till the base rock turns purple

gb530 · 09/20/2012, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Motish

Don't panic if green hair algae comes next... Just another phase many new tanks are going through. It will go away

For sure, the rock now has a green tint as you can see from the pic. I don't think its green hair algae or slime. Anyone know if this green will stick around? (I wouldn't mind it)

Quote:

Originally Posted by pop0tart

I have a question here: The one person's fiji live looks about the same as the other person's base rock. Shouldn't one expect live rock to be covered in the purple/red stuff, worms, etc., or is that an outdated notion? I always seed base rock with a few pieces of live rock, and the live rock sticks out like a sore thumb for the first few months till the base rock turns purple

Are you talking about my tank? ... All my rock is 100% "live" rock from Fiji ... The "live" rock I got was basically dead, lol, shipped on a boat from Fiji didn't help.

07/15/2012, 11:57 AM	#1
gb530 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 492	EXPERTS - Why is this happening? I ordered 95 lbs of live rock from my LFS for my new 90g reef tank. The rock I purchase is the synthetic man made rock that comes from Los Angeles. Not only is the rock cured for over 6 months before shipped to my LFS but has been sitting in their tanks for over 6 months. My tank has been up and running with the live rock in it for almost a month. The problem/question: My tank is still reading low levels of nitrites (tested 2 different ways). How long does the typical nitrite period last? Shouldn't it have been almost instant because I was using all 100% live rock? (other readings: No ammonia, and low readings of Nitrates) So I brought the water to my LFS and they tested it. They were kind of shocked and didn't know why because it has been almost a month. So they tested their water that the live rock they sold me is in. (the synthetic rock they sell is in a 120g tank, full to the top). That tank in their shop was reading low levels of nitrite! .... Why is this happening? Has anyone dealt with the synthetically made live rock from LA? Could it be the rock? Could there be a way that its throwing off false readings? I found the same rock I have being sold online here: http://www.pacificeastaquaculture.co...-Prodview.html Thanks in advance for any help!

07/15/2012, 04:39 PM	#5
zachfishman Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: St Petersburg, FL Posts: 3,577	Hopefully the synthetic rock isn't slowly leaching ammonia. Do you test your water with the same brand of kit as your LFS? It could simply be that the kit isn't reading properly, or is ambiguous at low levels. __________________ Patience is a reefer's best tool. Secret Xenia lover. M.S. Marine Biology Staff - Marine Discovery Center, St. Petersburg FL Tampa Bay Reef Club BOD 2018 Current Tank Info: 34g modded Solana

07/16/2012, 06:54 AM	#7
Steve175 Registered Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 1,186	You stumped me with this on the chemistry forum as well . . . I suspect that it will eventually settle out with regular water exchanges and tincture of time. __________________ Steve ---------------------------------- Current Tank Info: 2 separate 250G bowfront rimless ELOS tanks plumbed to 260G sump, 220G refugium, 220G frag, BK DeLuxe 300, 400W MH x4, closed loops, 3/4hp chiller x2, Phos reactor, Kalk reactor, Charcoal reactor, Ca reactor, 60G surge tanks, & a huge elec bill

07/16/2012, 07:10 AM	#8
bluewater921 Registered Member. Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: melbourne fla Posts: 605	synthetic .. that is the key word .. is it a micro rock .. a lot of tiny holes in it ?? it sounds like also you might still be cycling .. your tank is going to cycle no matter what you do or where you bought the rock from .. a fresh starting closed system is going to cycle .. if you can take a pic of your test and show us what your dealing with . but the best thing to try and bring it down .. water changes .. skimmer .. just go slow .. __________________ if i was a fish i would play on the reef & swim in the surf Current Tank Info: 180 in the wall reef

07/16/2012, 10:52 AM	#9
greech Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 3,133	The rock looks nice but maybe the rock isn't porous enough to provide enough surface area for beneficial bacteria to colonize on? In other words, you may not have enough bacteria to convert the trites to trates. __________________ ~Graham Current Tank Info: Tank: 40 breeder; 20H sump w/SWC 120; Sicce 3.0 return; Vortech MP-10; Sundial T5, DIY Actinic LED (3W Cree). Livestock: Pair of Black & Whites; Midas Blenny; Firefish; Yasha/pistol; Black Leopard Wrasse; LPS and SPS

07/15/2012, 02:22 PM	#2
gb530 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 492	Anybody!?

07/15/2012, 03:36 PM	#3
sczlars Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Santa Cruz, California Posts: 206	Bizarre. Try posting in the chemistry forum.. you may get more responses there. --Lars

07/15/2012, 03:39 PM	#4
gb530 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 492	Thanks, good idea! .... Just posted in here because I'm somewhat of a noob!

07/15/2012, 07:35 PM	#6
gb530 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 492	yes, me and the fish store have the same testing kits. BUT they have two different ones at the LFS and we used both. So its been tested by two different testing kits. So your saying that it could be leaching Ammonia (Which I tested and is 0) but is quickly turning into nitrite? (which is keeping the tank at a low level of nitrite)

07/16/2012, 01:56 PM	#10
ramdude Registered Member Join Date: May 2012 Location: Glen Burnie, MD Posts: 70	Store by me has that, It does not sell at all. owner told me it is a dye that they use on it. Maybe it's not as great as people thought ?? I dunno.

07/16/2012, 03:02 PM	#11
CRC88 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Delaware Posts: 182	I have purchased this rock as well and I DO NOT recommend it. I had several weird things happen with my tank - mysterious fish death, brown slime covering all rocks, and lack of Coraline algae - and when I removed this rock from my tank, it all went away after a month. After looking at this rock when it had been dried, it appears that this company applies paint to the surface of the rock to mimic the look of coraline algae. It honestly looks like the "splatter paint" stuff you see kids playing with. In addition, it's all synthetic rock, which looks like some form of concrete poured into a mold. I cant imagine anything good comes from concrete, and especially the paint. If you're getting weird reading from the tank, I'd guess it was the rock. I bought this stuff when I was brand new to the hobby, thinking it was great rock, but after seeing other rock, I realized it's a ripoff! The amount of life you get on other forms of live rock is many times greater than that for this rock. It's just not worth it. I'm all for lessening our environmental impact on coral reefs - but sometimes you just need the real thing. This is not a place where I think the "synthetic" live rock is a valid replacement for real live rock. __________________ Here goes nothin! Current tank info: 90g mixed reef w/ refugium, macro algae, 40lbs LS, 85lbs LR. Total water volume ~105gal. 4xT5 with 90W LED supplement. Reef Octo NWB150. 3,500+ GPH flow.

07/16/2012, 06:13 PM	#12
gb530 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 492	We'll we re-tested my water today at the LFS and it is now reading levels of Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate (So weird). I have returned by rock and will trade it out for some real rock. Kind of a pain to move 95 lbs of rock but whatever, I'm just glad my LFS is cool! I would not recommend buying this rock. Its called "Real Reef Live Rock", it very purple (and not from algae but from the dye they use). The rock is not that porus.

07/16/2012, 07:19 PM	#13
bluewater921 Registered Member. Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: melbourne fla Posts: 605	glad your LFS is that way .. some are not .. really hope it all works out for you .. hope to give us a update with pix .. __________________ if i was a fish i would play on the reef & swim in the surf Current Tank Info: 180 in the wall reef

07/16/2012, 08:55 PM	#14
gb530 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 492	Thanks bluewater, the live rock I returned isnt cheap either (at $8/lb). Now I gotta decide on which live rock to get. Any suggestions? Also, do any of you think the water has been compromised in the tank?

08/25/2012, 06:02 PM	#15
gb530 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 492	I went with live Fiji rock at $6.99 /lb for 100 lbs and received it about 3 weeks ago. My tank fully cycled 4 days ago and I did a 50% water change yesterday. I now have some snails, a couple hermits, and a couple green chromis in the tank and will wait about another week/5 days before putting my already purchased true percs in the tank. The Fiji rock is great and very porus. I'm very happy with the real stuff and thought I would share some pics with you guys/gals... Day 2 of rock being in the tank Just took this today (24 days after rock has been in tank) __________________ 90g SPS Dominant, ATI 6x54w T5HO + Reef Brite LED blue strip, Reef Octopus XS-160 Skimmer, DIY algae scrubber, and other cool stuff

08/25/2012, 06:18 PM	#16
SaltyWenStirred Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 245	That looks awesome. I'm on day 15 of my tank with 35 lbs of dry fiji rock ($2.48) and 4 lbs. of live rock ($6.99/lb). I couldn't bring myself to pay for all life rock. __________________ Innovative Marine 38g Nuvo Tank; Skkye 92W LED light Innovative Marine AuqaGadget - Skimmate Protein Skimmer, midsize Innovative Marine MiniMax All-In-One Media Reactor (PhosGuard) Nikon D90 35mm

08/25/2012, 09:07 PM	#17
gb530 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 492	The dry rock you got looks sweet! Thanks for posting a pic! .... Yeah, I feel you on getting 100% live, I only did because I worked out a website trade with my LFS. Good luck with your tank! __________________ 90g SPS Dominant, ATI 6x54w T5HO + Reef Brite LED blue strip, Reef Octopus XS-160 Skimmer, DIY algae scrubber, and other cool stuff

08/25/2012, 09:30 PM	#18
ltlevil Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 60	I just tried/am trying some Pukani and BRS Reef Saver. I think from now on I'll stick with the Reef Saver. It locks together nicely and looks natural, no pests or leeching etc... I guess I'm a little anal about that because I gave a muriatic acid bath to the Pukani and although I didn't need to I gave a quick dip of the Reef Saver if nothing else to disolve some of the smaller stuff to keep the tank clean. I somehow ended up with a piece of that same looking rock as you described. I couldn't figure out what it was so I broke it half. Virtually no pores to speak of. On top of that the paint or whatever it is, seals off what little pores there are, so really it looks to me to be useless. Glad you got it straight looking good now.

08/26/2012, 07:06 AM	#19
ryeguyy84 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: New Jersey Posts: 2,753	Hmm I used some real reef rocks as a base for my other live rock and never had any issues. Of course it's now pink with real coraline instead of purple. __________________ Current tank: 90G mixed reef. Current Tank Info: 90 gallon

08/26/2012, 11:13 AM	#20
Chaotic Reefer4u ♥Acropora Aficionado♥ Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hollister,Ca. Posts: 5,163	Glad it worked out for you, thanks for sharing! __________________ Live everyday as if it was your last, take time to smell the flowers, enjoy all things living, never take anything for granted, you just never know when your number might be up... Current Tank Info: * 90g. Reef Ready TruVu tank with 30g. Platinum Filtration Series Sump SpS Acro enthusiast *

09/19/2012, 12:20 AM	#21
gb530 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Northern California Posts: 492	Got the tank finally going now. Added two clowns and a few corals since the last pic. Brown algae is completely gone now too. Check it: __________________ 90g SPS Dominant, ATI 6x54w T5HO + Reef Brite LED blue strip, Reef Octopus XS-160 Skimmer, DIY algae scrubber, and other cool stuff

09/19/2012, 05:53 AM	#22
Cymonous My Clown Attacks Me Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Akron, OH Posts: 2,105	Looking good! __________________ 100 Gallon Long with 20L sump 10 Gallon Office Tank Current Tank Info: 2 False Percula Clowns, One Spot Foxface, Diamond Watchman Goby, Yellow Tail Damsel, Engineer Goby

09/19/2012, 06:04 AM	#23
Motish Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 148	Don't panic if green hair algae comes next... Just another phase many new tanks are going through. It will go away

09/19/2012, 09:27 AM	#24
pop0tart Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Central PA Posts: 128	I have a question here: The one person's fiji live looks about the same as the other person's base rock. Shouldn't one expect live rock to be covered in the purple/red stuff, worms, etc., or is that an outdated notion? I always seed base rock with a few pieces of live rock, and the live rock sticks out like a sore thumb for the first few months till the base rock turns purple