Bright white growth on live rock

[MikeyBoy]

Guys, any thought what this might be.
My tank has been set up for 6 weeks.
Just a few fish and inverts in it.

One rock has turned real white, almost like a crust, and two others are starting to show signs of the same.
I will try to attach a pic.

Running a wet sump on 110 with protein skimmer.

thanks,
Mike

[Tim Marvin]

It is that turbo snail cleaning the rock.

[Reef69]

Urchins can eat coraline algeae, so if you have any, that couldbe the problem...IMO

[cvonseggern]

It's also not uncommon for live rock to "bleach" when put into a new tank. Looks to me like you have a combination of that and the snail eating the coralline like Tim said. The color should return in a few weeks to a few months.

[Andrew]

Mike,

Loss of color and/or growth on LR is common in new tanks.

You also should consider buying a few test kits if you don't already have them. Calcium and Alkalinity are the two most important, especially since you're keeping stony corals. I'd test those levels (calcium and alkalinity)every few weeks adding a calium and/or buffer supplement as needed. Magnesium (test kit) is also a good one to have. I'd recommend testing every month.

HTH and welcome to the club

Andrew

[MikeyBoy]

I think you guys have pegged it.
Each and every spot it is white, there is a snail.
I think these guys are just cleaning the heck out of the rock.
Is there any risk to this? Will it hurt the rock?

I think what is coumpounding the looks is that I still have some brown algea and it isnt forming where this white is and the snails are.

[Tim Marvin]

If it was a loss of color from new rock, it would all be turning white not in spots and slowly. There is an obvious snail on the edge of the white and brown rock, cutting his path.

[MikeyBoy]

After testing a few days ago here is what I have.
I was wondering why the Alk is so high and the Ph was so low.
I bought some Proper 8.2 and brought the Ph up, but the Alk went up too.
Alk seemed to come down today, it went as high as about 6.5 yesterday

Here were the initial readings:

Alk was 3.5 now 4.8
PPH was 7.6 now 8.2 after proper
Ammon- 0
Nitrate 5
Nitrite 0


Reckon everything is okay?

[Tim Marvin]

You can drip kalk for a month or so and it will stop the spikes and keep it rock solid. It is very hard to balance it out by adding things to bring one reading up or down.

[MikeyBoy]

Will the snails cleaning the rock this badly hurt anything?
Will all the rocl eventually turn white because of the snails?

[dan203]

what kind of lighting do you have over the tank?

[MikeyBoy]

48"

2x65w Actinic
2x65w 10k

Tank is 48 wide
18 Deep
30 inches tall