I recently jumped back into the reef world and have started a 7 gallon nano reef tank. I bought Carib Sea Aragalive Pink Fiji sand, and 10 lbs of cured rock from my LFS. My parameters have been very steady, and I’ve only seen a slight rise in ammonia (no more than .5 ppm) and have seen somewhere between 5-10 ppm nitrates within the last day or two. All API testing.
I’m a bit concerned that my live rock isn’t showing much life… I’m not sure if I believe the coloring is actual coralline algae or just paint. No pods, no dusters, hitchhikers, nada. I’m also seeing some brown algae (maybe diatoms)? Can I be sure that this rock has been fully cured? What kind of cycling process can I expect?
So much has changed in the 10 years since I stopped. Live rock seems to be harder to come by, and there’s a lot of dry, painted stuff out there (not bad, just different than what I remember).
![5B3874C2-A02C-4D63-AC6E-F5AA65C6E50A.jpeg 5B3874C2-A02C-4D63-AC6E-F5AA65C6E50A.jpeg](https://test.reef2reef.com/data/attachments/2629/2629294-236be6d5d61563b6c8e5e8f7c78b7ad9.jpg)
I’m a bit concerned that my live rock isn’t showing much life… I’m not sure if I believe the coloring is actual coralline algae or just paint. No pods, no dusters, hitchhikers, nada. I’m also seeing some brown algae (maybe diatoms)? Can I be sure that this rock has been fully cured? What kind of cycling process can I expect?
So much has changed in the 10 years since I stopped. Live rock seems to be harder to come by, and there’s a lot of dry, painted stuff out there (not bad, just different than what I remember).
![4058A056-B64C-43A9-B6F2-08918D0BF7D2.jpeg 4058A056-B64C-43A9-B6F2-08918D0BF7D2.jpeg](https://test.reef2reef.com/data/attachments/2629/2629292-7af07611d14ada4afd1bbe6c13ca1ddf.jpg)
![41559F8E-57EF-4B28-919F-9947B2A86D88.jpeg 41559F8E-57EF-4B28-919F-9947B2A86D88.jpeg](https://test.reef2reef.com/data/attachments/2629/2629293-db229706323b6ea2b837d4a8b7121c82.jpg)
![5B3874C2-A02C-4D63-AC6E-F5AA65C6E50A.jpeg 5B3874C2-A02C-4D63-AC6E-F5AA65C6E50A.jpeg](https://test.reef2reef.com/data/attachments/2629/2629294-236be6d5d61563b6c8e5e8f7c78b7ad9.jpg)