What does live rock eat

[greg97527]

phosphates are'nt too bad although 0 is what you want. that is definatley part of your problem.
NOW ur nitrates are definately unacceptable and certainly fueling ur hair algae.
How often do you feed? and how often are you doing water changes. are u using ro/di water or atleast distilled?

[jojo22]

Nitrates nor phospate readings are really bad. The only problem is that you do not know how much of these chems/compounds are being used by the problem algae therefore you don't really know what to do or what is causeing them. Just an example so everyone understands what i am saying.....You can have a problem with cyano and have a reading of 0 phos. this would be because the cyano was eating the phosphates faster than they where produced. I would not look at you test as some kind of golden key but more as a general window inside your tank. Especially when you are haveing a problem!

[a fish called marius]

There is no fish in the tank yet , it is still cycling, i think still have that verry severe diatomic bloom (brown spots) The lights is on the whole day though.
i think i can kill the algae by making the tank dark but dont know if this is best for the live rock

[jojo22]

I would leave the lights complely off thru the cycle. LR does not require and lighting and will be fine. You could even keep rock alive in a dark basement it does not make any difference.

[hummer]

good info jojo did not know that ....(lights out)is that for the whole 6 week cycle

[jojo22]

You can turn them on but it is not required. The only things that would require a light cycle are corals. I definatly would not suggest leaving them on for prolonged periods.