Jonathan Gonzales Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 Hey guys and gals, This weekend I will be at the 4 week mark since I first added water, live sand, and dry rock to my tank. I will be getting the water tested Saturday to see if it's ready to start adding. My question is when can I start adding coral? I'm looking for primarily soft corals (zoas, gsp, and maybe xenia) and some acans. Any ideas of when I can start adding any of these to a new tank? Assuming the water quality is on point. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devildog1986 Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 Hey guys and gals, This weekend I will be at the 4 week mark since I first added water, live sand, and dry rock to my tank. I will be getting the water tested Saturday to see if it's ready to start adding. My question is when can I start adding coral? I'm looking for primarily soft corals (zoas, gsp, and maybe xenia) and some acans. Any ideas of when I can start adding any of these to a new tank? Assuming the water quality is on point. Thanks! Congrats man, That's always the exciting part. If you are gonna add an anemone. Add that first before any other coral. Once they stay set in a certain location you can add the rest. They tend to move until they find a comfortable happy spot. As, long as your water test is good, you should be able to add coral. Just make sure you have proper levels. If adding sps make sure alkalinity, magnesium, and calcium are at the proper levels and you have an adequate amount of light for them, as well as flow. Only other piece of advice I'd give you, is don't go crazy with corals, I know it might me tempting but if you do, your tank will suffer. Although you have a good amount of bacteria, you don't have enough to support 4 or 5 corals yet. Start with 1 coral the first month and work on building a copepod population. If you start doing this first. It will do wonders for your tank. Good luck! Look forward to pics. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 Hey Jonathan, looks like you're getting close to an exciting phase of owning an aquarium! I see that you've added live sand, but did not add live rock. In my experience a tank, a tank matures much more quickly with live rock than with live sand. Having live sand certainly helps, and adding a few pieces of live rock to your dry rock also significantly helps speed up the process, but it does not typically lead to a mature tank as quickly as adding live sand AND live rock at the beginning. A lot of people give a tank a couple of months to mature when adding only dry rock, and I would venture on the conservative side and say you may still need more time to let the bacterial and microbial populations really take hold and settle in. A lot of the tests you'll be conducting won't show that this has happened. Ammonia and nitrate tests will help signify that you're out of the main cycling phase, but it's my opinion that the majority of the microbes involved in proper nutrient cycling take longer after ammonia/nitrate cycling has died down to become truly capable of supporting large bioloads in the tank. That's just my opinion, in my experience tanks do much better and have fewer nutrient issues when given plenty of time to mature before throwing livestock into a tank. Too much livestock too quickly can lead to algae blooms. And considering you're starting with dry rock, which is building it's nutrient cycling capabilities up from scratch, I would err on the side of caution and wait a little bit longer. All that being said, if you really want to start now I would start slowly and add the most forgiving corals first. Green star polyps (GSP) is a great beginners coral. It grows quickly, looks pretty, and pretty hardy. Some people love this coral, and other people learn to hate it because it's so tenacious and grows so quickly. I think I left some live rock in the sun or turned it upside down in the sand once to kill it and then polyps began reappearing on the rock a few months later! It was like the trick birthday candles! Xenia is also a good beginner coral, perhaps more delicate, but still notorious for fast growth and difficulty to eradicate in a healthy system. Mushrooms and kenya tress are good start corals as well. Whatever you decide to add, add it slowly. Acclimate the corals, dip them to prevent any pests from entering the tank, and don't add too much livestock too quickly. Good things take time, and our fish tanks are a great way to practice patience! Best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BornToHula Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 I agree with Gig em, 4 weeks may be a bit soon for a full cycle with dry rock and live sand unless you have been using some additives that specifically speeds things up. I just did a cycle myself with dry rock/live sand and used a product (Red Sea Mature) that helps cycle the tank and it still took 7-8 weeks. Definitely get your water tested though! If your tank hasn't fully cycled they will be able to tell you what stage you are at. Its hard to be patient at this stage but it pays off later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 I wouldn't add the anemone first. When I first started my tank I threw in a bunch of different types and they all perished. They do better in a well established tank but if you are going to do one start with a rock anenome. Also for the xenia and gsp I wouldn't add either unless that's the type of tank your looking for. Probably start with mushrooms then move to leathers. We have C4 coming up on the 27th so there will be a lot of other type of corals to choose from and you can bounce your ideas from the vendors and members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 Dry rock takes about a year to colonize. I haven't had good success adding lps or sps before 12 weeks. You may be able to add some gsp, but it well probably lose color. I wouldn't add a cuc because there isn't enough food to support them. Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 I'd buy a cheap testing kit (api) and be testing ammonia daily until your ammonia is zero, then every other day test nitrites until nitrites are zero. once they are both zero, you have cycled. test phosphates/nitrates 2x/week at first, and make sure they are stable. 4 weeks might be too soon for coral, I'd add a cheap "test" fish first.. green chromis is always good for this. watch the new cycle once the fish is in place. once stabilized (about 1-2 weeks later) its generally safe to start adding softies. They wont look nice and "full" like at the store at first, as your tank hasn't matured, but over time they will. Just remember, each item you add starts its own cycle... overtime these cycles "sync" and you are set. re anemones.... "in soviet russia, you don't own anemone, anemone owns you" If you do plan on one, you might want to wait until the tank matures a bit, but knowing that, plan on having to move corals around until he stops playing tag with them. (its a P.I.T.F.A.) Last but not least... PATIENCE. try not to "chase numbers" on your tests. Ie.. on one day if you nitrates at 20, dont go crazy w/ a 50% water change. wait a day, see if its still 20 the next day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Gonzales Posted August 11, 2016 Author Share Posted August 11, 2016 Thanks for all of the advice! I think I will get a fish to hold me over. Then maybe try adding a soft coral a week or two after. When would you say a tank has matured? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Are you planning on having a cleanup crew? Did you have your diatom bloom yet? I found this site which is pretty inline w/ the conventional thinking on the initial cycle. It goes in depth on various things... good read: http://saltwateraquariumhobby.com/saltwater-aquarium-cycling/nitrogen-cycle/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted August 14, 2016 Share Posted August 14, 2016 To start with you really need your own set of test kits. Some parameters like pH and Alkalinity can change in the time it takes to run to a LFS. I would be adding easy corals right away to start competing with algae for nutrients. (See BobbyB3's build thread in my mentor section.) There is a big difference between cycling a tank and maturing a tank. With properly QTed live rock and some sand and water from another system you can bypass the initial cycling but it still will take 8-12 months for a system to mature. If you are set on having an anemone design your aquascaping so there's a rock they can attach to but is separate by 5" or 6" or more from the rest of the aquascaping to minimize them killing stuff when they decide to go walking. For CUC in my tanks I use one of the shortspine urchins (they scrub the algae holdfasts off rocks) and a few hermits for help eating algae and brittle stars for finding uneaten food under rocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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