When Can I Add Corals?

suewolf

suewolf

New Member
I have a relatively new tank (2 months old) that has completed it's cycle. All of my readings are good, nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, etc. are all zero and my calcium is 420. I have 2 perc clown, lawnmower blenny, orange spotted gobie, sailfin tang. 5 hermit crabs, 15 astrea snails and a serpent starfish. When can I add corals? Thanks.
 
teen

teen

Active Member
youre safe to add them now. id say pick up 1 or 2 pieces at first and let them be for a month. if they do good, then you can go and get a few more.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
get some hardier corals at first. Aquacultured if you can. Zoanthids, star polyps, xenia, anthilia, etc.
Get a couple of the corals, and then see how they do for a week or two. Then you can add a couple of more. Check your parameters to see how everything is going along. Once you start adding corals, you know to feed DT's right?
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member
I wouldn't recommend xenia for a new tank. They do better in tanks with lower quality of water (new tanks fit in that category) so the stuff would grow like crazy and tank over your tank if you're not careful. You might also regret putting xenia in after a while and getting rid of it isn't fun.
Oh, and for soft coral there is no reason to feed with DTs or any other coral food, that is all for LPS and SPS. Soft coral only needs standard lighting to survive and thrive. There are a couple, like ricordias, that benefit from feeding, but they can get fed extra when you feed your fish, and it's only a benefit, not necessity.
 
teen

teen

Active Member
DT's isn't a neccessity. no feeding is really neccessary for a majority of corals.
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member

Originally Posted by metweezer
DT's??? I know you are not talking about the shakes
What are DT's?
Tks, Steve
It's a product "manufacturer" that sells phytoplankton, oyster eggs, and other items along those lines.
 
cprdnick

cprdnick

Active Member
Originally Posted by m0nk
Soft coral only needs standard lighting to survive and thrive.
You need some clarification on this so noone gets confused. Most new comers will instantly think that the NO flourescent lights that come from lows would sustain soft corals...mushrooms maybe. Not burnin you, just helping, lol.
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member
Originally Posted by cprdnick
You need some clarification on this so noone gets confused. Most new comers will instantly think that the NO flourescent lights that come from lows would sustain soft corals...mushrooms maybe. Not burnin you, just helping, lol.
Yeah, sorry, clarification: PC Fluorescent lighting with a 50/50 bulb configuration as a minimum requirement here. For PC lighting you can use the generic watts/gallon thought (not accurate, but good as a guide, for PC only!!) so that you have at least a minimum of about 2.4+ watts/gallon for almost all soft coral.
 
ninjamini

ninjamini

Active Member
Originally Posted by suewolf
I have a relatively new tank (2 months old) that has completed it's cycle. All of my readings are good, nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, etc. are all zero and my calcium is 420. I have 2 perc clown, lawnmower blenny, orange spotted gobie, sailfin tang. 5 hermit crabs, 15 astrea snails and a serpent starfish. When can I add corals? Thanks.

Your nitrates are zero at 2 months old. How did you accomplish that? What was its high? What is your: Phosphates? PH? ALK? What kinda lights do you have? What size tank.
The short answer is yes you can add corals. But honestly your going way too fast. You already have too many fish for a new tank.
2 perc clown
lawnmower blenny
orange spotted gobie
sailfin tang
You should have 1 or 2 fish. 2 months old is still in its cycle. Even if your tests are 0. There is algae blooms to come. Both hair and diatoms.
Slow is the way to go in this hobby. If you rush you will have a bad experience.
So to answer your question. Yes you can add corals. Should you is a whole other matter.
 
teen

teen

Active Member
its definetly possible to accomplish zero nitrates within the first 2 months of having a tank. why does that suprise you?
 
ninjamini

ninjamini

Active Member
Originally Posted by teen
its definetly possible to accomplish zero nitrates within the first 2 months of having a tank. why does that suprise you?

Sure if your rock came from an established tank. But not if your rock was fresh from the sea in a box like you get from this site. But hey who am I to argue. I guess with a lot of water changes...or running a macro algae...or a nitrate sponge....Well slow is the way to go in my book. But there are many books. Heck how many bibles are there. There is more than one way to skin a cat. Why skin a cat?
But really if you have raw rock from this site. Cycle it normal that will take 6-8 weeks to get past the ammonia nitrite phase. 8 weeks is where there is a large build up of nitrates. Thats what causes the hair algae bloom that is common to a new tank.
How do you get to 0 nitrates in 8 weeks?
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
Well if you cycle it, the bare bones of it is when your nitrites and ammonia are 0. There will be some nitrates, but I mean if he does enough water changes or with some other help (like skimmer or something like that) it wouldnt be too hard to have minimal nitrates.
Suewolf, I would highly recommend to you to let your tank mature for a bit. All those fish added in a short amount of time is going to be a bit of ammonia to be dealt with. Let the bioload catch up first, then add some corals. Dont want the tank to crash. Give it 2 weeks IMO, then go get some.
For coral choice, mushrooms and zoathids for the first ones are my choice. My tank is 5 months old almost and I have mushrooms, zoos, a sun coral, and green star polyps. As far as fish, a coral beauty angel and a maroon clown.
 
S

swalchemist

Guest
I can cycle a tank to zero level in about 3 weeks so I think you should be ready. The trick is to go slow and let the biosystem start to build up and come into balance. Thats where most newbies fail, they rush the balance proccess and set back the cycle.
 
suewolf

suewolf

New Member
I have a 65 gallon with 20lbs of base rock and 100 lbs of live rock. I have a canister filter, protein skimmer and UV sterilizer. The tank has clearly cycled. I tested every day and kept records. I could see the ammonia go up and then nitrite and finially the nitrates. When they created the brown algae that's when I go the Blenny. I did 10% water changes 2x a week with RO water. I then backed off to weekly water changes at about 4 weeks. I had a mini cycle when I got the goby (he turned up all of my sand) but that only lasted a week. Each fish withe exception to the clowns was added with tank maintenance in mind. The snails have done a great job with the glass and the gobie is keeping the sand clean. The sailfin and the blenny are keeping the algae on the rocks to a minimum. I will take your advice and go slower.
I know I have been lucky but part of that luck has been because of the advice and help from this board.
 
cprdnick

cprdnick

Active Member
IMHO I would take the UV sterilizer off. I mean its not bad, but you'll have better luck with you coral without it.
 
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