Any harm in starting with corals in the sump?

[hmmmmm]

Just thinking out loud.. I have a big sump filled with live rock, that has been curing for a couple of months. It's going to take awhile before the DT is done due to the house nog being finished yet.

Now eventually I would like to create a living sump with easy corals such as GSP and Xenia. As a filter and to create a mat of gsp later on the bare bottom in the DT.

So I was thinking, why not get a couple of fish and inverts, put some light on it, and start the tank and easy corals up in the sump. It's kept at temperature anyway, and getting the process going before the DT is up might actually be very good for stability.

The current sump setup;

So would of questions;
1: Am I being silly? Any problems I'm not seeing?
2: Could I start it up just using inverts as a clean up crew and feeding the corals with coral food? Maybe adding some bacteria or vibrant to keep things somewhat clean.

(I cant just get a couple of fish, everything in the tanks needs to go through a lengthy QT process)

 

[PicassoClown04]

No problems! A lot of people use their sumps as permanent grow-outs and small DTs. Put a good light like an AI Prime or something and that’s your temporary DT now! Only thing I regret about AIO is no sump to make a tiny display out of

 

[92Miata]

From a general perspective - no - nothing wrong with putting fish in your sump or getting things started.

From a 'that sump' perspective - you're going to have to pull every single rock out of that thing to get any fish out.

 

[hmmmmm]

Only thing I regret about AIO is no sump to make a tiny display out of

Sounds like you need another AIO ;Smuggrin

From a general perspective - no - nothing wrong with putting fish in your sump or getting things started.

From a 'that sump' perspective - you're going to have to pull every single rock out of that thing to get any fish out.

Yes, that's why I was thinking put something in there just to keep the algea at bay. One of the lfs nearby has convict tangs for 30 bucks, that would be pretty cool.

But then I have to get going on the whole QT, I promised myself not to make the same mistakes with just throwing stuff in there. Any idea on starting it up with just bacteria and vibrant, coral food for the starter corals and see what happens?

 

[PicassoClown04]

I th

Sounds like you need another AIO ;Smuggrin



Yes, that's why I was thinking put something in there just to keep the algea at bay. One of the lfs nearby has convict tangs for 30 bucks, that would be pretty cool.

But then I have to get going on the whole QT, I promised myself not to make the same mistakes with just throwing stuff in there. Any idea on starting it up with just bacteria and vibrant, coral food for the starter corals and see what happens?

I think it’s a great idea, convict tangs do need quite a bit of space when they grow up so I hope your DT is big enough to accommodate one! I know a lot of people have permanent ‘sump monsters’ like mantis, green brittle stars, anglers, etc

 

[Jax15]

Not silly at all! Though I'd suggest just the cuc and the easier corals you mentioned. I'd wait on fish until the DT is ready, personally. Like someone else said, they'll be hard to get out, and isn't really necessary. I've seen all xenia "refugiums" before that were awesome to look at. Just a huge sump spaced filled to the brim with pulsing xenia. Pretty cool!