Can I add fish and coral frags?

[Lucastank]

Ok! FluvaTank has been up 1 month - live sand, dry rock. I have been doing the liquid cycle, just started the trace elements to help get the tank ready.

parameters are good.

Media basket chamber 1 - filter floss, charcoal bag that came with tank. Ceramic balls that came with tank.

Chamber 2
Marine pure gems.

I have been getting a lot of mixed reviews so! My question is.

can I add fish and corals right now?
I was planning on adding 2 clown fish and like 3 coral frags. Duncan, mushroom, zoas.

I plan on finishing the bottle of good bacteria after adding everything. Keeping eye on it all.
Also will keep dosing the trace elements for the corals.

Thoughts? I appreciate it, this is why I rly like this site - lots of opinions and tips!

 

[fishski13]

Well if your cycle has finished especially making sure there is no ammonia you can definitely add something. I would probably start just with the two clowns and wait a week or two to make sure feeding the clowns doesn’t produce any ammonia to confirm the cycle has completed. Plus you want to make sure these is some nitrate in the water for the corals especially the softies and Zoas. a week to three weeks should be fine to make sure. Than I would definitely add some corals and the ones you named would be perfect to start with

 

[Tired]

If your tank can reduce 2ppm ammonia to 0ppm in 24 hours or less, it's cycled. You should generally wait to add corals until you have some solid algae growth going, potentially until you're past a chunk of the ugly stage, when in a tank cycled with dry rock. Fish are less fussy about water parameters.

No need to dose trace elements. Those are for when your tank has so much coral that they're using up trace elements faster than water changes can replace them, which you definitely don't have going on right now. A decent reef salt contains all the stuff you need for a few frags.

 

[Mschmidt]

As others have said, if your cycle is finished, which it probably is, but only testing can confirm, you're good to add fish. might be good to wait on the coral till you have detectable nitrates and phosphates, but what you talked about adding can be fed too. I like really any fish food for the duncan and any powdered for the others.

As @Tired said, don't worry about trace elements, you won't be using them quickly enough.

 

[tbrown]

This is a "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" answer. No, your tank is not ready for corals! Add the clown fish, give it a couple of weeks, check your levels frequently to ensure stability, and then slowly add coral after everything is stable.

What did I do? Set my tank up with live sand and cycled rock (not live but not decaying any more). After the water cleared I added bacteria (two different kinds), added some phyto, made sure there was no ammonia, added two clownfish, checked for ammonia the next day, started added corals.

I lost several corals. Stability is key.

 

[Lucastank]

This is a "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" answer. No, your tank is not ready for corals! Add the clown fish, give it a couple of weeks, check your levels frequently to ensure stability, and then slowly add coral after everything is stable.

What did I do? Set my tank up with live sand and cycled rock (not live but not decaying any more). After the water cleared I added bacteria (two different kinds), added some phyto, made sure there was no ammonia, added two clownfish, checked for ammonia the next day, started added corals.

I lost several corals. Stability is key.

Thanks. Appreciate it! Will be starting with the 2 fish only

 

[Tired]

Sounds like a good plan. I'd personally recommend waiting to add corals until you have a decent bit of green algae growth, and definitely don't start with anything you'd be heartbroken to lose, just in case things aren't quite ready yet.

When you add corals, you'll want to make sure you have enough nutrients. 5-10ppm nitrates, and at least 0.03ppm phosphates, is a good number for most tanks. Many soft corals will tolerate or outright enjoy higher nitrates. Just make sure you always have some of each, both for your future corals and for the beneficial algae you need to get growing.

Since you've started with dry rock, an ecosystem needs to establish itself on that, which means lots of algae. The "ugly stage" is best handled by keeping nutrients reasonable (not sky-high, but also not zero), stocking an appropriate cleanup crew, and letting it run wild for a bit. It'll all sort itself out.

 

[Lucastank]

Sounds like a good plan. I'd personally recommend waiting to add corals until you have a decent bit of green algae growth, and definitely don't start with anything you'd be heartbroken to lose, just in case things aren't quite ready yet.

When you add corals, you'll want to make sure you have enough nutrients. 5-10ppm nitrates, and at least 0.03ppm phosphates, is a good number for most tanks. Many soft corals will tolerate or outright enjoy higher nitrates. Just make sure you always have some of each, both for your future corals and for the beneficial algae you need to get growing.

Since you've started with dry rock, an ecosystem needs to establish itself on that, which means lots of algae. The "ugly stage" is best handled by keeping nutrients reasonable (not sky-high, but also not zero), stocking an appropriate cleanup crew, and letting it run wild for a bit. It'll all sort itself out.

Should i get a small cuc with the fish to start and try stay ahead of the algae boom?

 

[mdb_talon]

If you are concerned about getting conflicting answers then I don't think this thread gonna help lol. Personally I put coral you are talking about in within a couple days and don't think twice about it

 

[Tired]

You shouldn't add a cleanup crew until you have something for them to eat. Ideally, wait until you see a decent bit of green algae.

 

[mdb_talon]

Should i get a small cuc with the fish to start and try stay ahead of the algae boom?

A cuc before algae is a starving cuc. So you have to feed the cuc which may cause a larger algae issue and more issues.

 

[Lucastank]

If you are concerned about getting conflicting answers then I don't think this thread gonna help lol. Personally I put coral you are talking about in within a couple days and don't think twice about it

Ha I know it’s tough! I know the 90%club says but it’s hard lol

 

[tbrown]

A cuc before algae is a starving cuc. So you have to feed the cuc which may cause a larger algae issue and more issues.

+1 I've got a 125 and I currently employ 4 astreas, 2 turbos, a couple of netites, 3 nassarius, 2 banded Trochus, and 3 hermit crabs. make sure what CUC you need before adding. Look at your algae type and get the proper snails/crabs. I have to scrub the glass every couple of days but there's not a lot of visible algae growth. I also have two Blennies and a Goby that are algae eaters but I'm reluctant to add my tang yet since there's not a lot of food for him.

 

[tbrown]

Ha I know it’s tough! I know the 90%club says but it’s hard lol

Like I said, I added corals 2 days after my fish. My tank is only 4 months old and I've got Gonis and a torch... They seem to be doing well, but make sure you're willing to lose them. I've lost 8 frags out of 46. I'm pretty sure I had alkalinity swings and I figured out my magnesium was low. It's very doable - people add fish and corals day 1 with little to no loss. Stability is key.