Does coral QT needs to be fully cycled?

[excell007]

Hi, I am trying to set up a fishless coral QT for some frags, does it need to be fully cycled like a fish QT. Or maybe I should call this a frag tank. It will be a 10 gallon tank with 2 small HOB filters, water will come from display tank together with a couple of live rocks. Also, the only spare light I have is an 'Aquatic Life reef edge' is this enough light? DT that they will go to have 2 A360x. Thanks.

 

[excell007]

Any tips?

 

[JCTReefer]

As far as I know, no it doesn’t need to be cycled.
I’ve see plenty of people drop corals in an uncycled tank. Jake Adams recently set up a tank and dumped in a whole bunch of corals in an uncycled tank. Tanks thriving after several months. He set it up in a day. Literally. Me personally. I’d at least dump a bottle of Biospira in there before adding them. I don’t want to give out bad advice though.

Randy Holmes Farley States this below.

Like most things in seawater, amounts matter for the answer.
FWIW, I've not seen much data on ammonia toxicity to corals. Some might even like it.

Corals can use ammonia as a source of nitrogen, and may even prefer it to nitrate.

At some high enough concentration, it will become toxic. I'm not sure of the exact level where it stops becoming useful and becomes toxic, but at least for one hard coral, as much as 0.09 ppm ammonia helped at least one hard coral when not getting its fill of plankton food.

 

[excell007]

As far as I know, no it doesn’t need to be cycled.
I’ve see plenty of people drop corals in an uncycled tank. Jake Adams recently set up a tank and dumped in a whole bunch of corals in an uncycled tank. Tanks thriving after several months. He set it up in a day. Literally. Me personally. I’d at least dump a bottle of Biospira in there before adding them. I don’t want to give out bad advice though.

Randy Holmes Farley States this below.

Like most things in seawater, amounts matter for the answer.
FWIW, I've not seen much data on ammonia toxicity to corals. Some might even like it.

Corals can use ammonia as a source of nitrogen, and may even prefer it to nitrate.

At some high enough concentration, it will become toxic. I'm not sure of the exact level where it stops becoming useful and becomes toxic, but at least for one hard coral, as much as 0.09 ppm ammonia helped at least one hard coral when not getting its fill of plankton food.

Thanks very much, appreciate the reply and tip.

 

[BighohoReef]

Ammonia will kill your corals. I'd cycle and test the water. Ammonia kills the algae needed to help sustain/feed your corals. If you were seeding the tank with existing water and live rock I might say you'd be okay, if not cycle... There is a thread out there discussing it already

Ammonia and coral

Ive been reading on if ammonia will hurt coral and I have been reading conflicting articles. So what is the thought will ammonia hurt corals gsp in specific.

www.reef2reef.com

.

 

[excell007]

Yup, there will be live rocks from my 15year old DT and the HOB filters that are going to be used are running in the sump right now.

 

[JCTReefer]

That is the very thread I just referenced what I wrote above. Like I said I’d still throw some bacteria in there at the very least. Super easy and can be cycled in a day.

Here’s another read for fun.

Ask Reef Builders #3: How Long Should I Cycle A Reef Tank Before Putting Corals In? | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

You don’t. The short answer is that technically, there is no evidence that you need to cycle an aquarium before putting corals in. Now before you start pulling out your proverbial pitchforks and burn…

reefbuilders.com