How long until you place corals in new tank?

[shermoen]

So a few weeks back Jake Adams was on Reefbums show rappin with reefbum. Keith has a new build maybe 5 months old and Jake was telling him he needs to start putting corals in it. He even stated that he packs new tanks with corals soon after they are setup.

I have a 120 build that is 10 months old and have had a couple of leathers and a grubes gorg in it from about the 3 month mark. However I have just now been able to keep sps as of last week. I went through a terrible ugly phase where it started with cyano and then morphed into dinos that covered everything, my gorg would have that nasty snot all over it and when I would blow it off it would be back on it in hours.

So from my experience I don't see that to be true. Perhaps packing the tank with tons of coral is the trick but I wouldn't know. I'm interested in everyone elses experiences and when you know your tank is ready to support sps?

 

[ReefdudeAdam]

So a few weeks back Jake Adams was on Reefbums show rappin with reefbum. Keith has a new build maybe 5 months old and Jake was telling him he needs to start putting corals in it. He even stated that he packs new tanks with corals soon after they are setup.

I have a 120 build that is 10 months old and have had a couple of leathers and a grubes gorg in it from about the 3 month mark. However I have just now been able to keep sps as of last week. I went through a terrible ugly phase where it started with cyano and then morphed into dinos that covered everything, my gorg would have that nasty snot all over it and when I would blow it off it would be back on it in hours.

So from my experience I don't see that to be true. Perhaps packing the tank with tons of coral is the trick but I wouldn't know. I'm interested in everyone elses experiences and when you know your tank is ready to support sps?

A lot depends on this from my experiences
Live rock or dry, live sand or not. My experience starting with dry rock and sand, the uglies took around 6-8 months before I’d have been happy keeping anything expensive in there!
On the other hand, I’ve set up established live rock in a system and in 2 weeks I’ve a few fish and some LPS and never had an issue!

 

[Rickybobby]

I quaratine them first. Dip of course and look for pests. Also fallow them incase. But after that all in!

 

[shermoen]

I did start this last tank with dry rock and dry sand and I believe that is part of the reason for the long cycle. So assuming you can get live rock one could avoid a lot of that ugliness, which would be nice!!

 

[Philly Reefer]

So a few weeks back Jake Adams was on Reefbums show rappin with reefbum. Keith has a new build maybe 5 months old and Jake was telling him he needs to start putting corals in it. He even stated that he packs new tanks with corals soon after they are setup.

I have a 120 build that is 10 months old and have had a couple of leathers and a grubes gorg in it from about the 3 month mark. However I have just now been able to keep sps as of last week. I went through a terrible ugly phase where it started with cyano and then morphed into dinos that covered everything, my gorg would have that nasty snot all over it and when I would blow it off it would be back on it in hours.

So from my experience I don't see that to be true. Perhaps packing the tank with tons of coral is the trick but I wouldn't know. I'm interested in everyone elses experiences and when you know your tank is ready to support sps?

Adding corals directly is a stupid advice. That only work if you are already experience reefers.

My tank is on the same age as yours. But I only have a 40B.
Started with dry rocks and sand.
I did start adding easy sps a month ago. So far.. lost 3 of them. Branching monti, yellow digi, and orange setosa.
I might be to hasty since my PO4 still going up and down. From 0.05 to 0.2.
There are few more SPS in there that are alive still. Birdnest, plating monti, and 2 more I forgot the names. Need to update my build Thread

 

[N.Sreefer]

I wait normally at least 6 months before adding anything that's not bulletproof like gsp and xenia.

 

[Timfish]

I start adding easy corals after a day or so. Corals are critical for establishing not only the proper carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling but also the proper microbial processes.

Aurobiomes are present in the water layers above reefs

Aura-biomes are present in the water layer above coral reef benthic macro-organisms - PMC

As coral reef habitats decline worldwide, some reefs are transitioning from coral- to algal-dominated benthos with the exact cause for this shift remaining elusive. Increases in the abundance of microbes in the water column has been correlated with ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Coral and macroalgal exudates vary in neutral sugar composition and differentially enrich reef bacterioplankton lineages.

Coral and macroalgal exudates vary in neutral sugar composition and differentially enrich reef bacterioplankton lineages - PubMed

Increasing algal cover on tropical reefs worldwide may be maintained through feedbacks whereby algae outcompete coral by altering microbial activity. We hypothesized that algae and coral release compositionally distinct exudates that differentially alter bacterioplankton growth and community...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Global microbialization of coral reefs

Global microbialization of coral reefs - Nature Microbiology

Analysis of 60 sites in three ocean basins suggests that overgrowth of fleshy algae on coral reefs supports higher microbial abundances dominated by copiotrophic, potentially pathogenic bacteria via the provision of dissolved inorganic carbon.

www.nature.com

 

[shermoen]

Adding corals directly is a stupid advice. That only work if you are already experience reefers.

My tank is on the same age as yours. But I only have a 40B.
Started with dry rocks and sand.
I did start adding easy sps a month ago. So far.. lost 3 of them. Branching monti, yellow digi, and orange setosa.
I might be to hasty since my PO4 still going up and down. From 0.05 to 0.2.
There are few more SPS in there that are alive still. Birdnest, plating monti, and 2 more I forgot the names. Need to update my build Thread

I also added some sps around the 7-8 month mark and I unfortunately lost them as well.

I wait normally at least 6 months before adding anything that's not bulletproof like gsp and xenia.

I tend to do the same now. All the last few tanks I have setup have gone through am ugly phase regardless of using bacteria in a bottle or not.

 

[shermoen]

I start adding easy corals after a day or so. Corals are critical for establishing not only the proper carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling but also the proper microbial processes.

Aurobiomes are present in the water layers above reefs

Aura-biomes are present in the water layer above coral reef benthic macro-organisms - PMC

As coral reef habitats decline worldwide, some reefs are transitioning from coral- to algal-dominated benthos with the exact cause for this shift remaining elusive. Increases in the abundance of microbes in the water column has been correlated with ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Coral and macroalgal exudates vary in neutral sugar composition and differentially enrich reef bacterioplankton lineages.

Coral and macroalgal exudates vary in neutral sugar composition and differentially enrich reef bacterioplankton lineages - PubMed

Increasing algal cover on tropical reefs worldwide may be maintained through feedbacks whereby algae outcompete coral by altering microbial activity. We hypothesized that algae and coral release compositionally distinct exudates that differentially alter bacterioplankton growth and community...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Global microbialization of coral reefs

Global microbialization of coral reefs - Nature Microbiology

Analysis of 60 sites in three ocean basins suggests that overgrowth of fleshy algae on coral reefs supports higher microbial abundances dominated by copiotrophic, potentially pathogenic bacteria via the provision of dissolved inorganic carbon.

www.nature.com

Thank you for your insight! So if filling a tank with corals before uglies start will they have the upper hand over competing algae and in turn stop the ugly phase from even happening?

 

[N.Sreefer]

I also added some sps around the 7-8 month mark and I unfortunately lost them as well.


I tend to do the same now. All the last few tanks I have setup have gone through am ugly phase regardless of using bacteria in a bottle or not.

I start adding easy corals after a day or so. Corals are critical for establishing not only the proper carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling but also the proper microbial processes.

Aurobiomes are present in the water layers above reefs

Aura-biomes are present in the water layer above coral reef benthic macro-organisms - PMC

As coral reef habitats decline worldwide, some reefs are transitioning from coral- to algal-dominated benthos with the exact cause for this shift remaining elusive. Increases in the abundance of microbes in the water column has been correlated with ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Coral and macroalgal exudates vary in neutral sugar composition and differentially enrich reef bacterioplankton lineages.

Coral and macroalgal exudates vary in neutral sugar composition and differentially enrich reef bacterioplankton lineages - PubMed

Increasing algal cover on tropical reefs worldwide may be maintained through feedbacks whereby algae outcompete coral by altering microbial activity. We hypothesized that algae and coral release compositionally distinct exudates that differentially alter bacterioplankton growth and community...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Global microbialization of coral reefs

Global microbialization of coral reefs - Nature Microbiology

Analysis of 60 sites in three ocean basins suggests that overgrowth of fleshy algae on coral reefs supports higher microbial abundances dominated by copiotrophic, potentially pathogenic bacteria via the provision of dissolved inorganic carbon.

www.nature.com

Those are interesting links but the abstract for the pub med link surrounds algal concentrations increasing on the reef and how exudes can help algae outcompete coral.
"We hypothesized that algae and coral release compositionally distinct exudates that differentially alter bacterioplankton growth and community structure."
Rates of bacterioplankton growth and DOC utilization were significantly higher in algal exudate treatments than in coral exudate and control incubations with each community selectively removing different DCNS components.

So what I take from this paper is that algae exudes in an immature system dominant in algae will aid algae gaining a foothold over the coral. Running a system without livestock may help mitigate this

 

[shermoen]

I have a hard time believing the science behind some aspects of not only reefing but anything. As an example we are always told that nitrates and phosphates should be in a particular level to have happy healthy corals that grow at such and such rate, but of my own fault I always have elevated nitrates (Im talking around 50-80 ppm) all the time, thats just where my nitrates are all the time haha. Even though, I feel that my corals color and growth are good but thats not comparing with any BRS type experiments.

 

[ReefdudeAdam]

I have a hard time believing the science behind some aspects of not only reefing but anything. As an example we are always told that nitrates and phosphates should be in a particular level to have happy healthy corals that grow at such and such rate, but of my own fault I always have elevated nitrates (Im talking around 50-80 ppm) all the time, thats just where my nitrates are all the time haha. Even though, I feel that my corals color and growth are good but thats not comparing with any BRS type experiments.

If you keep them stable around that level, that would prove better than 0ppm shooting to 80ppm over a couple weeks before a water change.
Out of interest, why do you run nitrates that way?

 

[shermoen]

If you keep them stable around that level, that would prove better than 0ppm shooting to 80ppm over a couple weeks before a water change.
Out of interest, why do you run nitrates that way?

The easy answer is that Im just terrible at controlling nitrates. They always tend to rise up to that level even with water changes and skimming. On my last tank I tried nopox but didnt see any help from it and my current tank I have had a biopellet reactor setup for 3 months and it still hasnt done anything, but thats most likely because I am having a hard time gaining any phosphates...Go figure.

I would really be happy if I could get my nitrates in between 10 and 20ppm but I just havent figured out how to do that yet. Ive been reefing for the last 3.5 years and it is still something I need to figure out.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Coralrx dip and in they go

 

[LegendaryCG]

I add SPS after 1 month. Waiting longer just lets crap go out of control from lack of competiton. 2.5 month reef

 

[LegendaryCG]

I start adding easy corals after a day or so. Corals are critical for establishing not only the proper carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling but also the proper microbial processes.

Aurobiomes are present in the water layers above reefs

Aura-biomes are present in the water layer above coral reef benthic macro-organisms - PMC

As coral reef habitats decline worldwide, some reefs are transitioning from coral- to algal-dominated benthos with the exact cause for this shift remaining elusive. Increases in the abundance of microbes in the water column has been correlated with ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Coral and macroalgal exudates vary in neutral sugar composition and differentially enrich reef bacterioplankton lineages.

Coral and macroalgal exudates vary in neutral sugar composition and differentially enrich reef bacterioplankton lineages - PubMed

Increasing algal cover on tropical reefs worldwide may be maintained through feedbacks whereby algae outcompete coral by altering microbial activity. We hypothesized that algae and coral release compositionally distinct exudates that differentially alter bacterioplankton growth and community...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Global microbialization of coral reefs

Global microbialization of coral reefs - Nature Microbiology

Analysis of 60 sites in three ocean basins suggests that overgrowth of fleshy algae on coral reefs supports higher microbial abundances dominated by copiotrophic, potentially pathogenic bacteria via the provision of dissolved inorganic carbon.

www.nature.com

Yep — if you want a tank full of algae, dinos, cyano, the perfect recipe is to do these long cycles with nothing in the tank. Corals are a predator and help keep things under control. They just happen to eat stuff that is hard for us to observe like pods, bacteria, and nutrient waste.

 

[shermoen]

Yep — if you want a tank full of algae, dinos, cyano, the perfect recipe is to do these long cycles with nothing in the tank. Corals are a predator and help keep things under control.

In order for this to work properly I would assume you would need to put in a substantial amount of coral, not just a few frags?

 

[LegendaryCG]

In order for this to work properly I would assume you would need to put in a substantial amount of coral, not just a few frags?

Yes but also I strive to establish a food chain in the first 30 days. Bacteria, pods, phytoplankton, filter feeders, corraline, etc. Sterile tanks have nothing really predating on what’s in there and likely youll end up with an algae forest or bacteria slime all over things.

 

[ReefdudeAdam]

The easy answer is that Im just terrible at controlling nitrates. They always tend to rise up to that level even with water changes and skimming. On my last tank I tried nopox but didnt see any help from it and my current tank I have had a biopellet reactor setup for 3 months and it still hasnt done anything, but thats most likely because I am having a hard time gaining any phosphates...Go figure.

I would really be happy if I could get my nitrates in between 10 and 20ppm but I just havent figured out how to do that yet. Ive been reefing for the last 3.5 years and it is still something I need to figure out.

What are you testing nitrates with?
what’s your stock list and how much are you feeding?

 

[shermoen]

What are you testing nitrates with?
what’s your stock list and how much are you feeding?

For nitrates Ive been using an API kit. Im not a fan of api, especially the phos kit cause it jumps from 0-0.25! But for the most part the nitrate kit seems pretty accurate, the only problem is the readings in the range Im in jump from 40-80 then 120.

My fishies consist of
-1 3" foxface
-1 3" sailfin
-1 2" hippo tang
-1 lawnmower blenny
-1 tailspot blenny
-1 pajama cardinal
-1 clown
-1 cleaner shrimp
-1 conch
- bunch of snails

I admit that I feed heavy about 2 times a day now but was 3 times probably a month ago. And the food varies from mostly flake to some nori hear and there and some frozen, I just like to see happy fat fish!!