How mature should your setup be before adding sticks to your reef???

[Starblenny]

IME, when coralline algae is growing like crazy (as in I need to scrape the glass every week or 2) is when my tank is ready, which takes about a year or year and half (like Luke said).

 

[1stNoel]

Im sure you all know how challenging it can be time stay patient. This isn't my first reef tank but it's my first time with some decent acros. I have seen success in other tanks in less than a year.
My birdsnest frag has doubled in size in 2 months but that's about the best I have seen in my system. Im just not getting the growth or colors in most of my SPS so I'm waiting before I stock anymore.

Thanks for the replies!

The 4 month mark worked for me, but after a huge learning curve. For example, we cycle our tanks...check our parameters...and then think, I'm ready! However, a new tank is typically "too clean" and is missing all the vital stuff a tank needs (think dissolved organic matter) that we can't measure (hence the term "mature"). We end up starving the SPS if they're added too early.

Now I know you have that "itch" to try SPS, so here are my recommendations:

• Maintain stable parameters in accordance with industry norms (I aim for this avg: 1310 Mg, Ca 430, KH 8.5-9.0).
• Make sure your lights are in order. The majority of coral nutrition comes from the light, so ensure your corals are being placed in the right areas and receiving the right amount of PAR/PUR. Don't neglect this and "just throw corals in". I made this mistake. Once I finally corrected it, I noticed immediate differences. Within a few weeks, frags that I thought had died started growing (rainbow monti, sunset monti, monti-cap, etc.).
  
• Stock some fish (fish poop is a natural fertilizer for coral)
• Dose trace elements and aminos (I've tried several ones, and have been good with all of them...but I prefer the Red Sea products as they do a great job of explaining the "what" and "why" of the stuff you're adding)
• Buy very cheap SPS, and just try a few. If you lose a $10 stick, no sweat...but if you start losing $50 sticks, those are critical funds that could've been spent on equipment, chemicals, food, etc. And it's demoralizing to watch stuff die in your tank.
• So whenever you get that itch to stop at a LFS and buy something, get what I mentioned above (chemicals, equipment, food, fish, etc.).
• Think of a tank as body building. You're not dropping 30 lbs of fat and gaining 20 lbs of muscle overnight. It's a process. So be patient. "Take your vitamins, say your prayers"...and in time your tank will be sprawling!

Good luck!

 

[tikireefer]

I have noticed that when I start a new tank with mature live rock the system quickly reaches a stable environment (3-4 months) and sps frags do well. If I am using mostly dry dead rock and only seeding the tank with a few pieces of live rock, the new system takes a lot longer to become stable and mature enough for sps (1 year to 1 year 1/2).

 

[Acroporaaddict]

I started adding "sticks" within a month of filling my tank. I used pre cycled rock, live sand and filtered NSW from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. I have not had a acro die yet. I feel it's more about stability than maturity when it comes to SPS. I run a heater and a chiller controlled by apex only allowing 1 degree of fluctuation, dosing pumps to maintain ca and alk ( I test daily) 1 doser for vinegar to keep a healthy bacteria population in order to keep very low nutrients and my lights are set on a timer so the acros get the same amount of light every day.

 

[Russ265]

my params swing every water change.

1.025 to 1.030
alk 9-11 dkh
calcium 380-450
temp not so much but have had instances of 80 during the day and 76 at night
nitrate from 0 to 8ppm in a single dose
phosphate .02 to .15 in a single dose

i drip acclimate nothing. i just drop them in and bomb them with 4-800 par.

im not subscribing to stability that we can test.
i will admit my 300 gallon system is easier to keep than a 20 gallon. but there is something beyond the numbers we test imo.

ive had people shoot me coral that are in radically different params to mine and polyp out within 5 minutes.

another hypothesis is that nothing changes fast in 300 gallons, and the one and done approach is fine for coral rather than rapid daily swings.

its gotten to the point that i could throw my coral up in the air randomly, and it could land on the sandbed and thrive.

case in point.

photographic trickery?

at some point you just dont care...


check that birdsnest out. a few inches off my sand bed. no flow and fell in a hole in my rock. i was too lazy to pull him out when he got chopped at the stem. now some sort of bush.

supposedly they need a ton of flow too lol. this is the same birdsnest i would kill every 2 weeks until i dosed nitrate.

im not saying stability ISNT important. im just saying the typical stuff we measure doesnt seem to jive.

my .02

 

[Myka]

there is something beyond the numbers we test imo.

This part I agree with.

For the average Joe Reefer, I'd agree with most of the rest, but for those that are wanting to reach the upper limits of Acropora keeping, I think your methodology is flawed and probably not the best thing for newbies to be reading.

Just my 2¢.

 

[JBNY]

I always tell people its really not about having a tank that is up for months or years. Maturity is really about the reefkeeper, SPS like stability, so when you are able to keep a very stable reef tank SPS should do just fine. I know people who put SPS in a tank a week or so after it cycle and everything thrives, others still fail after having the tank up for a year.

 

[HiddenUser]

I added a green slimer at 5 months and it did well before I dorked around with my lights ,increased the lighting intensity without measuring the PAR, and torched it. Turned my lights back down (after I broke out the PAR meter) and I have about 20 sticks or so that have been and are still doing well.

 

[Anthony kolodziej]

For me , I added sps right away and they grew , it wasn't until issues started coming up from a changing system I started having problems . which means this I think . as long as conditions are stable corals will grow . but in every tank a change occurs somewhere along the line . ( in my case after almost a year ) there is something different . parameters are the same temp salinity in check etc etc . But something just happens and all of a sudden growth explosion . it is our job to et the tank to this point hrlp it along and then nature takes over . if I had to guess there is another type of bacteria that comes to life and makes this happen . As for a " Magic " number of months . iif there is one I would say around 8-12 months before a system matures

 

[LakeCityReefs]

I have really enjoyed reading the responses to this thread. Everything sounds like I'm on the right track.

Lately I've noticed that most of the SPS I place into my setup take a few weeks to acclimate and show any growth (not fast growth, just a little). I have seen mature tanks that can really show good growth and color on new frags after just a few months. I'm hoping that in another 6 months that's where my tank is at.

I'm not killing corals so in the meantime it's not hurting to add more so they are acclimated when my tank finally starts to take off.

Currently I am working on raising my nutrients trying to hit a sweat spot.

I'm by no means a noob Reefer. I enjoy gathering as much information and suggestions as possible to help me create the best environment possible.

Thanks again for the replies & suggestions

 

[maroun.c]

its more about stability but then again the more the tank mature the more stable it is, running the tank with a few fish allows you to cycle it properly and pass the frequent inevitable alga cycles that would most likely kill fresh added stressed frags...
running a tank for few months at least will allow you to test drive your biological load, feeding regimen, husbandry and face nutrients buildup before having corfals which most likely will go downhill while you find that equilibrium.
more important don't be over confident with previous successes which can be just related to luck, a new upgraded, better planned and equiped tank is not always necessarily an "easier ride" on the countrary it can be a humbling experience till you learn how to master a new setup with different dynamics. I learned that the very hard way.