Lights

[gatling02]

I've set up a tank and its ready for fish, but how long should my lights be on when I add corals. Its the stock lights for a fluval evo 13.5 if that makes a difference. And on that note when is it ok to add corals.

 

[piranhaman00]

Dry rock or live rock?

 

[Lividfanatica]

There are a million ways to do this. Here is my "newbie" recommendation (on when to add coral).

1. Make sure the tank is cycled (depends on live or dry rock) using whatever cycling method
2. Test Salinity, Temp - make sure it is good and stable
3. Start adding fish (light can be on for 8ish hours a day (really 8-12 hours is fine) - you can limit the photoperiod to reduce some algae growth
4. Monitor ammonia - make sure the tank bacteria can handle the bioload you are adding
5. Test Alk, CA and MAG at this point - make sure things are in ok ranges
6. Get some hermits and/or snails (if you prefer)
7. Make sure all that lives
8. Monitor NO3 (nitrate) and PO4 (Phosphate)
9. If your invertebrates have been doing well - try out some basic coral (Mushrooms, zoas, Monitpora digitata, etc)
10. Monitor how they do and go from there.

For coral - I would recommend a 10-12 hour photoperiod. If you ever get a fancier light, you can do ramp up/down etc. But I kept a wide variety of coral under the Fuval marine led strip that came with my M90 so I would expect this one would be similar.

 

[gatling02]

Dry rock or live rock?

Dry rock

 

[piranhaman00]

Dry rock

The right answer is run the lights and go through the vast ugly stage you will have, probably 6 months before you can add coral. You can start with some easy ones and may be alright.