Should I hold off on corals?

vwhitaker720 · May 27, 2019

I've been cycling my aquarium now going on 3 months and I've been doing 10% water changes weekly. Started the cycle using microbactor 7 and at the 2 month mark all tests concluded that I can start adding fish... I added a few chromis and continued to monitor for two weeks while keeping up with maintenance and dosing microbactor 7 daily. During that time I started turning on the lights. All parameters we're good after two weeks so I decided to get a few more fish. Picked up a 6 line wrasse, flame angel and clown and now I'm starting to get what looks like green algae on my rocks. I figure this is the famous ugly stage but am not entirely sure if I should be worried about adding corals or should I wait and add them after. Thank you in advance for reading

Sailingeric · May 27, 2019

You could add a few softies. They like less than perfect water and can add some nice movement.

RobW · May 27, 2019

Be careful with the flame angel. Beautiful fish and probably my favorite of the dwarf angels but, they love to nip at corals. Feeding them their proper diet and feeding them well can help with that but there is always the possibility.

vwhitaker720 · May 27, 2019

RobW said:
Be careful with the flame angel. Beautiful fish and probably my favorite of the dwarf angels but, they love to nip at corals. Feeding them their proper diet and feeding them well can help with that but there is always the possibility.

I've heard that before but I had one in my last tank and loved it and it never messed with any of the corals so I'm hoping this one is the same lol been feeding frozen food everyday and everyone seems to be happy.

ThePurple12 · May 27, 2019

I think 3 months is more than enough time to wait before adding corals as long as your parameters are all good.

vwhitaker720 · May 27, 2019

Sailingeric said:
You could add a few softies. They like less than perfect water and can add some nice movement.

That's the plan. I have a frag swap coming up soon in my area and was hoping to get a few nice looking zoa's and some softies for movement

lapin · May 27, 2019

Ya go for it . You will only know if your tank is ready by adding them

RobW · May 27, 2019

vwhitaker720 said:
I've heard that before but I had one in my last tank and loved it and it never messed with any of the corals so I'm hoping this one is the same lol been feeding frozen food everyday and everyone seems to be happy.

I had luck with flame angels in the past. Some people don't. I've also had luck with coral beauties and lemon peels as well. Actually had all three in the tank at once without any issues.

Clownfish2 · May 27, 2019

I’d wait on corals at least 4 months minimum. Ive seen this recommendation given by companies such as RedSea and BRS.

RobW · May 27, 2019

vwhitaker720 said:
That's the plan. I have a frag swap coming up soon in my area and was hoping to get a few nice looking zoa's and some softies for movement

What kind of lighting do you have? I had put some pieces of montipora in my tank just a couple of months after I set it up. It grew beautifully. Just make sure that if you go with anything Sps that you keep calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium at the proper levels and maintain nice clean water. I think you will do just fine popping in a coral or two as of right now though. Heck, I'm building a new 280 and I got a little nano tank in the mean time to keep my son occupied. The tank is a month old and I already have xenia in there thriving.

KrisReef · May 27, 2019

What are your Phosphate and Nitrate levels at? That tank looks really clean in the picture, except for the slight growth on the rocks. If the algae has just started, it might make sense to wait a couple of weeks to see where the green invasion is going?

vwhitaker720 · May 27, 2019

Clownfish2 said:
I’d wait on corals at least 4 months minimum. Ive seen this recommendation given by companies such as RedSea and BRS.

I'm actually trying to follow the brs and wwc 4 month cycle and if I remember they said you can start after 3 months with the easier corals... The only reason I'm considering it is because I have the frag swap coming to town with vendors that I like making the trip so I know there will be great deals and even better corals that I probably can't get from my local stores.

vwhitaker720 · May 27, 2019

RobW said:
What kind of lighting do you have? I had put some pieces of montipora in my tank just a couple of months after I set it up. It grew beautifully. Just make sure that if you go with anything Sps that you keep calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium at the proper levels and maintain nice clean water. I think you will do just fine popping in a coral or two as of right now though. Heck, I'm building a new 280 and I got a little nano tank in the mean time to keep my son occupied. The tank is a month old and I already have xenia in there thriving.

I have 3 kessil 360x above a red sea 425xl. My end goal is to have a mixed reef with sps and softies.. I've been dosing calcium and alk daily trying get some Coraline growing to no avail as of yet. I had the lights on for 10 hours ramping up to 50 percent intensity midday then back down at night but that's when I started to see the algae. So now I only have them going up to 30 percent and only on for 6 hrs.

vwhitaker720 · May 27, 2019

KrisReef said:
What are your Phosphate and Nitrate levels at? That tank looks really clean in the picture, except for the slight growth on the rocks. If the algae has just started, it might make sense to wait a couple of weeks to see where the green invasion is going?

As of a few days ago phosphate and nitrate were at 0.. I'm trying to get the Hannah phosphate checker to get more accurate readings. Been working alot lately and haven't had time to go get the water tested so I need to get test kits here at the house. I'm doing a water change as we speak just in case.

Hemmdog · May 27, 2019

vwhitaker720 said:
I have 3 kessil 360x above a red sea 425xl. My end goal is to have a mixed reef with sps and softies.. I've been dosing calcium and alk daily trying get some Coraline growing to no avail as of yet. I had the lights on for 10 hours ramping up to 50 percent intensity midday then back down at night but that's when I started to see the algae. So now I only have them going up to 30 percent and only on for 6 hrs.

What is your alk and calcium at ? You shouldn’t be having any consumption or a need for dosing without coral.

Hemmdog · May 27, 2019

vwhitaker720 said:
As of a few days ago phosphate and nitrate were at 0.. I'm trying to get the Hannah phosphate checker to get more accurate readings. Been working alot lately and haven't had time to go get the water tested so I need to get test kits here at the house. I'm doing a water change as we speak just in case.

You need your tank dirtier, don’t do a water change.

vwhitaker720 · May 27, 2019

Hemmdog said:
What is your alk and calcium at ? You shouldn’t be having any consumption or a need for dosing without coral.

Calcium was at 450 and alk at 10.1

Hemmdog · May 27, 2019

vwhitaker720 said:
Calcium was at 450 and alk at 10.1

Oh ok, those are good numbers. Just don’t do a water change for awhile, get your nitrates to at least 5, and have detectable phosphates, then go ahead and grab some coral

give it a go!

vwhitaker720 · May 27, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Oh ok, those are good numbers. Just don’t do a water change for awhile, get your nitrates to at least 5, and have detectable phosphates, then go ahead and grab some coral give it a go!

Thank you!!!