What exactly does "well established" mean?

[dburt520]

I posted this on another forum under the " reef chemistry section", but wanted to post here for folks with sps to assist as well.

Shorty story - set up my 180g tank in May, it is 100% sps and it is doing quite well. Sps frags are growing well and things look good.

My problem is I absolutely hate my aquascape... and I figured it is easier to re aqua scape now since the tank is so young than to wait and do it later.

So, I have looked into holding tanks for my fish (this will also allow me to be smart and set up a full time qt setup, which I didn't do in the beggining), and a frag tank to house my corals for a short time (this will also alow me to set up a proper qt tank for corals, which again I did not do in the first go around).

My question relates to the frag tank and my sps corals - I know they need a "well established" system, however when talking frag tanks, what exactly does that mean if there will be little to no biological load in there? How do I know when it is safe to move my frags from my dt to the frag tank so that I can complete my tank aqua scape rebuild?

Thanks
Dave

 

[Diesel]

It's hard to say but IMO save will be for a frag tank if rocks are used from DT in about a month or so.
Frag tank set up is with a separate sump, light and skimmer.

Is the possibility to move most if not all frags on a frag rack and rescape the DT by adding more rocks that way.
You might have as little till none mini cycle.

 

[Elementalj]

I believe the term is partially the system being mature, as well as the person being seasoned enough to prevent as many issues as possible. I.e. You know what your parameters are, know how to keep them there, and understand the chemistry and mechanics involved. I've seen systems go up and three months later they're growing acros.

 

[Neil Fox]

What kind of rock did you start with? Dry rock can take forever to mature and if you transfer the rock you might have problems if you use nutrient free water. That being said, I transferred some rock from a tank set up around two years and used some good cured rock and put acros in pretty much right away, no problem. You may want to put a few rocks and a couple test corals in the frag tank and see how it goes. The frag tank will be the same as a regular tank, just coral dominant. You may want to put a couple liters of Matrix or Siporax in the sump. It has way more surface area than live rock and will establish a good Bacteria colony in a few weeks if you seed it with some live rock.

 

[dburt520]

I started with Pukani rock, however it was cured/cycled in a rubber maid tub for almost a year while I completed the build and moved into a new house.

Appreciate the replies, I will work on getting something set up and see how it goes.

 

[Marquiseo]

"Well established" is a subjective term. The very definition of established is having been in existence for a long time and therefore recognized and generally accepted. The unit of measurement is time. So the longer you have had your tank running, the more the reefing community considers your tank to be "well established".
Let's dive (pun intended) further into the time factor. A reefer could have instability issues for 9 months with several losses and on the 10th month, the tank stables out with no losses. Is the tank "well established" now even though technically it didn't become a suitable environment for marine life growth until the 10th month?

The point I think reefers are trying to make when saying "well established" is that your system's parameters and equipment (primarily lights(schedule)) should be stable and have sufficient filtration to support your marine life.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Bump

 

[TylerS]

I like this question. I've always felt "well established" is a pointless arbitrary CYA type of statement. I don't know if I've ever read "we suggest you put livestock xyz in a brand spankin new tank".

The only way I can think of to quantify the statement would be some sort of waste processing capability, which can be achieved in a week with the bacteria in a bottle products, and a certain level of amphipod/copepod population which can be purchased and seeded into the tank instantly.

 

[klp]

To me "well established" is a tank that has been up and running problem free for some time with mature specimens and stable conditions. I would think 2 or more years like that would qualify as well established. A "well established" tank should have a proven track record over a period of time. I agree that "well established" is subjective. I do not think that it is necessary to wait for these conditions to do what you want to do. A tank becomes "well established" after adding specimens over a period of time so it is a process. The process has to have a starting point which is where you are at.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

Well established to me means, 'there's pods, algae growing to a certain extent, no ammonia, no nitrite, phosphate and nitrate controlled, and you only test once or twice a month and FEEL you have it under control'.

Satisfy that statement, you'll know you're ready. I highly dislike the time periods attached to the statement because they don't properly represent anything. I can have a 12-36 month old tank and it still could be unstable and neglected.
On the flip side, if the statement 'you need to have a stable and established tank to house critter X' was true, no frag shows would occur because all those people just "setup" the tank less than 24 hours ago!!!!

 

[jimmy2times]

besides all that well established is not only seeing the tank being stable but you feel comfortable leaving it for a long weekend without having any worries. and if your not sleeping at night thinking about your tank well then guys its not an established tank. totally depends on what you start with eg. rock bacteria, cuc etc... you dial it in right a tank can be up and running solid in matter of few months. if things get screwy could take heck of a lot longer or ever sometimes! And in general i usually don't put any species in that don't have a job besides corals of course.