What is considered the tank start date?

[FLfishGuy]

This may be a ridiculous question but I sincerely am unable to find an answer to this.

What is considered the start date of a marine aquarium?

Is it the day it first gets wet?
Is it the day of first livestock addition?
Is it the day we tested that showed the tank was cycled and ready for additions?

Please let me know your thoughts on this.

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

I count it as the first day the filtration is turned on and water is moving.

 

[DIFish]

I count the day after it is cycled. In all honesty it doesn’t matter, you are on nobody’s schedule but your own and measuring your progress vs others is a huge joy thief.

 

[RedoubtReef]

I count it as being the day you have rock and sand (unless you are going BB) in and the tank is cycled. I think the main thing is that you have a working bio-filter regardless of whether it's through rock, sand, or other media.

 

[FLfishGuy]

Well guess I will go with the cycled date as a guideline.
Picture of where I am at a month in.
Light has been on for 2 weeks now.

Probably going to wait another couple weeks and try my hand at a hardy coral.

 

[exnisstech]

I think start date is more a matter of personal opinion vs fact. My opinion is start date is the day it has salt water added and the pump turned on. I don't think it's important enough to really matter. There will be plenty of dates to record such as when a fish or coral were added, when they died etc, I no longer record the deaths it got to be too depressing

 

[jda]

Tanks are like human offspring... they are not really mature until you start counting in years instead of weeks or months. I have a 23 year old, not a 277 month old.

Like kids, which all walk, talk, etc at different rates and while their parents are excited or mad about this, this all matters not in the long run. Look for the signs when ugly phase with film algae, diatoms or dinos is progress followed by coralline which is more progress. These events are more important than counting days, weeks or months.

FWIW, I usually count when everything is added, mixed and ready.

 

[FLfishGuy]

Tanks are like human offspring... they are not really mature until you start counting in years instead of weeks or months. I have a 23 year old, not a 277 month old.

Like kids, which all walk, talk, etc at different rates and while their parents are excited or mad about this, this all matters not in the long run. Look for the signs when ugly phase with film algae, diatoms or dinos is progress followed by coralline which is more progress. These events are more important than counting days, weeks or months.

FWIW, I usually count when everything is added, mixed and ready.

I like the analogy here. Thanks for the reply and this makes a lot of sense.