when is cycling ended? when to first add corals?

[mizimmer90]

This is my first time cycling a tank. I've seen conflicting responses and wanted to poll people again: what is your preferred time to add corals??

My tank has been cycling for nearly 4 weeks and nitrites have dropped. However, Algae is starting to grow. Does this mean my tank has cycled or still needs more time for a homeostasis?

As far as the cycling goes, I'm a little over 3 weeks in and my nitrites are starting to come down!

My nitrates and phosphates have come down too, however, I think I'm starting to begin the ugly tank phase. I've been cycling with a full light period but at low intensity. I am starting to get some slime algae on the rocks, the sand, and the glass (pictured).

Although some glass scraping with my nano flipper and a big water change helped out a lot!

I'm chomping at the bit to get some corals but don't want to rush things.
Question: since the nitrites are down, is the cycling finished? Is it safe to slowly start adding corals? Or should I wait until after I get the algae under control?

I bought some red grape macro algae online to add to the tank and hope to get it this week. Considering adding a few corals next week, maybe some acans or a duncan. Let me know if this is too early or a bad idea!

 

[Jekyl]

Current nitrate? Corals should be a couple months after fish are added.

 

[92Miata]

Your tank has been cycled for weeks. Nothing in a marine tank cares about nitrites. As soon as ammonia is gone, its safe for fish, inverts and corals.

Get some fish in there - that's the first step. Maintaining corals without fish is way more difficult - fish are basically slow release fertilizer. Fish also come with guts full of heterotrophic bacteria, and you need to start getting stuff in the tank that competes with the algae for micro and macronutrients. Right now all you're doing with the lights on and 'going slow' is allowing the algae to get a real good foothold. You can't go slow with the lights on.

You're going to have algae. You want to deal with it mechanically - Clean up crew, pulling hair algae, etc - not chemically. Trying to eradicate algae chemically/via nutrients is how people end up in that endless spiral of cyano and dinos and all that.

You're absolutely fine to add easy corals once you've kept a fish or two alive for a couple of weeks. Duncans and Acans are both stonies - so if you're going to keep them, you need to start monitoring and dosing alkalinity. They're more complicated than say Zoanthids, mushrooms, etc. I wouldn't say they're harder - they just have different needs - and newbies tend to screw that up.

 

[mizimmer90]

Current nitrate? Corals should be a couple months after fish are added.

My nitrates were higher (25ish ppm) but have been getting depleted by the algae

 

[mizimmer90]

Your tank has been cycled for weeks. Nothing in a marine tank cares about nitrites. As soon as ammonia is gone, its safe for fish, inverts and corals.

Get some fish in there - that's the first step. Maintaining corals without fish is way more difficult - fish are basically slow release fertilizer. Fish also come with guts full of heterotrophic bacteria, and you need to start getting stuff in the tank that competes with the algae for micro and macronutrients. Right now all you're doing with the lights on and 'going slow' is allowing the algae to get a real good foothold. You can't go slow with the lights on.

You're going to have algae. You want to deal with it mechanically - Clean up crew, pulling hair algae, etc - not chemically. Trying to eradicate algae chemically/via nutrients is how people end up in that endless spiral of cyano and dinos and all that.

You're absolutely fine to add easy corals once you've kept a fish or two alive for a couple of weeks. Duncans and Acans are both stonies - so if you're going to keep them, you need to start monitoring and dosing alkalinity. They're more complicated than say Zoanthids, mushrooms, etc. I wouldn't say they're harder - they just have different needs - and newbies tend to screw that up.

This is great info, thanks!

Following this advice, my modified plan: starting with a goby or a clownfish, then some acans/Duncans a couple weeks out.

For the corals, I've been doing meticulous parameter testing! I also got tropic marins all in one dosing and plan to get aquaforest power elixer.

 

[Jekyl]

This is great info, thanks!

Following this advice, my modified plan: starting with a goby or a clownfish, then some acans/Duncans a couple weeks out.

For the corals, I've been doing meticulous parameter testing! I also got tropic marins all in one dosing and plan to get aquaforest power elixer.

Personally I would wait longer on the LPS. I had an awful time with them at the beginning. 2 months in for softies, 4 for LPS, 6+ for sps and nems.

 

[92Miata]

The biggest problems that keep newbies from being able to keep corals early on is they try to do too much - especially with nitrate/phosphate reduction and algae remediation.

For the corals, I've been doing meticulous parameter testing! I also got tropic marins all in one dosing and plan to get aquaforest power elixer.

This is the start of the too much.

Stick to maintaining alkalinity. Feed the fish. Pull algae as necessary. You do not need coral foods. If you stop getting film algae growth on your glass, it's a sign that nutrients are too low. Pull out the kits.

Because of the way AFR works - it is light carbon dosing. It's going to push your phosphates and especially your nitrates down. Given the dry rock, and new sand, you're almost certainly going to be phosphate limited. Don't let people tell you that "you have high phosphates, the algae is just eating them too fast to test" - this is the way to madness. There are plenty of types of algae that are perfectly capable of getting access to phosphate without pulling it out of the water column - trying to depress phosphates even more when you have those just kills everything else (and you get dinos, bad).

Some cyano is normal. Just siphon it out. Some hair is normal. Just pull it out. Tons is not - remove what you can manually and then get out the kits and you'll almost always find that either nitrate or phosphate is zero. Dose the one that is zero.

And you need to start getting some sources of surface competition for the algae - coralline, sponges, etc - and heterotrophic bacteria. It really doesn't matter what you do to fight algae/etc if there's nothing else growing on the rocks - you're going to lose.

 

[dixons_reef]

Great advice for sure

 

[Shibaken3]

fish --> invert --> coral

 

[mizimmer90]

The biggest problems that keep newbies from being able to keep corals early on is they try to do too much - especially with nitrate/phosphate reduction and algae remediation.


This is the start of the too much.

Stick to maintaining alkalinity. Feed the fish. Pull algae as necessary. You do not need coral foods. If you stop getting film algae growth on your glass, it's a sign that nutrients are too low. Pull out the kits.

Because of the way AFR works - it is light carbon dosing. It's going to push your phosphates and especially your nitrates down. Given the dry rock, and new sand, you're almost certainly going to be phosphate limited. Don't let people tell you that "you have high phosphates, the algae is just eating them too fast to test" - this is the way to madness. There are plenty of types of algae that are perfectly capable of getting access to phosphate without pulling it out of the water column - trying to depress phosphates even more when you have those just kills everything else (and you get dinos, bad).

Some cyano is normal. Just siphon it out. Some hair is normal. Just pull it out. Tons is not - remove what you can manually and then get out the kits and you'll almost always find that either nitrate or phosphate is zero. Dose the one that is zero.

And you need to start getting some sources of surface competition for the algae - coralline, sponges, etc - and heterotrophic bacteria. It really doesn't matter what you do to fight algae/etc if there's nothing else growing on the rocks - you're going to lose.

Thanks again for the solid advice!

As for the "too much", I'll definitely take it easy on the dosing and do it as needed. However, the testing is something I very much enjoy! I'm a scientist by trade, so logging parameters/data is something I'm interested in!

 

[mizimmer90]

The biggest problems that keep newbies from being able to keep corals early on is they try to do too much - especially with nitrate/phosphate reduction and algae remediation.


This is the start of the too much.

Stick to maintaining alkalinity. Feed the fish. Pull algae as necessary. You do not need coral foods. If you stop getting film algae growth on your glass, it's a sign that nutrients are too low. Pull out the kits.

Because of the way AFR works - it is light carbon dosing. It's going to push your phosphates and especially your nitrates down. Given the dry rock, and new sand, you're almost certainly going to be phosphate limited. Don't let people tell you that "you have high phosphates, the algae is just eating them too fast to test" - this is the way to madness. There are plenty of types of algae that are perfectly capable of getting access to phosphate without pulling it out of the water column - trying to depress phosphates even more when you have those just kills everything else (and you get dinos, bad).

Some cyano is normal. Just siphon it out. Some hair is normal. Just pull it out. Tons is not - remove what you can manually and then get out the kits and you'll almost always find that either nitrate or phosphate is zero. Dose the one that is zero.

And you need to start getting some sources of surface competition for the algae - coralline, sponges, etc - and heterotrophic bacteria. It really doesn't matter what you do to fight algae/etc if there's nothing else growing on the rocks - you're going to lose.

I reread your post and realized you're talking specifically about the aquaforest power elixer. Where does the carbon dosing come from? I thought it was a mix of amino acids and vitamins. I figured a little boost of protein every now and again wouldn't hurt since I'm not seeing large inputs from other sources.

Also, for the feeding of corals: I know it's not necessary, but could it hurt? I'm actually pretty excited to feed lps corals! I got some mysis shrimp in prep and am thinking of some targeted feeding once every week or two.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Thanks again for the solid advice!

As for the "too much", I'll definitely take it easy on the dosing and do it as needed. However, the testing is something I very much enjoy! I'm a scientist by trade, so logging parameters/data is something I'm interested in!

Give that about a month.... Logging the tank data is fun until you realize it's just another maintenance step to do when you could be enjoying the tank.

 

[Steven Garland]

There is a stick thread at the top of of the main page of this specific thread page called "Cycling an Aquarium" I suggest reading that,or a quick google search,or youtube search. I hate being like this,but this question is asked for 4-5x a day.

There is tons of very very helpful info regarding this.... I'll just link it for you so you can find it:

Cycling an Aquarium

Cycling a new aquarium. One of the earliest topics a new aquarium hobbyist needs to learn is how to properly cycle their aquarium. There is a ton of information on this process and many different methods on how to accomplish it. There are many different chemical and biological cycles our tank...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[mizimmer90]

There is a stick thread at the top of of the main page of this specific thread page called "Cycling an Aquarium" I suggest reading that,or a quick google search,or youtube search. I hate being like this,but this question is asked for 4-5x a day.

There is tons of very very helpful info regarding this.... I'll just link it for you so you can find it:

Cycling an Aquarium

Cycling a new aquarium. One of the earliest topics a new aquarium hobbyist needs to learn is how to properly cycle their aquarium. There is a ton of information on this process and many different methods on how to accomplish it. There are many different chemical and biological cycles our tank...

www.reef2reef.com

I think you should read it because it never says when cycling is "finished" .

Seriously though, I have read it but my specific question is targeted more for when to add corals. BTW I've done tons of reading, with lots of conflicting statements, i.e. nitires don't matter, or nitrites need to be zero, or wait 6 months no matter what, algae is a good sign, algae is a bad sign, etc. Looking to poll some more or see if anyone has trusted resources. Everyone has a different suggestion but I don't see strong justifications.

My guess is that people ask this question a lot because it isn't a settled problem.

 

[Rob Biederman]

This is my first time cycling a tank. I've seen conflicting responses and wanted to poll people again: what is your preferred time to add corals??

My tank has been cycling for nearly 4 weeks and nitrites have dropped. However, Algae is starting to grow. Does this mean my tank has cycled or still needs more time for a homeostasis?

I would say it is over. My personal opinion is that once nitrates are present with zeros for both ammonia and nitrites the cycle is complete. Everyone has their own opinion on when to add coral. I would say softies about a month post-cycle. LPS and SPS are even longer. I would say 3 months plus for lps and almost 6 moths for SPS if not longer.

 

[Spare time]

You can add coral once you have the basic water chemistry down (salinity, nitrate, phosphate [with a quality low range kit], pH, etc.). You need to know the rhythm of your tank first. This can take days, weeks, or months depending on the person.

 

[Spare time]

I think you should read it because it never says when cycling is "finished" .

Seriously though, I have read it but my specific question is targeted more for when to add corals. BTW I've done tons of reading, with lots of conflicting statements, i.e. nitires don't matter, or nitrites need to be zero, or wait 6 months no matter what, algae is a good sign, algae is a bad sign, etc. Looking to poll some more or see if anyone has trusted resources. Everyone has a different suggestion but I don't see strong justifications.

My guess is that people ask this question a lot because it isn't a settled problem.

I can try and wrestle some of those questions if you are confused about the answers to one.

 

[mizimmer90]

I would say it is over. My personal opinion is that once nitrates are present with zeros for both ammonia and nitrites the cycle is complete. Everyone has their own opinion on when to add coral. I would say softies about a month post-cycle. LPS and SPS are even longer. I would say 3 months plus for lps and almost 6 moths for SPS if not longer.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[mizimmer90]

You can add coral once you have the basic water chemistry down (salinity, nitrate, phosphate [with a quality low range kit], pH, etc.). You need to know the rhythm of your tank first. This can take days, weeks, or months depending on the person.

This is a really helpful perspective! Honestly, I feel this is one of the most pragmatic answers I've heard and explains the conflicting opinions: everyone has a different comfort level with controlling their water parameters based on experience/preference.

I can try and wrestle some of those questions if you are confused about the answers to one.

I really appreciate it!

 

[dixons_reef]

My first tank which was a 40b took a month. My second which is a 38g peninsula took 2 weeks as I reused a lot of live rock from first tank. So it totally depends. You need to keep testing to confirm when the cycle is completed but turbo start and using live rock definitely helps complete it faster. Testing 2-3 times a week is what helped me confirm my cycle was completed.