When to introduce clean up crew/fish/coral?

[ScubaSteve4Life]

I have a 29g tank and will begin to cycle it this next week. I was just wondering the best possible time to add the clean up crew, corals, and fish?

 

[77railer]

Some people add chromis or damsels to help with the cycle...cleaners can also help with the cycle so as long as your not attached to your sacrificial cycle offerings you'll be ok...I used seeded live rock hermits and turbos to cycle my tank.

 

[LiveWire]

You can add some LIVE NITRIFYING BACTERIA to your system and then right away drop in some cleaners and some starter fish with no issues. I normally get mine from Drs Foster&Smith as its much cheaper than Instant Oceans and Dr Tims and you get a bunch of it so you can really dose the system and still have some left to dose a few times throughout the next week or two if needed.

 

[ahiggins]

The way that it made sense for me was to cycle with dr tims (granted I used live rock so I didnt see much of a cycle). definitely keep testing ammonia and nitrate-if youre using the appropriate amount of live rock, you probably wouldnt have to bother with initially testing ammonia. It would probably skip that part of the cycle.
Once thats complete added 5 snails and 2 hermits.
After 2 weeks I added my clownfish
After a month added my orchid dottyback
After a month added my 6 line wrasse.
I replaced snails along the way and added a brittle star. The biggest thing is Listen to your tank....watched the ammonia and nitrAtes. If youre nitrates are rising too fast before you can water change them out...youll have to add additional filtration or lighten the bioload (take fish out). If your ammonia goes above 0.00 then you need to remove fish and let the tank recycle (ie the bacteria you built during the first cycle wasnt enough to handle the fish poo/food).
I didnt add corals until 2-3 months, zoas/acans/and a hammer.

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

Here is my timeline after I started my cycle:

2 weeks: snails and hermit crabs (I had to feed them bc of how new the tank was)

1 month: first fish (2 clowns)

Added 1 new fish every 3 weeks after clowns. I stopped at a total of 9 fish but will probably add 1 or 2 more once some of my smaller fish grow.

4 months: first corals (mostly soft coral and a few lps)

6 months: first anemone (it died)

8 months: more challenging coral (scoly and meat coral) and first starfish (2 sand sifters)

1 year: second attempt and anemone (it has since split and is doing great)

15 months: serpent stars and brittle star (I could have added this earlier) high end coral (jawbreakers, and high end zoas)

I still do not have any non-photosynthetic coral or sponges but by this point I could probably add some. I also do not have any sps. I plan on adding this within the next 6 months.

Keep in mind this isn't set guidelines you should follow but it's what I did with good success, except for the first anemone. I added him too early for sure





To give you an idea on some of the coral you can add take a look at this list. This will help you decide what type of coral is right for you.

Coral that is good for beginners: zoanthids, mushrooms (avoid jawbreakers and Bounces), favia, star polyps (caution needs to be taken as these can be invasive), nepthia trees, montipora, trumpet coral, chalice coral (must be less that $60 for about a 1 inch frag)

Moderate level corals: expensive chalice, frogspawn, hammer coral, galaxy coral, brain corals, plate corals, bubble coral, blastos (only solid red, or red and green) acans, cynarina (green only) torch coral (green) Duncan coral

Hard Level corals: scolymia, acanthrophyllia (meat coral), cynarina (reds, yellows, pinks), red gonoporia (red flowerpot), gold torch coral, jawbreaker mushrooms, blastos (the ones with yellow are the hardest), high end zoas (stratospheres and speckled kraks are some of the hardest),

Expert Level corals: gorgonians, all non-photosynthetic sponges, sun coral, green flowerpot, carnation trees, elegance coral,

Since I do not have any sps I did not list them here. From what I have heard I would put them on the moderate to hard level corals.

 

[wkscott]

I have a 29g tank and will begin to cycle it this next week. I was just wondering the best possible time to add the clean up crew, corals, and fish?

To actually answer your question, the best time to add any livestock is to test your water. When BOTH ammonia AND nitrites show zero, then you can safely slowly add fish, inverts and corals. Add any corals at least a month ( preferably 3 to 6 months) after you have these zero readings as most are sensitive to water quality and stability .

Do not sacrifice any chromis, damsels or inverts to try and speed up the cycling process. Death by ammonia poisoning is horribly inhumane and very cruel, and this practice os not followed by most hobbyists these days.

 

[ahiggins]

To actually answer your question, the best time to add any livestock is to test your water. When BOTH ammonia AND nitrites show zero, then you can safely slowly add fish, inverts and corals. Add any corals at least a month ( preferably 3 to 6 months) after you have these zero readings as most are sensitive to water quality and stability .

Do not sacrifice any chromis, damsels or inverts to try and speed up the cycling process. Death by ammonia poisoning is horribly inhumane and very cruel, and this practice os not followed by most hobbyists these days.

I feel like there needs to be a disclaimer with this one.
I had all live rock and sand so I completely skipped the nitrogen "cycle". Technically I cycled with some bacteria and a clownfish. I agree about ammonia poisoning, Ive accidentally done it before and it sucks.
If youre starting with dry rock and no bacteria at all....I would agree with you on fishless cycle.

 

[ahiggins]

Here is my timeline after I started my cycle:

2 weeks: snails and hermit crabs (I had to feed them bc of how new the tank was)

1 month: first fish (2 clowns)

Added 1 new fish every 3 weeks after clowns. I stopped at a total of 9 fish but will probably add 1 or 2 more once some of my smaller fish grow.

4 months: first corals (mostly soft coral and a few lps)

6 months: first anemone (it died)

8 months: more challenging coral (scoly and meat coral) and first starfish (2 sand sifters)

1 year: second attempt and anemone (it has since split and is doing great)

15 months: serpent stars and brittle star (I could have added this earlier) high end coral (jawbreakers, and high end zoas)

I still do not have any non-photosynthetic coral or sponges but by this point I could probably add some. I also do not have any sps. I plan on adding this within the next 6 months.

Keep in mind this isn't set guidelines you should follow but it's what I did with good success, except for the first anemone. I added him too early for sure





To give you an idea on some of the coral you can add take a look at this list. This will help you decide what type of coral is right for you.

Coral that is good for beginners: zoanthids, mushrooms (avoid jawbreakers and Bounces), favia, star polyps (caution needs to be taken as these can be invasive), nepthia trees, montipora, trumpet coral, chalice coral (must be less that $60 for about a 1 inch frag)

Moderate level corals: expensive chalice, frogspawn, hammer coral, galaxy coral, brain corals, plate corals, bubble coral, blastos (only solid red, or red and green) acans, cynarina (green only) torch coral (green) Duncan coral

Hard Level corals: scolymia, acanthrophyllia (meat coral), cynarina (reds, yellows, pinks), red gonoporia (red flowerpot), gold torch coral, jawbreaker mushrooms, blastos (the ones with yellow are the hardest), high end zoas (stratospheres and speckled kraks are some of the hardest),

Expert Level corals: gorgonians, all non-photosynthetic sponges, sun coral, green flowerpot, carnation trees, elegance coral,

Since I do not have any sps I did not list them here. From what I have heard I would put them on the moderate to hard level corals.

This was a great write up and very accurate to what Ive experienced too We have all unintentionally killed corals and 99% of the time its because WE add it to a tank thats not ready to support it yet.
Our tanks are complete ecosystems...and you cant create the perfect environment in a month.

 

[ScubaSteve4Life]

Thanks for all the help! I'd be starting a brand new tank for the first time using all dry rock. I will probably take the safest route possible being how it's a 29 gallon and I've heard smaller is more difficult to reef.

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

Thanks for all the help! I'd be starting a brand new tank for the first time using all dry rock. I will probably take the safest route possible being how it's a 29 gallon and I've heard smaller is more difficult to reef.

since it is a small tank I would avoid adding any tangs or rabbit fish. They will get too big for your tank. I would also advise you don't add any xenia, or meat coral. xenia will take over your whole tank and meat corals can get very large when healthy. Should you decided to add any bubble tip nems or scolys you will probably have to feed them. Your tank isn't large enough to have a substantial food supply on its own, unless you plan on keeping your nitrates very high.

 

[ScubaSteve4Life]

Ok, noted! Thanks. Right now I'm browsing for an affordable RO/DI system. It's either that or a protein skimmer but I've also heard rodi is of more importance.

 

[Scousereefer]

Here is my timeline after I started my cycle:

2 weeks: snails and hermit crabs (I had to feed them bc of how new the tank was)

1 month: first fish (2 clowns)

Added 1 new fish every 3 weeks after clowns. I stopped at a total of 9 fish but will probably add 1 or 2 more once some of my smaller fish grow.

4 months: first corals (mostly soft coral and a few lps)

6 months: first anemone (it died)

8 months: more challenging coral (scoly and meat coral) and first starfish (2 sand sifters)

1 year: second attempt and anemone (it has since split and is doing great)

15 months: serpent stars and brittle star (I could have added this earlier) high end coral (jawbreakers, and high end zoas)

I still do not have any non-photosynthetic coral or sponges but by this point I could probably add some. I also do not have any sps. I plan on adding this within the next 6 months.

Keep in mind this isn't set guidelines you should follow but it's what I did with good success, except for the first anemone. I added him too early for sure





To give you an idea on some of the coral you can add take a look at this list. This will help you decide what type of coral is right for you.

Coral that is good for beginners: zoanthids, mushrooms (avoid jawbreakers and Bounces), favia, star polyps (caution needs to be taken as these can be invasive), nepthia trees, montipora, trumpet coral, chalice coral (must be less that $60 for about a 1 inch frag)

Moderate level corals: expensive chalice, frogspawn, hammer coral, galaxy coral, brain corals, plate corals, bubble coral, blastos (only solid red, or red and green) acans, cynarina (green only) torch coral (green) Duncan coral

Hard Level corals: scolymia, acanthrophyllia (meat coral), cynarina (reds, yellows, pinks), red gonoporia (red flowerpot), gold torch coral, jawbreaker mushrooms, blastos (the ones with yellow are the hardest), high end zoas (stratospheres and speckled kraks are some of the hardest),

Expert Level corals: gorgonians, all non-photosynthetic sponges, sun coral, green flowerpot, carnation trees, elegance coral,

Since I do not have any sps I did not list them here. From what I have heard I would put them on the moderate to hard level corals.

Lots of good information here bro this has give me a good idea of timescale, just out of curiosity what did you feed the snails and hermits

 

[Dave1993]

Started my tank in December
5 nass snails
4 trochus
6 Spiny Astrea
3 fish
3 corals