Age of reef tank ?

[NatReef]

Hello everyone
Short question
I started reefing in January 2022 with a 10 gal tank with a lot of things not good ( bad light , no skimmer , regular sand , tap water as osmose and saltwater ) and after 6 months it was absolutely crashed it self .

After 2 months orso I gained back hope and upgrade to a 15 gallon tank and with life sand skimmer osmose and premade water from lfs.
And after a while I was still struggling ( because of the big fluctuations in param. ) And in January 2023 I bought myself a proper wb 25 pen with all the right gear ( except for light 5 months later ) And it was very hard but I think I finally got to an equilibrium where everything doing atleast better. Except for the green hair algae I can’t see to get rit of .

Now my question is : how old is my reef tank ?

 

[EricR]

Hello everyone
Short question
I started reefing in January 2022 with a 10 gal tank with a lot of things not good ( bad light , no skimmer , regular sand , tap water as osmose and saltwater ) and after 6 months it was absolutely crashed it self .

After 2 months orso I gained back hope and upgrade to a 15 gallon tank and with life sand skimmer osmose and premade water from lfs.
And after a while I was still struggling ( because of the big fluctuations in param. ) And in January 2023 I bought myself a proper wb 25 pen with all the right gear ( except for light 5 months later ) And it was very hard but I think I finally got to an equilibrium where everything doing atleast better. Except for the green hair algae I can’t see to get rit of .

Now my question is : how old is my reef tank ?

Ha ha... same boat here.
I never know how many tank transfers to go back when trying to post some background for any questions I might ask.

...so, no answer for you,,, but also don't know how far back your current rock/corals/fish date,,, which is kinda what I'd lean towards

 

[Dburr1014]

Hello everyone
Short question
I started reefing in January 2022 with a 10 gal tank with a lot of things not good ( bad light , no skimmer , regular sand , tap water as osmose and saltwater ) and after 6 months it was absolutely crashed it self .

After 2 months orso I gained back hope and upgrade to a 15 gallon tank and with life sand skimmer osmose and premade water from lfs.
And after a while I was still struggling ( because of the big fluctuations in param. ) And in January 2023 I bought myself a proper wb 25 pen with all the right gear ( except for light 5 months later ) And it was very hard but I think I finally got to an equilibrium where everything doing atleast better. Except for the green hair algae I can’t see to get rit of .

Now my question is : how old is my reef tank ?

I consider the age of my reef tank when I set it up.
I started my 75 gallon in April of 2014. It is currently 9.5 years old.

When and if I do set up my 150 gallon I will start the age of my clock again to zero. Even though I will have 10-year-old Corals in it it is still new.
This is how I see it anyway.

 

[NatReef]

I consider the age of my reef tank when I set it up.
I started my 75 gallon in April of 2014. It is currently 9.5 years old.

When and if I do set up my 150 gallon I will start the age of my clock again to zero. Even though I will have 10-year-old Corals in it it is still new.
This is how I see it anyway.

Even when you use the same sand rocks filter media and 1/2 of the water ?

 

[NatReef]

Ha ha... same boat here.
I never know how many tank transfers to go back when trying to post some background for any questions I might ask.

...so, no answer for you,,, but also don't know how far back your current rock/corals/fish date,,, which is kinda what I'd lean towards

My first are around 3 years old ( never “ died “ ) and every upgrade I needed more rock ofcourse and have prb around 6 bigger rocks and 2 smaller and corline finally appeared clearly on my right black glass in just to weeks some small dots appeared and soon grow bigger and more and now the dots are around 2.5 cm with little bit of purple and pink in with some weird green /brown color

 

[fish farmer]

Even when you use the same sand rocks filter media and 1/2 of the water ?

I started my reef journey in 2000. I did a couple upgrades, downgrades, had complete crashed, partial losses. Never have I let my rock dry out, I still have a couple of old school pieces of Fiji live rock from 20 years ago. I age my current tank at 13 years when I down sized and rebuilt.

 

[jason2459]

I took over a 55g in 2007 from someone else. House was flooded in 2008. Then started it up again in 2009.

I upgraded to a 180g I think in 2011. I moved everything over to it.

This past year, 2023, I moved everything from that 180 to a new 120g except the sand.

I consider my tank 14 years old and newly documented in my tank thread.

 

[vanguard]

Now my question is : how old is my reef tank ?

I've often had this same question.

• At least one of my rocks is very old, say over 5 years from another tank.
• Another large rock is 9 months old
• Most of them were cycled for five months in a tub with fish, refugium and protein skimmer. That's basically a fish tank.
• My current tank was filled about five weeks ago with those rocks.
• It's instantly filled with fish and coral, the nitrogen cycle is not a problem. Zero fish/coral deaths.

Well, it has diatoms and it's going through a mild ugly stage so it's a pretty new tank.

I see it like this. Imagine we have a field with rabbits and grass. When you first introduce the rabbits they multiply like crazy and feast on the grass. Then the grass doesn't keep pace and the rabbits starve. Then the grass recovers, it goes back and forth until a balance is achieved. When you add wolves the process starts all over again and balance must be regained over time.

Well, switching tanks is adding the wolves. Bacteria diversity/balance tests your results will vary based on where you collect the sample. Just rearranging the rocks will make things unbalanced for a little bit before getting stability back. Changing the lights and flow, to some extent, makes it reset too.

So, let's agree that you're not starting from scratch and you're closer to balance than most two month old tanks. However, it's not as stable as an 11 month old tank either. The number doesn't matter but I'd guess it's similar to a 4-6 month tank.

 

[JayM]

Your tank is 11 months old.

Many people start a brand new tank with “live rock” purchased from various sources that may be decades old. It’s still a brand new tank.

 

[NatReef]

Your tank is 11 months old.

Many people start a brand new tank with “live rock” purchased from various sources that may be decades old. It’s still a brand new tank.

Even when it is from the same tank with all the same water rocks sand media fish and coral ?

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

How old is my tank?

I had a 7 year old system that my wife broke.

Tonight I made a massive transfer to a new system approximately the same size. It's been finished for less than an hour?

 

[Dburr1014]

Even when it is from the same tank with all the same water rocks sand media fish and coral ?

You keep asking the same question when people answer you.
Do you want us to say that it's 1 year and 11 months? Will this satisfy you?
It's how ever old you want it to be at this point.

Happy reefing.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello everyone
Short question
I started reefing in January 2022 with a 10 gal tank with a lot of things not good ( bad light , no skimmer , regular sand , tap water as osmose and saltwater ) and after 6 months it was absolutely crashed it self .

After 2 months orso I gained back hope and upgrade to a 15 gallon tank and with life sand skimmer osmose and premade water from lfs.
And after a while I was still struggling ( because of the big fluctuations in param. ) And in January 2023 I bought myself a proper wb 25 pen with all the right gear ( except for light 5 months later ) And it was very hard but I think I finally got to an equilibrium where everything doing atleast better. Except for the green hair algae I can’t see to get rit of .

Now my question is : how old is my reef tank ?

For me, as soon as it is filled with water - It is Born

 

[NatReef]

You keep asking the same question when people answer you.
Do you want us to say that it's 1 year and 11 months? Will this satisfy you?
It's how ever old you want it to be at this point.

Happy reefing.

Oh I am just confused a bit , thanks for the feedback and response

 

[kevgib67]

My tank is just over 2 years old and started with rock that had been in a friend’s sump for decades. My previous tank, 3 transfers, was 16 years old. I too believe the age of a tank begins when water is added.

 

[Gill the 3rd]

To me the clock starts once you add water to the tank. The question isn't how old is my rock/sand/corals/fish. Its how old is my tank. I recently transferred my livestock and rocks from a 4 year old 180g tank to a larger 300g tank this summer. My 300g tank isn't 4 years old.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Even when it is from the same tank with all the same water rocks sand media fish and coral ?

Yes. U could preface it w the system is x years old using established rock and corals that are y years.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

I have older rock and corals too but consider the age as to when they all started the journey in the same system / tank.