Can you skip the “ugly phase” in a new tank setup?

[Hot2na]

I did.. ! by using natural seawater.. no uglies here...alot of the ugly phase is caused by stuff in the salt mix..
In addition I put all my dry rock into a brute container with ro/DI water and ran rowaphos and polyfilter in an eheim canister for 1 month prior to adding to the tank...leached out most if not all the phosphate...

 

[Garf]

These short, live bacteria start up solution cycles with adding fish early cause a lot of the uglies. However, this can be reduced as described above. 15 years ago I had a bit of proper live rock and baulked it out by hiding dry rock underneath it. Absolutely no problem. My new tank is bare bottom dry rock (bit of mature rock in sump), also corals added early on. I think raising pH also helps. Happy days

 

[attiland]

You're just arguing over definitions. Ugly stage with dry rock can be months of green hair algae, diatoms, dinos, and cyano. I don't think having a diatom bloom for a week qualifies as ugly phase.

Also you obviously can eliminate it. If someone has a 5-year-old tank and you buy their rock and put in your tank with all your equipment more than likely it's just going to behave just like theirs was.

I started with KP live rock and yes I did have a dino bloom for a couple weeks but that's because I was under feeding. People get dino blooms in 10 year old tanks.

You are saying the same. You can but you haven’t.
On an another note if you buy all rocks and corals from a matured tank that is not an new tank that is a transfer in which case you are right. You can transfer a tank without ugly phase

 

[SDK]

I’ve been keeping marine aquariums since the late 1970s, and have started all new aquariums with a mix of cured and natural ocean live rock since the day it became available commercially. I will add some dry rock, but no more than around 25% of the total volume. I also place anything dry underneath the live pieces.

Since switching over from the dead coral skeletons that were common back then , I’ve never gone through an “ugly phase” in the subsequent 30+ years.

This problem is primarily a side effect of the dead rock/bottle bacteria method of starting tanks that is popular now.

Add in a lack of patience to the mix. Three weeks after you pour the water in, you need to get that Instagram post right up of a tank full of tiny frags.

And there you have it..