How long do you wait before adding coral to a new tank?

[vetteguy53081]

Old thread, but I want to bump it.

I am looking into corals, but I was told to wait at least 6 months! It seems that I was told very wrong?

(Setup is a 29g nano tank)

My rules is easy coral after 8-10 weeks and monitor levels.

 

[zukihara]

If the cycle is complete and you are prepared to keep Ca, and KH stable there is no reason you can't add whatever you want right now.

There ya go...

 

[zukihara]

Super poor image, but this is a 6 week old tank with lots plopped in after about 5 days of getting wet. Everything has been in this at least 3 weeks and mostly 5.

 

[James_O]

Super poor image, but this is a 6 week old tank with lots plopped in after about 5 days of getting wet. Everything has been in this at least 3 weeks and mostly 5.

Beautiful!! ;Cat:

 

[HB AL]

I add coral to a new tank as soon as it's filled with water.

 

[James_O]

Will the algae I’m getting right now, affect the coral?

 

[zukihara]

Will the algae I’m getting right now, affect the coral?

Very well could, yes. Hopefully just irritate it a while though.

 

[blasterman]

Cycling has nothing to do with corals. Its the nutrient swings that occur with cycling and potential algae explosions in young tanks that cause problems. If you can avoid them you can add SPS day one.

If you use healthy LR this greatly reduces ready time.

 

[James_O]

Cycling has nothing to do with corals. Its the nutrient swings that occur with cycling and potential algae explosions in young tanks that cause problems. If you can avoid them you can add SPS day one.

If you use healthy LR this greatly reduces ready time.

I will definitely wait then. My tank has lots of algae.

 

[LexMueller]

Haha thanks guys! This has helped me so much. Been in the hobby for over a year now and have learned so many things but this. This is the ultimate. I’m getting a new 25g peninsula upgrading from a fluval evo. Guess I don’t gotta cycle to move my corals! Thanks

 

[Lita]

So once your cycle is done, how long do most of you wait before adding coral? (and why?) It also might be good to specify when you add different types of coral (SPS, LPS, and softies) since IME the latter 2 seem to do well in a younger tank than SPS. Give us your thoughts!

I add corals from 3-7 days after setup and that’s only to make sure that my tank isn’t leaking, salinity is correct and temp is stable. That being said I have running tanks that I steal filter media from and I always use stability in a new tank. Feeding the corals gives a good bioload to continue cycling and maturing the tank. I’ve never had an issue doing this not even when I didn’t use media from established tanks. I find it’s better to add your corals easier to work without fish and let the corals start to establish before adding fish. This is also good for the fish as they are coming into a more mature thank and don’t have you sticking in your hands all the time. The only thing I would caution id that if you are new and don’t know have to control your nutrients very well you could get an algae bloom / hair algae outbreak or diatom etc that would damage your corals. It’s important to keep nitrates and phosphate in check and keep light to a minimum to satisfy the corals you have. As your tank matures you can increase your lights.

 

[Barb0713]

I hear you seems like everyone on all the forums were saying you need to wait six months you basically have to have Coraline algae before you can add corals. But a video BRS just did they said the opposite that adding corals Burley helps increase the biodiversity of your biome in your tank. I have a 40 gallon tank and just started adding coral at the three month mark. Wish I would’ve done it sooner when I added the first fish.

The conflicting advice is crazy. lol I have learned to take it all in and take my tank into consideration and then make a choice. What works for some doesn’t work for others. I was always told to drip acclimate coral for hours. I never did that and have never lost a coral ( during acclimation) I’ve lost coral for other reasons

 

[Jrhunter0000]

I always wait for a complete cycle and diatoms to come and go. Added coral after a cycle one time ad then got a large diatom bloom killed all my zoas!

 

[John Neuzil]

I don't wait. Coral can go in from day one.

 

[reely989]

I have only started two tanks, but I put coral in as soon as I felt like the tank was cycled. In both cases that was very quickly due to using seeded rock from other aquaria. I probably wouldn't be brave enough to plop in a high end Acro the first week, but hardy stuff like zoas, mushrooms, etc? They'll be fine.

 

[BryanM]

So once your cycle is done, how long do most of you wait before adding coral? (and why?) It also might be good to specify when you add different types of coral (SPS, LPS, and softies) since IME the latter 2 seem to do well in a younger tank than SPS. Give us your thoughts!

I did live rock and I'm not sure I waited two weeks.... it was short.... Which is why I went with live rock.

I've never touched SPS, and if/when I do that tank will probably have a longer stabilization period, even if I start it with live rock, just because SPS are more temperamental, generally.