Recently I set up a small pico tank with my roommate. We had some disagreements over it but I insisted it needed to be cycled before adding any sort of livestock including corals. My roommate disagreed and has had a tank before that he never cycled and he says his corals did just fine (he doesn't like fish and never added any to the tank). On this tank he okayed me adding a thumbnail amount of raw shrimp to the tank to jumpstart the cycle, along with some "bacteria in a bottle" since we started with dry everything.
The ammonia today (second day after being set up and after shrimp was added) was 0.5; nitrites and nitrates were both zero. He decided he doesn't want to wait for a cycle so he took the little piece of shrimp out and ordered some coral (super hardy softies and zoanthids, a mushroom or two). Is it okay to do a coral only tank without cycling? And since I already sort of started the cycle process should we be okay with some water changes before the coral get here later this week?
Thanks!
The ammonia today (second day after being set up and after shrimp was added) was 0.5; nitrites and nitrates were both zero. He decided he doesn't want to wait for a cycle so he took the little piece of shrimp out and ordered some coral (super hardy softies and zoanthids, a mushroom or two). Is it okay to do a coral only tank without cycling? And since I already sort of started the cycle process should we be okay with some water changes before the coral get here later this week?
Thanks!