Is your Reef Tank "MATURE" and how long does it take?

Would you consider your tank to be a mature reef?

  • YES (tell us why in the thread)

    Votes: 172 41.4%
  • NO (tell us why in the thread)

    Votes: 171 41.2%
  • Not Sure

    Votes: 69 16.6%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 3 0.7%

  • Total voters
    415

rusty hannon

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My answer was no due not only to the fact its less than a year old, in which to me means nothing, as there are several levels of maturity. By that I matured my system first to anthropoids and copeopods, next level of maturity were inverts and most fish. In that area I've surpassed my maturity goal were now my system will support any fish I want in there. My #s have now all leveled out, except all and that's due to the salt I use. Fritz red box has more all than others so that included w my doseing regiment but that too is coming into place. The keeping of corals IMO is the final maturity level we all r trying to accomplish, in which to b honest I've accomplished w the help of a Red Sea rep and their doseing products, that's why ,in a very short time I've been able to accomplish this level of maturity. I'm now supporting LPs, NPS and some SP's w no problems. This has all been a sort of experiment to have my sys " mature" in months( much more than 12 ) but far less than the years I've spent maturing my other tanks that did take 3 to 5+ years. I have added many more corals that I will post as soon as I can, but to b honest I broke my phone( had this one replaced last week) and broke my computer all on the same Sunday 3 weeks ago. So please bare w me and soon I'll b able to update my build thread and you may all decide the level of maturity I've gained. To me, a system that supports and mostly allows anything put n it to grow and thrive is a completely mature system. This is just my opinion of maturing a system.
 

jda

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What's your reccomendation for acquiring that sort of fauna in a dry dock tank without access to live rock?
Try and get a pack of goodies from Indo Pacific Sea Farms (ipsf.com)... mud, mini brittles, cryptic sponges, etc. It is still likely not as good, but pretty good.
 

Catnip885

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I would say my tank is not mature but it is on its way. To me a mature tank is when your coral are well established and growing well.
 

Cal

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I think my tank is mature enough now. :)

After you get through the stage where the corals are growing enough that you don't have any of those "coral plugs" showing and coral is naturally growing on rocks so you can't move them, you have a good supply of "mulm" or dying algae, sponges, etc. in the dark recesses and in the back.

Things are spawning and you have no idea what you are seeing in the caves, fish only die from jumping out or old age. Antenna are sticking out from many of the pores in the rock. When you turn off the lights you can see tiny "plankton" creatures swimming towards the surface or scurrying under the rocks.

Then the tank is mature.
this. once in awhile, I'd get these white pods crawling on the tank glass and also have sponges in the refugium. things growing on rocks that I've never bought. 10+ years or so
 

Shelby

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Great question! Unfortunately I killed a few things adding them to my tank too soon. Most notably a beautiful Blue Linke before my tank had enough for it to eat. Actually, I've killed a lot of coral, inverts, fish etc. for a variety of reasons - mostly inexperience and enthusiasm. I've had fish tanks, both saltwater and fresh all my life but my reef tank is only six years old. I do consider it mature but it took a while for me to be "mature" when it came to the reef tank. Now it thrives. As a side note, the yellow tailed blue damsel I added six years ago to "cycle" the tank is still alive. That one is tough!
 

McPuff

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I'd say mature. I've moved the system around a few times over the past 16 years and some of the rock and fish have been with me the whole time. Started with actual live rock too which certainly helps. In it's current glass box for 5 years now and it's generally very stable. Parameters move slowly and you have to be willing to correct things very slowly too (e.g., high nutrients!!). No use rushing!! I have coralline algae coming off the back glass in sheets about every year or so. It's a small chore to keep it off the viewing panels. Even the areas of the bottom where the sand has been blown off are totally covered in pink and now those areas are also bubbling and flaking. Definitely a healthy amount of coralline in there! Over the past couple years I don't do much in the way of water changes... just when I need to remove detritus from the sump, vacuum the sand, or pull gunk out of the trigger lagoon.
 

LRT

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I've been throwing this word around alot lately and probably need to rethink the way I've been using it.
For me "Mature" reef means alot of things. Fully "cured" rock, media or substrate entirely capable of processing or cycling bioload being thrown at it.
A system that is stabile and balanced and capable of maintaining proper, healthy balance of params with minimal effort.
I've achieved this over the course of several years in my early reefing days to a few weeks in recent tank transfer.
 

MillennialReefer

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I think it depends on the rock and sand used. If you have live rock or sand directly from the ocean or from a previous tank. IMO the tank is pretty mature, might take a few weeks to 'settle' in. But if you're using dry rock/sand then it definitely takes much longer to establish the bacteria and microfauna - that being said I think it would take around 3 years-ish.
 

Maximitsurugi

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Maturity in a reef for me is the same thing with kids. It's the point at which they grow up enough where they start contributing to their own up keep. For my reef, it's growth that gives me frags to trade.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

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  • Check valves.

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  • None.

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  • Other.

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