New tank when can I add sps

[Nht]

Hey guys. Just set up a 130g Waterbox tank with all new sand and new dry Marco rocks. My tank is cycled with Dr. Tim’s and is completely cycled.

Although I’m not new to the hobby it’s been a years since I’ve cycled a tank. I’ve been hearing a lot about people who start off with all dry rock have trouble with keeping SPS. Is this an accurate trend? Those who have success using dry rock please feel free to chime in.

The reason I started off with dry rock because with my previous tank I had every pest known to man so I wanted to steer clear of that in this tank. What can I do to add some biodiversity and help my tank mature faster as if I’m using live rock? I already added some pods and phyto from Algaebarn. Should I be adding bacteria to the tank besides Dr Tim’s? I have a bottle of Polyplab Genesis and wanted to dose it but wanted to ask first.


For all the sps experts here thank you in advance for your knowledge and experiences

Also should I be running my lights at this point or should I keep it dark?

 

[TX_Punisher]

You’ve e got a while. The best thing you could do is add other sources of bacteria to speed up the process. Perhaps some good live rock.

I did the same and am barely getting to the point where I can grow sps over a year later! I should have started with something like Tampa bay Saltwater live rock. It’s teeming with life.

Good luck

 

[Dr. Reef]

dry rock can leach phos for very long time. If you would have cured it in a laundry tote or used acid to strip it, would have been better. But now you can manage the phos by using gfo or Lanthanum chloride. either way when chemistry is stable you can start adding SPS.

 

[mta_morrow]

There will be 1000 different answers to that question!
And it’s a good question.

All I can say is I started with clean, dry rock in Feb. from reefcleaners.

I’m not planning on any SPS until spring next year. So 12-14 months in.

I’m pretty stable with parameters now but am still adding softies and zoas and other stuff.

 

[LDH]

Brs did a video on how to mature your dry rock recently. They didn’t talk about sps but inevitably that’s where their instructions were going. You should watch the vid but they said with dry rock that it should go in a completely blacked out tank ( black paper on the walls and no lights ) for 30 days while dosing bacteria.

I’m with ya. I figure it’s going to be about a year before my tank is mature enough to add sps based on other people’s builds and info but to me it’s worth the wait to avoid the pests.

Good luck!

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Do as I say, not as I do LOL. I would add as much variety in regards to bacteria and micro fauna as possible. When your parameters are stable add a test frag from a friend. Something hardy like a green slimer. If it does well over the course of a few months, then you should be good to go. That being said, I started my tank from dry rock and dry sand. I added many different bacteria, and also order pods and phyto from algae barn, and micro fauna from ISPF. I also added amphipods. I first added bacteria on 3/29/2018 so I consider that to be the tanks birthday. I added my first SPS frag (ORA Rusty Pink Millepora) on 5/17/18. After observing the first frag and seeing growth, I added additional frags on 6/12/18, and have continued to do so ever since. I now have over 100 frags/mini colonies in my tank. Of course your mileage may vary, and patience is always going to be best in this hobby, but a tank started from dry rock and sand can succeed with SPS well before a year. I also have a great deal of experience with SPS as I have been keeping them since last century and used to run a coral farm, so that is why I was willing to take the chance of starting them so early in my current tank.

 

[tdileo]

Started my second tank in December of last year, didn’t get wet until January. Used dry rock and a few pounds of established rock from my tank in the sump and added my clown pair day 1. I had my tougher acros and montis in within a month, never lost a thing.

 

[jda]

Get some hardy fish. I like to use Yellow Tail Blue Damsels since they can stay in the tank forever and are not aggressive. Feed them reasonably. Get a large bottle of patience - it was on sale at Target over Black Friday.

Once you get past the algae stages and coralline starts growing like crazy covering the rocks and rear glass, then you are all set. You can add stuff before this, but just know that you will be constantly chasing a moving target and things might not make a lot of sense.

Lastly, have a plan to manage the same pests that you had before. They can and will come in on the first frag plug that you get, or on snails or anything else. Unless you plan to QT ever invert and coral for a few months, then you will get hair algae, bubble algae and aiptasia again.

FWIW - I started a new tank in Feb 2018 with real live rock (no phosphate issues) and I did not add any acropora until about the 4-5 month mark (I forget the exact date). It was about a month ago that they really started to take off and grow well.

 

[Reefcowboy]

I have started many sps tanks and never waited long with success. My latest 150 gal also has marco rocks, added dr Tims, added a pair of clowns, waited 2weeks and loaded it with sps sticks. Im 6 months in, havent lost a single frag, tank going really well with growth and color have been best ever of all tanks ive had.

Im sure waiting can be beneficial, but not at all a requirement, as long as you pay attention to parameters and keep needed basics stable.

 

[Geebs19]

I put some SPS in my tank 3 months after setup and its thriving.

 

[Jason mack]

The key is stability.....with a new tank your params are normally all over the place in the first year ...but every tank is different ...for me I started with dry rock and live sand cycled tank for 10 weeks then added live rock and inhabitants from my old tank ..it was probably 6 -8 months after that with my first sps ...

 

[Scorpius]

If you started with 100% dry rock then you can expect 12-18 months of hit or miss success with sensitive sps. After that you should be able to grow just about anything.

 

[Dlealrious]

I used dry rock, i mean old dead rock which i dried out. Then cured in a container for a few months. Never had a cycle or anything. Added sps after a month. Nothing took off but nothing died either. Rocks were totally purple after about 3 to 4 months.

 

[Nht]

Do as I say, not as I do LOL. I would add as much variety in regards to bacteria and micro fauna as possible. When your parameters are stable add a test frag from a friend. Something hardy like a green slimer. If it does well over the course of a few months, then you should be good to go. That being said, I started my tank from dry rock and dry sand. I added many different bacteria, and also order pods and phyto from algae barn, and micro fauna from ISPF. I also added amphipods. I first added bacteria on 3/29/2018 so I consider that to be the tanks birthday. I added my first SPS frag (ORA Rusty Pink Millepora) on 5/17/18. After observing the first frag and seeing growth, I added additional frags on 6/12/18, and have continued to do so ever since. I now have over 100 frags/mini colonies in my tank. Of course your mileage may vary, and patience is always going to be best in this hobby, but a tank started from dry rock and sand can succeed with SPS well before a year. I also have a great deal of experience with SPS as I have been keeping them since last century and used to run a coral farm, so that is why I was willing to take the chance of starting them so early in my current tank.

Thanks for the replies my fellow reefers. What’s ISPF? I’ve already got some pods and phyto on the way and some micro fauna would help kickstart some life into the tank

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I started my current reef in June. I was going to use dry Reef Saver rock and so glad I did not. I got lucky and found a local guy that had several hundered pounds cooking in unlight bin for sale. Was super clean and exploded with life once it was in my tank, 2 month cycle and 3 months no lights and now its growing coralline really well. Sps added a few weeks ago and all doing very well. Dry rock takes longer becasue you need to introduce all the bio diversity via frags of easier corals, live rock/sand, bottled bacteria ect and then it needs time to take over. I would do a hardy sps tester once coralline gets going.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Thanks for the replies my fellow reefers. What’s ISPF? I’ve already got some pods and phyto on the way and some micro fauna would help kickstart some life into the tank

I miss-typed. should have read IPSF. It's Indo Pacific Sea Farms. Their website is pretty hokie, but the products are great. I've been using them since the early 2000's https://www.ipsf.com/

 

[marlinmon]

Took me about 4 months before I added most sps. Might start with simpler sps like stylo. It’s a lot more forgiving than most

 

[Johnson556]

For some reason the magic number for my past two tanks is 8 months. Of course this varies with everyone.

At that point the coralline growth is out of control, parameters are rock solid, and the cryptic zones are loaded with sponges and such.

 

[Amps Reef Life]

A lot of good answers here. When starting from dry rock and a new tank it's going to be about 6 to 8 months before the tank is very stable and ready to grow sps. You can add sps before then and they may do well or they may not. Some sps are hardier than other. When adding sps early sometimes they will brown out due to parameters or not enough nutrients in the tank. As always test the water and test it some more and then do it again lol. Make sure you are looking at your phosphates and nitrates you can starve sps.

 

[speedstar]

I used dry rock, i mean old dead rock which i dried out. Then cured in a container for a few months. Never had a cycle or anything. Added sps after a month. Nothing took off but nothing died either. Rocks were totally purple after about 3 to 4 months.

Curious if you measured po4? During the process, often I have it leech back out of dried rock and that can cause you some SPS headaches if not removed./