Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank.

[Forsaken77]

Ime, once the tank is cycled you can add a fish at least every 2 weeks to let the bacteria catch up to the bioload. That's not letting a tank sit empty for a year.

I think part of the issue is certain products, like Biospira and other bottled bacteria, say you can add your fish immediately if you use this product. I think people take that as you can dump in this liquid and fully stock your tank right away without waiting for a cycle to happen.

But I have no idea who waits a year with one fish and a snail.

 

[mcarroll]

I lost my tank and all its stock 5 months ago and restarted a new tank shortly after. My tank is now 4 months old.

Ouch! Sorry to hear that!

In your case, was there a lesson you learned anywhere in loss or in the restart?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

A few recent threads made me think of this one.

 

[pga7602]

Hi. Devil's advocate newbie here. Attached is a photo of my 525XL at 2 months and me being a fool STUFFING it with LPS, a bird nest, 16 fish (one yellow tang. I learned a blue tang shouldn't be in a small tank - Aqua medic traps FTW)

The other photos are eight months later. I have 37 different acropora, a maxima that is thriving, RBTA has split four times and the kids named our mandarin "Oprah"

I think I'm a bit different than most new reefers because I'm in the home automation business and things like the Apex are like second nature. I'm also a chemistry buff and I'm Chinese, so we do math for fun. I also read read read read everything I can about this hobby. You have to figure out who has the same philosophy as you and then you have to figure out who truly is inmovative and who just has a lot of experience.

I have learned from building very high end homes that the guys who have been building for a long time are successful when they appreciate new concepts, new technology and new ideology.

I would agree that going slow is best for most, but I like to think I did I pretty decent job getting this to where it is. It's probably going to crash now that I posted this, but I am an autopilot now. Dosing pumps do their thing and an auto water changer is doing 1G every 12 hours. Only thing I do is feed the feesh, change media once a month, scrape the glass/socks and that's pretty much it.

I'm done stocking after eight months. Maybe some rare acros or acans, but I'm done.

You'll see a red dragon, Strawberry shortcake, red planet, AquaSD rainbow Millie and a Disney Tennis all encrusting and throwing out huge polyps. I don't feed my scolys and acans eat 2x a week.

Cheers to all you freaks!

Your tank looks really mature for it's age. Great job!