Time between fish

[DustyMcThrill]

Hello,


I hope everyone is having a great week! My questions are: What is the proper time I should wait between adding fish to a tank? Is that waiting period still the same between CUC and fish? Thanks in advance for all your help!
Tank is a 75gal.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I would get maybe 2-3 fishes, then wait a month for the next batch.

CUC doesn't really have any bioload, so I just add whenever. But with fish I go very slow.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Hello,


I hope everyone is having a great week! My questions are: What is the proper time I should wait between adding fish to a tank? Is that waiting period still the same between CUC and fish? Thanks in advance for all your help!
Tank is a 75gal.

Totally agree with Mojo. When I did my set up, I added 2 to 3 fish at a time, and waited 3 weeks in between. This gives the bio load in your tank time to catch up.

 

[The_Paradox]

Are you wanting to wait due to figuring out what your stocking level should be or some other reason? I don’t like running quarantine tanks long-term or risking staggered fallow periods so I always try to add all at once after I have confirmed the tank is cycled.

 

[DustyMcThrill]

Are you wanting to wait due to figuring out what your stocking level should be or some other reason? I don’t like running quarantine tanks long-term or risking staggered fallow periods so I always try to add all at once after I have confirmed the tank is cycled.

Just trying to re-***** my tank post crash, and studying everything I did so I know where to course correct. Parameters are all good and have been for quite a while, but I was hesitant about jumping back in. Some of CUC have survived. Tank is definitely cycled.

 

[DustyMcThrill]

Personally I would get maybe 2-3 fishes, then wait a month for the next batch.

CUC doesn't really have any bioload, so I just add whenever. But with fish I go very slow.

Thanks!

 

[brandon429]

this is not how saltwater filtration works. upon cycle completion, surface area is what determines carry rates NOT waiting for bacteria to catch up, bacteria do not increase in numbers when more fish are added (nor do they decrease in number during a 3 month fallow period) because without adding more surface area, the current surface area is full.

and even if they did ramp up based on degree of bioload, which they don't, you can't increase filtration rates by stacking layers upon layers of bacteria on the same surface area. you'd have to add more surface area then wait for the new areas to populate if there was such a thing as an overloaded filtration setup in reefing.

not once in reefing has anyone overloaded their biofiltration with living organisms and caused a tank crash in a reef tank, post cycle.

disease is your limiter, not the cycle.

 

[brandon429]

here's one of 15 relevant case studies on the matter

Bio-spira works great

I just started a new tank a little over a week ago. I started with all dry rock and new sand. I added a bottle of Bio-Spira and put fish and coral the same day. Never saw any ammonia and fish and coral seem healthy.

www.reef2reef.com

not only is that a lot of stuff on day one, it's a lot of fish then we can track out the system over a year's course all in one thread. waiting does not permit a tank to carry more fish, he had enough surface area in the design (we all do) to carry that huge initial bioload after the initial dose of bottled bacteria had moved onto surfaces. notice he did not keeping adding and adding bottle bac: he dosed it, bioloaded the tank, and dealt with disease a year later. if the cycle was not viable, or his surface area too little, the entire system would crash in a few days as bacteria in suspension alone cannot carry a reef tank for a whole year.

how you cycle a reef tank does not impact disease coursing at all. even the longest, most non rushed cycles still end up this way in the disease forum if the preps are skipped.