How will I know??

[Herrin811]

When my tank is ready for corals? Its just finished the cycle and the algae is dying off....Should i be lookng for any particular signs or water params?? Plan to start with frogspawns or hammers.....

[Jnicho]

You should be testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate...that will tell you when the first part of your cycle is done and your tank is ready for it's first livestock.

[Herrin811]

Originally Posted by Jnicho

You should be testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate...that will tell you when the first part of your cycle is done and your tank is ready for it's first livestock.

right...Thats where I am now....Cleaners are in, first fish coming in a few days....What Im asking is when or what will I need to see before I introduce the first corals? I still have the leftovers of the algae blooms....

78 deg
pH 8.2
Sg 1.023
Ammonia 0
NitrIte 0
NitrAte 15ppm
Phos 0
Alk good
Calc >400ppm

[scoop]

Your nitrates should still go down a little more, and wait for the remainder of the algae bloom to go away. You also might want to get your sg closer to 1.025. What is your alk? Overall it is looking very good right now. You are probably only a week or 2 away from some of the easier lps, frogspawn or hammer would be a great start. (You probably want to stay away from sps for at least another 5 months or more.)

[OneDummHikk]

Originally Posted by Herrin811

right...Thats where I am now....Cleaners are in, first fish coming in a few days....What Im asking is when or what will I need to see before I introduce the first corals? I still have the leftovers of the algae blooms....

78 deg
pH 8.2
Sg 1.023
Ammonia 0
NitrIte 0
NitrAte 15ppm
Phos 0
Alk good
Calc >400ppm

Slowly raise the temp to 80.

The ones you are wanting to watch are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. NitrAtes you can control (lower) with water changes. The tank has finished the first phase, you are at the end of the diatom bloom, you are "coral safe" for the most part.

Phosphate tests are generally useless on a tank. They won't tell you how much phosphate you have in the system, it will only tell you how much free phospate is in the water column. You will have phosphates in the system, it is unavoidable for the most part. The best indicator of a phosphate issue is algae blooms from it.