Time from cycle to coral?

Reefmo · 01-29-2007, 02:58 PM

Hey all!

My brand new 24g nano just finished cycling. Nitrites and ammonia are at 0ppm, nitrates are about 5ppm and dropping.

I feel confident to add the cleaning crew now to help deal with the algae, but am wondering when I can/should start adding corals? I have scanned the net and googled, but there seems to be quite a bit of conflicting info out there. Some say as soon as you cycle you are good to go, others say you should wait for several months!

What is your $0.02???
24 Gallon Aquapod Blog
Tank Specs (sorta weak)

Fly Guy · 01-29-2007, 03:04 PM

I personally think you are fine to add a couple of basic corals, maybe some shrroms or zoas within a couple of weeks of adding your clean up crew. Just take it slow, and dont add too much too fast, keep a close eye on things.

Is this your first tank?

leveldrummer · 01-29-2007, 03:23 PM

the reason for all the different points of view is, once youve cycled, your can can sustain life, but the things you test for arent the full cycle, the tank still needs to age and mature, and will go through many different things before its truly stable, and plus you never know when something else can cause a quick spike of ammonia or something, you might have more stuff in your rocks that havent decayed all the way, so its usually a good idea to wait a couple more weeks. but many people dont, and when something goes wrong with a reef tank, its goes really really wrong, so its usually much better to be safe than sorry. but use your good judgement and make a decision based on all the info you have read. thats really the best part about reefing, is finding your little nitche that works best for you.

Tim224DT · 01-29-2007, 03:24 PM

year and half

Reefmo · 01-29-2007, 03:33 PM

Fly Guy,
This is my first SW tank. I have a 47g bowfront community planted also. I have had that for a few years now.

Thanks for the reply.

silvers · 01-29-2007, 03:45 PM

who realy waits over a month after your cycle before putting anything in the tank

Tim224DT · 01-29-2007, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silvers

who realy waits over a month after your cycle before putting anything in the tank

I did... I waited over a month for fish and almost a year and half for corals

Little Luey · 01-29-2007, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silvers

who realy waits over a month after your cycle before putting anything in the tank

I did too. Nothing good comes in this hobby when you try to rush things.
I know it is hard to wait sometimes but it is better in the long run. If it is your first tank you want to get the hang of doing maintenance and all the little things you need to learn, it is best if you don't risk your pets lives doing it, plus it also saves money.

Fly Guy · 01-29-2007, 05:10 PM

Like i said before..throw some mushrooms and/or zoas in there after a couple more weeks. They are tough and will give you something pretty to look at as well as somewhat of an indicator of how well you are doing.

reefermike1 · 01-29-2007, 05:16 PM

id say the tank was up for about 4-5 months before i got my first frags.

fish.freak · 01-29-2007, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reefmo

Hey all!

My brand new 24g nano just finished cycling. Nitrites and ammonia are at 0ppm, nitrates are about 5ppm and dropping.

I feel confident to add the cleaning crew now to help deal with the algae, but am wondering when I can/should start adding corals? I have scanned the net and googled, but there seems to be quite a bit of conflicting info out there. Some say as soon as you cycle you are good to go, others say you should wait for several months!

What is your $0.02???
24 Gallon Aquapod Blog
Tank Specs (sorta weak)

It depends on what you plan on putting in there.
What fish you want, and what corals you want long term.
if you put corals in now wait for the fish, or vise versa.
the main objective it to SLOWLY increase the bio-load over time.
So start thinking about what you want and we'll tell you if they will go together and what order to put them in.

fish.freak · 01-29-2007, 05:20 PM

Oh yea WELCOME to the hobby and TRT.

know-it-all · 01-29-2007, 05:22 PM

take it slow, it took me 3 years to build up to 4 fish in a 72 gal.

but then I figured it was safe, and I added the rest over the next year

corals have been growing since about 6 months into the project.

I would look into local frags to get started
nothing is more devastating than killing a $100 center piece coral

Reefmo · 01-29-2007, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fish.freak

It depends on what you plan on putting in there.
What fish you want, and what corals you want long term.
if you put corals in now wait for the fish, or vise versa.
the main objective it to SLOWLY increase the bio-load over time.
So start thinking about what you want and we'll tell you if they will go together and what order to put them in.

Well, in my minds eye I see a very well stocked tank... mostly corals of all types, with just a few fish for fun. Clam or two would be nice also. Lots of color. I would really like to show two symbiotic relationships in the tank. Anenome and clownfish and goby and shrimp. Anything other than that is gravy.

As far as corals go I am not all that well versed on what is out there, but so far some of my favs are the open brains, green star polyps, yellow polyps, bubble coral, and some of the not brownish mushrooms.

Thanks!
24 Gallon Aquapod Blog
Tank Specs (sorta weak)

fish.freak · 01-29-2007, 06:15 PM

Ok that sounds do-able but it will take you the course of this year to get there.
Add your clean up crew then start looking for a pair of juv. Clownfish (one medium & one small) add them to the tank, wait month or so and then you will be able to start adding coarls. Till then start learning about what corals/ clams you want, and how to take care of them, and decide how much work your are realisticly going to be willing to do.)