When to start adding coral?

[flight1201]

When is it "safe" to start adding coral to a new tank? What parameters should I look for and how long should they remain stable before adding softies or lps? My tank has been up for 2 months now and the LFS keeps telling me to wait...

Current parameters
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 7
Salinity 1.024
PH 8.1
Calcium 420
Kh 8
Phosphates 0

 

[mcgyvr]

In general as soon as you tank has finished its cycle (typically around 4 weeks.. sometimes less) you can start to add inhabitants (clean up crew, fish, corals,etc..)..
BUT stock it slowly to avoid any changes before its really "mature" enough to handle it..

I typically suggest to wait for the diatom/cyano/hair algae outbreak phases to stop before adding corals..

But softies can take it.. LPS too for the most part.. I would wait longer for harder to keep (SPS,etc..) corals to ensure parameters are stable day to day and month to month..

IMO 2 months is plenty sufficient for softies,etc....

 

[Sapelo]

Agreed. SPS is quiet a bit more fussy, but with softies as long as you are watching your chemistry and doing your maintenance water changes they are pretty darn hardy.

 

[JMorris271]

I have my fish and coral in QT while my tank is in cycling process

 

[pyithar]

you can add a few soft corals and lps now imo. start with not very expensive corals. so if something goes wrong, you don't lose a lot of money. i started with a small colony of hammer. if you have lps in the tank, you also need to pay attention to Ca, Alk, and Mg since the coral skeletons use them to grow.

 

[Ron Reefman]

A tank being cycled just means you have all the needed bacteria to remove ammonia and nitrite. If you add corals now they have a fairly good chance of surviving assuming everything else is OK.

However, your tank is going to go through a process of 'maturing' which will take 6 to 12 months. During that time you'll have potential for algae blooms and bacteria blooms. These can be small and easy to deal with if you have any at all. But they can be massive and even big enough to choke out corals. Start slowly and start with very inexpensive corals. Good luck.

 

[SirToadie]

A tank being cycled just means you have all the needed bacteria to remove ammonia and nitrite.

This single line is probably one of the best things I've read to help me understand what the heck I'm waiting for... thank you. Now it all makes sense...

Fish eat, fish poop, ammonia and nitrite will build up unless you have . . . awesome, thank you