And another question. I've had my tank for 2 1/2 months now. I have two clowns, a royal gramma and a lawnmower blenny. (40Gallon breeder, 70lbs LF; water levels ok). When do you think can I start with corals? I would want to start with 1 mushroom and 1 zooanthia. Would that be ok?
When to start with corals?
- Thread starter newfishie
- Start date
The advice I was given was to wait two months -- but I'm not a very patient person -- everything I've purchased (except one online yellow fiji) is doing great. 
Craig Lambert
Premium Member
Good rule of thumb is when you see coraline algae begin to appear on the glass.
thecichlidpleco
New member
No, if you can blow it off then it is cyanobacteria, coraline should be purple among other shades.
cd77
Premium Member
There are a lot of different coralline colors. Though most of what I have is certainly purple, I do have a fair amount of red (definitely not cyano), some pink and even some vivid green. Here is a quick google image I found of red coralline algae:
Not a great image -- looks like it may be starving (notice the white).
Not a great image -- looks like it may be starving (notice the white).
jnguyen4007
New member
be careful and take your time introducing the corals. The last thing you need is an outbreak of cyano. In my opinion as well as from personal experience, 2.5 months is not long enough for your tank to cycle completely.
hyperfocal
Active member
IMO, you'll be fine with mushrooms and zoanthids. Remember, mushrooms spread like crazy so place them carefully -- plan for hating them in about six months 
Toddrtrex
Premium Member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11089309#post11089309 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hyperfocal
IMO, you'll be fine with mushrooms and zoanthids. Remember, mushrooms spread like crazy so place them carefully -- plan for hating them in about six months
DITTO!!!!
Heck I "had" to redo one of my tanks about 7 months ago because of those darn things, were everywhere.
jnguyen4007
New member
I gave mine away just so I can get rid of them.
masonicman
New member
how much is too much coralline algea on live rock?
hyperfocal
Active member
No such thing, imo.
Toddrtrex
Premium Member
Not to disagree with you ( because I do agree with you ) but a while back there was talk that too much coralline will block some of the pores into the depths of the live rock and would hamper de-nitrification. I personally don't agree with that, but just thought I would throw that out there.
hyperfocal
Active member
Understood, Todd -- though some recent info hints that a great deal of a tank's denitrification occurs in the sandbed, and as a result most reef tanks have far more live rock than needed. If that truly is the case (who knows?) there's room for a lot of coralline cover
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