# How does all the set-up timing work??



## Phormium (Dec 28, 2012)

I have decided to make my empty 65 gal tank into a reef tank, but I feel kinda daunted about how all the timing works. If I understand properly the principles of adding new livestock slowly, via quarantine, it seems like it could easily be a year before the tank has a community in it.

Timelines involved:

Set up display tank with live rock (uncured most likely) and cycle....2 to 4 weeks
Meanwhile seed some filter media (sponge most likely) in the display tank for use in the quarantine...
Set up quarantine tank with seeded filter media (keep adding new media to display tank for next round of quarantine)
Buy first lonely fish (clownfish most likely) and quarantine...4 to 6 weeks
Add first lonely fish into display tank
(When do reef custodians go in and do you have to quarantine them all individually?)

I'm planning a community tank of small fish (maybe 8 - 10 in total) and Zoanthids (number hard to say) so if each individual is quarantined for 4 to 6 weeks, I'm looking at 28 to 54 weeks of time to introduce the rest of the fish (presuming that at each entry point in time, the local fish store has what you want). This timeframe would be extended 4 to 6 weeks for every invertebrate introduction (or custodian?), meaning the total timeframe could easily go beyond 1 year.

Do I have this right? Is this how everybody else went about getting their community tank put together? How do you determine what is introduced in what order? Seems also like you're totally at the mercy of what's available at the local fish store each time you have a window of opportunity to introduce the next occupant... 

Am I not patient enough for being a reef keeper??


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

with uncured live rock your cycle could take longer than 4 weeks.... not an expert, just did my first reef tank, but my lr was cured and it was still 2 weeks before i put anything in the tank because of the mini cycle that still had to occur in a newly setup tank.


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## callibaetis (Feb 12, 2013)

I can tell you what I did. But it's probably totally wrong. I have a 20 gallon FOWLR. I made enough saltwater to fill the tank before I even added anything to the tank. Salinity is 1.025. After I mixed it up in buckets, I went and bought 18 lbs of live rock, which they say is uncured, but had been sitting in their bins for a few weeks with lots of flow, so really it was almost cured. I placed the rocks in the tank, added the 10 or so pounds of live sand, then filled the tank. I let it all settle for a day or two. I then added a powerhead and a heater and pumped it up to 80 degrees. I started ghost feeding with flake food. Saw a bit of an ammonia and nitrite spike. Kept feeding for a few days until I got 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate. Did almost a 50% water change at that point. Whole process took about 4 weeks, give or take a few days. I then acclimated 2 clowns and added them. I did not quarantine. Also added my protein skimmer at this time. A Tunze 9002. I then added a couple of snails, as I had some algae starting. Also added 2 hermits. Then added a peppermint shrimp, as I saw a few aptasia starting. He demolished them in one day. Then a week or so later, I added a few more sails, as I had a diatom bloom. They took care of that. At that time I also added a fire shrimp and a strawberry dottyback. Once again, no quarantine. Been about over a month now and they are very happy and no signs of disease. I must have got lucky. Well, except for my peppermint. He tried to take some food from the Dotty one day and got a head butt for his effort. Don't see him much now. The Dotty seems to be stalking him a bit. No carnage yet, so hopefully they sort it out. The clowns and the Dotty are getting along just fine now. A little tension in the first few days.

Currently looking for something in the 55 gallon range to set up another FOWLR tank. My daughter loves fish. I will be setting up a quarantine, as I will be adding a lot more fish and don't want to lose them all. Will probably just move all the stuff from my 20 over and use the 20 as the quarantine tank.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Seeding from a sponge filter won't help as I believe you're thinking fresh water, and they're different bacteria forms. You need a source of ammonia to cure the rocks to begin the cycle and I'd suggest putting at least one live rock in there to speed the process up.

Don't put in any invertebrates until your ammonia and nitrites are zero. You can put them in all at once, fish won't be infected from them, and won't be effected unless there's mass die off.

I didn't quarantine my fish, I just put in all 3 at once, since they were all in the same tank at the store.

Don't jump the gun, don't bother with any corals until you know what you're doing, as they can be expensive and a costly mistake.

Cheers,
Chris


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

start with soft coral not lps or sps and you dont want an estblished qt i bleach mine and set it up new for every fish


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

I think it pays to atleast get one piece of really good cured live rock. It will help seed everything else much better and faster. The rocks will be your filtration source so make it count. Skip the sponge filter and quarantine. Just buy livestock from someone or a place you trust and acclimate them correctly. Maybe I was lucky too, but I got everything running with corals in about 2 months. I'm no reef expert and this was just based on my experience. The tank is almost a year old now, I've never lost anything, and the fish and corals are growing well. After I added livestock the first time, I did 2 water changes a week since I was really worried something would go wrong. After about a month or so and everything seemed well and established, I did water changes once a week. Now I do it once every few weeks and just top off with water every other day. Not to encourage lazy habits or anything like that, but once the tank gets going, I find the maintenance actually easier than FW.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Same as freshwater,add your substrate and rock. When parameters are good and stable cycle is done,now add fish or two... when parameters are good and stable add another and so on,once your done..ish adding fish start adding coral(the mini cycle from adding fish isnt great for their health ). Once a steady food source is present add CUC that eats that food...add different varieties as new food sources ie.algae/diatoms become available. All pretty simple,though people like to overcomplicate it. You could rush and gamble if you want many do and get away with it. Tank cycle could take 3+ months every tank is different,test kits are your friend,cured liverock will speed it up.

As far as bacteria goes its the exact opposite as fresh we want anerobic not aerobic bacteria because we cant get away with any nitrates like you can in fresh or fish only with liverock. Aeorbic though effective in general produces nitrate....BAD,anerobic is also effective but produces nitrogen I believe and virtually no nitrate....GOOD. Anerobic is found where there is little to no oxygen like liverock and a deep sand bed,aerobic is found where higher levels of oxygen is found like filter sponge or shallow sandbed.
Goodluck
Been a while probablly spelled everything wrong lol. But there you have it the basic of marine keeping

I dont QT my CUC and I only QT fish for about a week


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## AdobeOtoCat (Dec 10, 2011)

I had bad experience not qting corals from trusted sources and got ich. Just cause a fish shows no signs doesnt mean it doesnt carry it. The water had ich with the coral. I hate to see even one speckle on my fish. Kind of anal in this area.

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

After 5-7 days ich hits the trophont? stage anyway at that point they are large enough to see with the naked eye and start detatching from the fish if you see any at that point continue QT if not IMO its safe. I dip my new corals,never dump LFS water into my tanks never had an issue with ich....and I've kept many blue tangs notorious ich magnets. But hey qt for the next year if you like its just one mans opinion


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