Thank you!l for posting this!!!!! Ya we don’t like the uglies! I don’t get uglies in tanks, all my customers that have done my method for cycling a tank do not go though the uglies! Adding live rock from an established system is all you need, my magic seawater helps too. Then after a day(when the water is clear again) add a bunch of corals, corals can adapt very well and they give a huge biological boosts!!! Corals first week, inverts and more corals week 2, more corals and fish week 3. No uglies!!! Just a nice looking reef! I much prefer having a reef tank the first month, and not watching algae’s grow for 3 months. Times have changed, no reason to do the same crap people have been doing for decades and decades. Keep reefin on!
Reading this helps me feel more confident in the method I used to start my tank.
Do you have a more in depth article or post here about your methodology I could read please? It sounds very similar to what I did, with a few differences.
I'm completely new to the hobby. Prior to starting my tank and reading in various online groups and some forum posts on R2R, almost everything I was reading was talking about 60+ day cycling and sometimes longer. I have only had experience in freshwater and I could "instantly" cycle a tank the same day by cleaning out a mature sponge filter from one of my other tanks. It seeds my tank with all the beneficial bacteria it could possibly need, if not too much because there isn't enough of a food course. Seems like initially, I would get some bacteria die off but nothing crazy. Ammonia spikes slightly but small frequent water changes would right the ship every time. I hear don't do water changes to ensure the cycle completes. Then some people say do water changes.
I started my first reef tank (Fluval Evo 13.5) at the beginning of Nov. I started it with some CaribSea Fiji Pink, a couple pieces of wet rock (CaribSea fake rock) from lfs but it was loaded with life. Filled the tank and seeded it further with SeaChem stability. Probably not necessary but somehow it helped my brain feel better about it. Then the following day I added a small bag of mature biomedia from a buddy's tank into one of my chambers (still there btw). He also gave me a small damsel to help cycle which is also still in the tank. Then a couple days later, I picked up a few more mature biomedia balls from the lfs for an added boost. I had coral in the tank following the first week! Granted it was a gamble because the tank wasn't fully "cycled". I still had a tiny bit of ammonia and nitrite. I had the water tested and lfs encouraged a big water change to level everything out. I did the water change and then introduced the coral. I know...I know...clearly not ready or stable. I think it was the right decision though. I am only a few weeks in and everything is stable. The coral and fish seem to be happy. Only a couple possible issues I've witnessed but I'm not certain it is water quality. I am trying not to overfeed and doing water changes every week. Currently about 15% or 2gal from approx 13gal of actual volume. So far so good thankfully. I am running into a little bit of what I believe to be cyanobacteria and diatoms on some of the sand surface and the rocks. So a little bit of the ugly stage I suppose. But nothing too crazy thus far. It could be the start of it though. I just don't have the experience to say one way or the other. I just added some snails and a cleaner shrimp yesterday. I have also had a small red legged hermit in there for just over a week. Next on my list is copepods now that I think they'll have enough to chow on.
I'd love to learn more about your methodology and see how I can incorporate it for my next tank getting started soon. Unfortunately, I don't have a lfs like High Tide or anything even close. One of these days, I would like to make the trip up to your store and check it out though. Thank you for being a supporting part of the community. The short time I have been here has proven invaluable already.
