New Guy

BTW I am pretty sure I spelled a few words wrong.

Yeah my brother has been at his tank for 8 yrs and he also said to wait about 6 mo before some Anenomes are added. I figured I would just take it nice and slow. 

" I figured I would just take it nice and slow. "

Not my strong suit but it is the best thing you could do!

Spbeyond wrote: " I figured I would just take it nice and slow. " Not my strong suit but it is the best thing you could do!

Well I decided to get rid of the used Biocube29 that I recently bought and just bought me an Innovative Marine 30 Gal tank with LED lights and stand. I can't wait to get it and start the cycle.

Everyone does things different. I personally would never start a tank without a cycle but everyone's different. My best advice to you is to look at people's tanks, pick one you really like, and try to imitate their techniques.

BillyC wrote: I personally would never start a tank without a cycle but everyone's different.

This makes no sense. Why set up a tank to have high levels of pollution when there is a way to completely avoid the death that comes from high pollution levels?
A person might as well drive straight into another car saying, "So what, I have insurance."

The purpose of the WMAS is too learn from each other how to keep a better reef aquarium. The WMAS mission statement also places emphasis on education/learning. Please forgive my insistence, but I believe this is an opportunity for learning:

"Beginner corals" are not ugly, especially to a beginner. How many of us, when we saw our first Aiptasia Anemone, were awed and impressed with that little bit of life in our tank. Personally, to me all coral are beautiful, even the weeds like Kenya Tree. Have you ever noticed how, when Kenya tree closes up, it looks like little pine cones are all over the branches.

Macroalgae is not invasive. Algae is the basis of all life; it is food and protection. Of the most used macroalgae, Chaetomorpha is easily removed and Caulerpa is ravenously eaten up by fish.

Anyone can set up a lightly stocked reef aquarium in a week. It's only the old idea of the need for a "cycle" that leads uninformed hobbyists to think of it as rushing.

High pollution levels actually indicate that there is not enough bacteria and algae to handle the death and dieing that is going on in the tank. The lack of biofiltration causes further death and dieing while bacteria and algal growth try to catch up. In an established reef aquarium, the addition of a piece of uncured LR goes unnoticed as far as pollution levels. The life on the LR that was just hanging on recovers because it is constantly surrounded with good quality water. In the traditional cycling situation, that life dies as it is constantly exposed to lethal Ammonia levels, also leading to high Nitrates which are also coral and invert killers.

Patience is the major key in this hobby.
Of equal importance is knowing the processes of biological systems,
or at least trusting someone that does.

Here is an amazing area of my big aquarium, a tide pool or kind of a Refugium. Tons of life. The fish were camera shy.

The way I see the "cycle" is that we are not actuallt cycling a tank but waiting for the cycle to become stable. Our tanks are always cycling. We just dont want that cycle to become out of wack. However an individual decides to go about is just that, an individual way. We are all right at times and all wrong at times.

I agree of course, SPS should not be added until 2-6 months after setting up a tank, depending on it's method of set up and it's readiness. Some ways of setting up a tank are quicker than others and also save more organisms from dieing. I don't suggest it for newbies, but I have kept SPS within a month after setting up a tank.

Aiptasia - That was a pic I took to show everyone what Aiptasia look like in a tide pool here on the big island. I call it my "big aquarium". I do like that kind of wilder look as long as it stays in the wild.