Angelscrx said:
So would you say a tank that has been cycled and running for 6 months and the params, temp, lighting etc were all balanced, still add corals slowly huh? I agree, I would hate to lose 5 grand because I was in a rush to get my slice of ocean.
Personally, I would add the corals slowly, if only for practical reasons. It takes time to get corals into a tank - placing, gluing (or tieing), re-placing when it doesn't look right, etc.
Yes, I did one of those 10-coral packages. Took me hours to get them all in the tank. I set up a holding tank (my Q-tank) just to have someplace to put them so they weren't in the way while I was placing the individual corals in the tank.
Also, by adding the corals slowly, you can see (and possibly modify) what kind of environment your tank is evolving into. You can observe where the high-flow, high-light places really are (and the high-light but
not as much flow as you thought places are as well). If the tank is "filled" all at once, it is very difficult to move unhappy corals into better places. (something might already be there).
To me, the biggest frustration in this hobby/obsession is that when you mailorder a coral, you pay as much for shipping as for the coral. When you order lots of corals to minimize the shipping/coral, you end up with more corals than you really want to be putting in at once. I went through a period where I cruised the LFS's looking for just the right coral (that I could have easily gotten mailorder, but did not want to pay the shipping for). Still do, but not as often as I used to.
Of course, if you have lots of experience with reef tanks, you can anticipate things a lot better, and fill you tank up more quickly. But for hobbyists with only a few years of experience, I am in favor of going slowly.
(In your case, if you are aching to spend $5k this week, I'll come over and advise you on coral placement. I'll also hold any corals for a few years for you if necessary, until we agree exactly where they should go!
)
