NewFishGuy said:
I had always heard that for corals...a tank wasn't considered "mature" until it had been established and running for a year or more.....anyone else ever hear that?
This hobby is LOADED with myths and bad info. Since not all corals are alike, not all corals have the same requirements.
Tanks can't become "established" without living things in them - otherwise it's just a bucket of water. Pods, inverts, hardy corals, etc., can go in provided the cycle is complete. A previous post in this thread mentions using inverts to speed the cycle - certainly not the nitrogen cycle!!! What you need is a popluation of plankton. But even then supplemental feeding of certain corals will likely be necessary.
Add them SLOWLY ... give them a chance to acclimate.
Read up on their requirements BEFORE you buy them, etc.
My tank has been running for less than three months (past the end of a month-long cycle), and it is CRAWLING with
pods which came in on chatemorpha and the
LR. I have inverts, mushrooms, zoos, palys, a hammer coral, bubble coral, and Montipora spp hard corals. All are doing well. It's taken me all this time to add these things - mostly
frags from larger colonies, except for the bubble. One thing per week to ten days, if that.