Adding corals to a new reef tank is arguably one of the most fun and exciting parts of setting up a reef aquarium. Seeing how the corals look in your tank and finding the perfect place for them in the aquascape, plus watching them open up and settle in over the next few days is incredibly rewarding.
We’re into the fourth installment of our How to Reef Aquarium video series and now that we’ve got everything running, it’s time for us to add corals to this deserving little reef tank. As we have emphasized in the previous three videos, it’s paramount to master the fundamentals like temperature and salinity, using good starting water and seawater mix.
Normally new reefers are advised and encouraged to take their tie setting up the reef tank and adding livestock, but far too many either don’t do this at all, or take it way too far by ‘cycling’ with no animals for months on end. Provided your salinity and temperature are correct, coupled with adequate water flow and lighting conditions, you can add some corals almost immediately to a new reef aquarium.
After working through a grueling marathon reef tank build & video shoot, we have finally arrived at the part of this aquarium where we get to add some nice, hardy, beginner corals. Soft corals, Euphyllia and small open brain and LPS corals are among the best candidates for any new reef tank, although zoanthids and some kinds of assorted polyps are also quite suitable.
It is well beyond time that someone dispelled the notion that you need to ‘cycle’ an aquarium before adding corals, but this is simply not true if we’re talking about the Nitrogen cycle. In our next and final video of the tank setup series we dive deeper into what it means to ‘cycle an aquarium’ so if you don’t want to miss it, be sure and subscribe to the fast-growing and very prolific Reef Builders Youtube channel.
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