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Time until a "mature tank"


hockeyhead019

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hockeyhead019

Hey everybody,

 

Might be a silly question but is there any type of rule of thumb or indicators to point to a fully matured tank. I'm not talking about the initial cycle to develop the denitrifying bacteria, I'm talking about any other small behind the scenes happenings that occur with the first x amount of time of the tank as it gets stocked and what not.

 

Are there any specific types of algae breakouts that happen but I should be overly concerned about and just continue normal water changes? I'm just looking for normal things that should happen in the first year or so and then things that shouldn't be happening and are an indication of something out of balance.

 

Cheers

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Great question. Keep reading up on peoples build threads. I suggest picking a TOTM build and read their journey from start to finish. The requirement of TOTM is only a year which by many measures still could be an immature tank.

 

There are all kinds of things you will go through at various points in the life of a tank. Maturity doesn't mean free from problems. Nutrient spikes, algae blooms etc can always pop up!

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Hmm, probably many answers! There are a few signs of a well established tank. From what I understand, coraline and pods are signs that the tank is maturing. I also always took corals spreading, or splitting as a sign my tank was doing well too! I'm pretty new though and have only had a tank for a year now, still don't know if it would be considered mature, so it will be interesting to see what the others say too! Tagging along!

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I have a 6 gallon (which I was going to retire, but just keeps on plugging with next to no maintenance) that has been up for a couple of years and a 40 gallon that is at the seven month mark. Cyano settling down and increase in "hitchhiker" (i.e. asterina stars, pods, collonista snails) creatures to where the tank is an ecosystem that supports them are the things I have noticed that are different from a "fresh" tank.

 

That being said, I'm kind of in the same situation as erinwillett in that I haven't been doing this long enough to really "know".

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IronChefItaly

I think the above members have said it... overall parameter stability, coraline growth, a healthy population of copepods. Though even after these observable signs many claim through experience that there are many other things in effect that are immeasurable or not observable at all. The only reason people believe these mysterious factors to exist is their unexplained mishaps early in a tanks life.

 

My tank has been running for nearly a year and within the last two months I've stocked a maxima clam, bubble tip anemone and a few SPS which all seem to be going great. I did my research and became knowledgeable in the spectrum of easy to moderate to difficult livestock. Then I just started from the bottom with the easiest corals like mushrooms and zoanthids. Corrected any problems I observed and waited until everything was in good health, then i moved up to euphyllia and so on and so forth. In total, I've invested about $1000 in corals and have lost about $50 in deaths. A ricordea yuma (due to over feeding and overall instability), pulsing xenia (secondary infection from a hitchhiking coral eating crab) and a single zoanthid head (it was damaged during the fragging process and just never recovered).

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