"Mature" Tank

[Frank A.]

Lets say a person set up a new aquarium with a sump/fuge with liverock/sand in the DT and live sand in the fuge. All of the people who are smarter than this person say to let this aquarium mature for 6 mos. to a yr. to allow all the little wormies and etc to multiply. The question is what,during this 6 to 12 mos.do you feed all the little wormies and etc.? (if anything)
Thanks

 

[125reefer]

? who told you 6months to a year

 

[ellebelle]

6 months to a year is crazy. I'd wait about a month (although the time frame varies - you should always buy ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kits to see where you are in the cycle).

I generally toss a small pinch of flake food in there to kind of kick off the cycle.

 

[masterswimmer]

Like Lissa said, all you need is some food for the bacteria to 'munch' on. Anything that breaks down into waste to feed the bacteria is fine.

The ammonia cycle is only one reason to wait before adding any livestock to your tank. There are many people (I'm one of them) that believe your tank will continue to mature, as you said, long after the ammonia cycle is complete. Waiting six months before stocking your tank isn't unreasonable in my eyes. Is it necessary to wait this long to have a successful reef? Absolutely not. I've started many systems (in my home) long before the six month mark. I have also waited the stated six months before proceeding and all I added was some pellet food every couple of days.

It was a lot of fun watching the tank 'come alive' during the six month maturing process without adding any visible critters myself. The live rock and live sand were the only 'life' I added and so many tiny critters began appearing. It gave me a whole new prospective on viewing my tank, and what LR and LS are really all about.

Russ

 

[Frank A.]

Dr. Ron Shimek,Eric Borneman,Anthony Calfo and others strongly suggest waiting that long so that everything in the live sand and rock will have time to multiply and won't be wiped out by fish,corals,crabs and etc.that are added to soon. Makes sence to me.

 

[ming]

The worms and things aren't really essential. Whats important is the nitrogen cycle. The worms might add to the diversity of life and collect detritus, but they'll usually survive the cycle if you have them. If you get fish or crabs that targets specifically worms, then you'll probably lose those worms regardless of how long you wait, at least the visible ones.
You'll also get some additional things from trading corals with other members, worms, micro stars, asternia, pods, etc

 

[pauliwalnuts]

I think 8 weeks is enough. And inside of the fuge instead of sand try using the Ecosystem Aquarium Mineral Mud. I use it and get verygood results (amazing polyp extension).

 

[ellebelle]

Plus, to add onto what Ming said, there will always ben small crevices and things in your rocks that your fish can't get to which will allow pods and worms and such to multiply.

 

[Frank A.]

At 6 mos. or more a person should not be concerned about the nitrogen cycle. The idea behind waiting that long is to allow all the living things in the live sand and rock (or mud ) to multiply to the point that they can supplement live natural food along with the processed food for the corals,filter feeders and some fish that depend on live food. Also all the living things in the sand and rocks do help a lot in tank filtration.