which comes first,the fish or the corals?

[organicreefer]

i think most people add fish before they start adding corals-and i feel that is fine-but ime adding alot of hardy corals right after the cycle is most definitely the way to go.

think about it-corals are consumers of nitrogen ,they improve water quality-much as plants do in a freshwater setup.so if you stocked youre tank with a bunch of softies/hardy stonies in the beginning-you would probably be able to handle much more delicate fish quicker-right?
not to mention that the corals would be directly competing with "problem" algea for both light an nutrients.

so, what do you think?

[organicreefer]

8 votes and no comments?c'mon lets hear why fish/corals first.

[kevinpo]

Fish have no problem doing well in a imature tank but corals and anemones do.

Regards,
Kevin

[Reefland]

I'm voting for fish here. Typically fish can handle a higher level of nitrates in the aquarium and since nitrate is the last piece of the cycle and most people are ready to add something to their tank after 4 weeks of looking at rock, I just believe a hearty fish is a safer bet.

Regards,

[organicreefer]

only one other vote for corals so far other than me?surely there must be more of us

i still feel that hardy corals do just as well in a new setup as any fish-and they would help prevent the accumulation of nitrate.

ever notice people with alot of corals usually dont have problems with algea-its always (or mostly it seems to me)those half stocked around 1 year old tanks .there is absolutely no need to be so cautious in adding corals and you can easily fill up a tank in a couple months without doing any harm.

for example -you can add say ten corals to a 50 gallon tank in a day without trouble -but doing the same with fish could be a roll of the dice..............

[SomeHairyOldGuy]

My .02
I think it would depend on if the person has any experiance with saltwater. I know when I got into saltwater it was because of the fish. Corals came later. And I couldnt hardly wait to add a fish. Still today I would much rather throw in a 2 dollar damsel to finish the cycle than a coral.
SHOG

[tendar]

I have always been to add fish first and the tank settle in for a few months before adding corals so its a more stable enviroment but
organicreefer has a very good point.
When I setup my next tank in a few weeks I will add both fish and a few leather corals at the same time.
So add on to the poll
add both at same time.

[Penguin]

Isn't that the approach advocated by GARF?

[golfish]

Originally posted by Penguin
Isn't that the approach advocated by GARF?

Come on now, lets no use 4 letter words

[Penguin]

Come on now, lets no use 4 letter words

Whoops, it must have just slipped out.

[organicreefer]

garf advocates filling the tank up with corals quickly??i didnt know that -they must be smarter than i thought

seriously though-by waiting on fish and adding corals first you would allow the microfauna to build up as well.

its the way of the future i tell ya

[scubadude]

I can see the relavancy (sp?) here and I know that corals can tax a tank w/ a bioload too but the bioload of the fish always seemed more important. As Scott mentioned they for the most part will tolerate more nitrates too.

[organicreefer]

id like to hear from the other people that voted corals-have you done it ?do you consider it a success(obviously you do).

nitrates wont build up in a tank with lots of coral and no fish-after the cycle is done youll get a small spike and that should go away with water changes and then the sand/rocks will start to eat em too.

it really doesnt take more than a couple months to stabilize nitates at 0 ime.

i used to stock my tanks real slow-but about 8 months ago i was thinking of this whole theory and did it -practically filled up the tank in a couple months-and things have never been better or more stable since.

algea simply doesnt have the bare rock to grow on/or the nutrients to fuel it it seems.

[SPasse]

Hi All,

I suppose my approach on this issue has gone back and forth over the years.

Now that I am setting up my systems with DSBs and Macro-algae filters, I guess that I spend some time building up the sand bed/refugium fauna and don’t add corals or fish until the nitrate is already gone.

However at this point, I can/do start adding fish and/or corals. It doesn’t really matter which.

Regards,

Scott

[Wrassman]

I got into this hobby a long time ago because of the fish. I've kept a few corals only tanks over the years, but they just don't hold the same place in my heart that a tank with fish in it does.

No, I pick out my fish first, then I pick corals to go with them. It makes for some pretty interesting tanks.