Can I overload my tank with corals?

I am planning on getting a small orange mushroom, a small patch of GSP, and some zoas from a friend and I was wondering can I add to much small stuff at once coral wise?

My tank currently has been set up for a month but has been cycled for I would say three weeks already due to me using live rock from my old tank.

My question is if I add all the above and then a day later add a frogspawn or something can this hurt my ecosystem and bioload or does the coral not effect it at all? If it does how long should I wait between coral additions. I'm not wanting to get anything hard to keep, I just want to stay with the easy stuff for now I am just wondering how many little frags I can add in a time frame.

Thanks.

 

I was always told that you can put coral in as fast as you can buy it.

 

Thanks, I appreciate it. Is there any forum/website that I can look at to see what corals can touch one another without burning or attacking the other?

 

IMO, the only way that you can "over-load" your tank is by "over-loading" the bio load to the point that your filtration system cant handle it. You will know when you get to that point when your Nh3, No2, No3 and Po4 start to spike.


luna

 

I was under the impression that the only negative effect to adding to many corals at once was the strain on levels like calcium. With the increase in calcium consumption, it can plummet a lot faster than you expect. I think as long as you keep an eye on that, as long as the other levels, you should be fine.

 

i dont know of any but what kind of coral are you planing on put next to each other?

 

Yeah, thats a given. You should never "fill" your tank with corals all at once. Always go little by little with this hobby.



luna

 

well said plus you need space for the corals to grow.

 

Depending on the kind of coral, you may need to adjust how much (if any) 2-part you need to dose. Softies (mushrooms / zoas / rics / etc) you don't really need to dose. Just make sure params stay OK. If you start adding lots of LPS and / or SPS, your calcium and alkalinity demand will increase and if you do not dose it will drop and the corals will wither and begin to decline.

 

This, is great advice! Go slow, very slow.