Feeding fishless tank?

[treesprite]

I am wondering, what really is necessary, and what would be good if feeding really is necessary. I am still using phytoplankton. I have some Reef Roids samples somewhere I could possibly find and try out. I think I have some Cyclopeeze also, which I wasn't using.

[Coral Hind]

I would keep feeding small bits of something every few days to keep the natural cycle going. With no fish present the pods should flourish. You still have corals right?

[sen5241b]

Acropora eat fish poop. Curious to know if anyone has seen acropora flourish without it

[treesprite]

Acropora eat fish poop. Curious to know if anyone has seen acropora flourish without it

 

have been thinking about this. I will eventually have some fish again, but not in the immediate future. We will just have to see what happens in the meantime.

[WishNewFish]

Without nitrogen cycle (Ammonia, nitrates, nitrites) and dissolved organic matter, the Corals wouldn't thrive.

If you don't want to feed fish food, you can buy the nitrogen dosing kits (used by advanced aquarists).

 

If you have any shrimp, crabs or snails (some variety of crabs & snails) can start damaging your corals if they don't find any food.

 

This info is what I have understood based on different articles and research (not my own experience) 

[treesprite]

This is basically what I have, divided between 2 x 20H tanks which are plumbed to a 20L sump:

 

Trumpet

Candy cane

Euphyllia

Duncan

Montipora

Pavona

Birdnest

Pocilopora

(Nameless) acropora

Zoanthid

Palythoa

Green w/orange dots shrooms

GGH Rhodactis shrooms

 

Several cerith and astrea snails in each of the tanks

 

Found a hermit crab in the sump last week (thought they were all gone)

 

Micro brittle stars (mostly gone because I took out all but a couple big pieces of rock)

 

Unwanted asterina stars

 

Random tiny feather dusters

 

Bristle worms

 

Almost all of my rock is crammed into a 16g tank which is by itself. I have been doing topoffs and adding a little bit of food to it every few days to prevent die-off. Will have to do little water changes here and there. There is no light on the rock tank, but it gets ambient light and spillover light (from the 20g tanks). I am worried about the micro brittle stars in there dying. I was neglecting my tanks, so I need to make sure the rocks are not leeching nitrate or phosphate before I put them into the system again. I haven't had time to do anything.

 

I wish I had some ideas for turning the 120 into an AIO, so I can set it up and put everything in there. Eventually, I will have to move somewhere where there won't be space for auxillary containers, so my best bet for being able to keep using the tank is to make it an AIO with an option to use a sump if I want or need to do it. (This comment was a hint to post suggestions on my thread in DIY).

Edited August 8, 2017 by treesprite

[treesprite]

If I get the 120 up and have enough pods living in it, I will eventually get dragonets which can live off of pods and flatworms with not that much extra feeding. Debating 1 or 2 mollies for algae control, since they do not need to be fed if there is enough algae (but might need to put in nori). Not looking into any other fish.