Does No Fish = No Growth?

[A.G]

Hi All,

I have a 33g mixed reef tank that has been running for awhile now. Lighting is150w 20k radium on HQIballast. Eshoppes skimmer and tunze nano stream 6055 plus the the retrun. I dont have a single fish right now. Only few shrimps. I noticed that Ii get vew little growth to almost none from my sps.
I clean the glass ones a week from a slight brown coat.Is it true that no fish will = no growth ? I read that some where.

ALK=8
CA=450
pH=8.4
Temp = 27 (Chiller)

no supplemnts with MH just the radium ( 2 months old )

My observation :I used to have one CBB befor and at that time I had one slimer acro that accedintly broke the tip. the tip grew back in a matter of 2 weeks . but when I removed the CBB no new growth at all.


Let me know your thoguths.

PS. I dont feed any thing at the moment,

 

[Reefer08]

Yes no fish equals no growth. Add a few fish in your tank.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Agreed. Fish poop = sps food.

 

[mike_cmu04]

You should still have some growth but it will be much faster with a couple fish.

 

[Allmost]

SPS do feed on fish poop. but that is not their only option !

there are many SPS food out there, the reason we talk about fish poop as SPS food is that in captivity with fish and SPS corals, it makes more sense to let SPS eat the fish poop, rather than us taking it out and adding again, but if no fish, then yu can very easily feed the tank.

your best option IMO is to start dosing phyto. it will contain ammonia and nitrate and phyto. all which can be used by zooplanktons in your tank to reproduce and grow, which are the BEST food for SPS corals, fish poop is not the best food for them.

 

[Dustin1300]

+1 but not sure why you don't want to house any fish????

SPS do feed on fish poop. but that is not their only option !

there are many SPS food out there, the reason we talk about fish poop as SPS food is that in captivity with fish and SPS corals, it makes more sense to let SPS eat the fish poop, rather than us taking it out and adding again, but if no fish, then yu can very easily feed the tank.

your best option IMO is to start dosing phyto. it will contain ammonia and nitrate and phyto. all which can be used by zooplanktons in your tank to reproduce and grow, which are the BEST food for SPS corals, fish poop is not the best food for them.

 

[NeveroddoreveN]

I'm having a similar experience. I have a 29 frag tank with no fish and I'm dumbfounded why I can't get SPS to grow. I've gotten many times more growth in 1 miami hurricane frag than in all my SPS combined, in a ULNS. I dose aquavitro fuel and cyclops/ spot feed LPS.



The only thing is I need a fish that wouldn't always steel food from LPS...

 

[A.G]

I will , I am just little picky. I will start adding some stuff soon. I realy realy hope that they will grow !!

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Well phyto is a personal choice. Many argue against it because of algae blooms. No it's not only the fish poop, but keep in mind if you do house a couple fish, you can blend up a paponai(sp) mixture using a food processor which will feed both your corals and your fish.

 

[thebanker]

I read once that fish poop still contains 80% of the nutrition of the original food, which is why fish will chow down on another fish's poop. I've never seen an SPS coral eat a fish turd directly, but apparently they filter feed on the proteinous compounds left over from fish poop in the water column.

I think this is what Aquavitro Fuel is... basically proteins and aminos. Since they'll eat fish poop, and they'll eat zooplankton, I wonder why they don't eat phyto? Seems like a healthy way to go.

 

[LifeAquatic]

You might want to consider a 14k or 10k spectrum for growth. 20K is more for color then growth.

 

[Atomikk]

Here is some food for thought (and this would work if you have a big enough sump)...

Over time, your microfauna (such as your copepods, isopods, etc) will excrete waste. In time, this poop will layer itself to a thick mass on the bottom of your sump. This can in turn feed the need for a food source for corals...

just in case you do not have any fish