how to sustain a fishless reef tank

[BeachVacationer]

I have a 20L with argonite substrate and lots of live rock. No filter, no sump, no skimmer. I have a 225 gph circulation pump with sponge on inlet to create flow. Also have 4 very small RBTA, a few kenya tree frags, a bit of GSP, a few turbo snails, tiny filter feeder thingies coming out of white tubes attached to live rock, and bunch of pods crawling on rocks. I do have LED light to sustain my BTAs.

What supplements should I add to the tank to keep my filter feeders and pods alive and to keep my BB alive to keep a cycled tank. I don't want to add a fish and I don't feed my BTAs.

 

[toothybugs]

I fear without enough nutrients your snails will starve because there is nothing to contribute to algal growth, but you could try a small amount of flake and let it get consumed by whoever is there, or more expensively, amino acids ala the SPS folks. I would suggest a couple shrimp however, and feed them a small amount of frozen chow or possibly flakes if they'll take them.

 

[Sk8r]

Just a few flakes of fishfood.

 

[jayball]

Dropping in a little live phyto every now and then would not hurt. With no skimmer a little will go a long way. They will multiply (consuming n2 and phos) and eventually get eaten by different pods/filter feeders/coral keeping those populations up.

 

[BeachVacationer]

I have these ATM, would these work?

 

[SFish]

Got a pic? Sounds like a neat little tank.

 

[BeachVacationer]

Nothing special here. These are RBTAs from a ****ed off RBTA that split multiple times in my pico 5 gallon tank. Trying to see if I can grow these in this new tank.

View attachment 352461

 

[jayball]

The other thing, most people do not feed their BTA's. They do feed their fish though and they will occasionally catch something or host clowns will bring them food. I would consider feeding feeding something small and meaty once a week or so.


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[jjmg]

A small water change every 2 weeks or so would help replenish any minor elements that might be used up. I would go with a gallon or two every other week as long as the feeding is quite low. I might up it to every week if I were feeding much.

 

[PirateLove]

Very Nice

 

[cougareyes]

I tried running a fishless reef in a BC14, the problem I had was I couldn't control the pod population. Having no predator for the pods they took over and started eating my corals. I finally had to introduce a pink streaked wrasse to manage it. Just keep an eye on that and if your corals start getting munched on, check with a flashlight after lights out to see if your pods are munching down.