Reef tank with no Fish?

[an411]

Do you think that you can have a better thriving reef tank without fish in there or are they essential for anything such as bacteria or anything. I am assuming that there are negative effects to a reef tank from the bioload caused by the fish

 

[Michael]

its not that unusal for reef tanks full of corals to lack fish, ive seen photos of some and comments by aquarists, they do have cuc though, most are very light loaded anyhow, i cant see it being a problem at all

 

[an411]

Yeah I am almost wondering if corals would thrive better with out the bioload.

 

[snorvich]

Well, fish poop is great coral food so I am not quite sure if this will be a great idea.

 

[Mattmcf]

If you think you would like that approach you could stock your tank very lightly with only fish that serve some sort of purpose. i.e. a tang or lawn mower blenny to help with algae, a cooperband incase of aptasia, and a yellow coris wrasse to help with SPS pests. I personally love having a wide variety of fish and as long as you are committed to staying on top of your water changes you wouldn't have a problem stocking a tank that was aimed towards having thriving corals.

 

[Untamed12]

When I moved the last fish out of my small tank, I left the tank running for about 2 months. During that time, the health of the coral declined dramatically. I was not feeding anything, but continued doing the same water changes as before.

 

[JoeyTheReefer]

reef tanks are great with out fish but you have to feed phto

 

[Musho3210]

why do you NEED to feed phyto?

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12388766#post12388766 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Musho3210
why do you NEED to feed phyto?

you actually don't unless you are feeding copopods

corals feed on zooplankton mainly such as copopods

I could see a fishless aquarium if you had a dedicated refugium to keeping the water laden with coral food

Here is a good thread on a good coral recipe

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=176530