Dosing fishless tank

Jilly92

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I'm curios as I've never had a coral only tank, and I was wondering do you have to dose anything after it's completed the cycle?
 

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If you dont feed it then there will be no nutrients for the coral. They need some nitrate and phos. Not a lot but some will be needed.
Dosing is a whole different thing.
 
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Jilly92

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If you dont feed it then there will be no nutrients for the coral. They need some nitrate and phos. Not a lot but some will be needed.
Dosing is a whole different thing.
I use ab+ in there. What else can I use? I have neophos.
 

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Fish waste is very important to corals bc its not just no3 or po4, but also contains other organic compounds, trace elements from fish food, and a variety of other things thats important to coral healthy.

If you take fish out of the equation, you will need to feed a lot more variety of stuff to make up the difference. AB+ is just a supplement, it is not enough as a standalone nutrient source. Same with neophos bc thats just po4. I would start feeding reef roid, mysis, reef chilli, and phytoplanktons to make up the gap. You probably will need to start dosing trace elements as well.
 
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Jilly92

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Fish waste is very important to corals bc its not just no3 or po4, but also contains other organic compounds, trace elements from fish food, and a variety of other things thats important to coral healthy.

If you take fish out of the equation, you will need to feed a lot more variety of stuff to make up the difference. AB+ is just a supplement, it is not enough as a standalone nutrient source. Same with neophos bc thats just po4. I would start feeding reef roid, mysis, reef chilli, and phytoplanktons to make up the gap. You probably will need to start dosing trace elements as well.
Ok so it's would be a heck of a lot easier to just throw a fish in there lol. It's a 6 gallon Pico, any suggestions? I do have a nano clown that's 3rd wheel right now thought about putting him in there, I just don't want it to miss its friends lol
 

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O, sry didn't realize it was something that small. In that case, regular water change will take care of the trace elements, the clown will eventually out grow the tank and its gonna be limited in term of fish choice. Maybe some type of gobies like neon gobies, Probably better luck with inverts like snail, shrimp, hermit crabs. You can still feed them quality fish food (flake, pellets, meaty food) and use their waste.

Something that small can also be much easier to feed coral food. You can target feed reefroid and hykari coral gumbo frozen cubes a couple times a week. That, coupled with AB and maybe get some phytofeast and you should be fine.

Neophos is needed only if you have hard time maintaining po4 levels.
 
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Jilly92

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O, sry didn't realize it was something that small. In that case, regular water change will take care of the trace elements, the clown will eventually out grow the tank and its gonna be limited in term of fish choice. Maybe some type of gobies like neon gobies, Probably better luck with inverts like snail, shrimp, hermit crabs. You can still feed them quality fish food (flake, pellets, meaty food) and use their waste.

Something that small can also be much easier to feed coral food. You can target feed reefroid and hykari coral gumbo frozen cubes a couple times a week. That, coupled with AB and maybe get some phytofeast and you should be fine.

Neophos is needed only if you have hard time maintaining po4 levels.
It's a nano clown. He's stayed the size of a quarter for awhile now. And yes very hard time with po4. If I put those cubes in will they not just sit and rot and cause ammonia spike?
 

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It's a nano clown. He's stayed the size of a quarter for awhile now. And yes very hard time with po4. If I put those cubes in will they not just sit and rot and cause ammonia spike?
Don't put the whole cube. You can cut it into halfs or quarters, depending on how many corals you have and how much they eat.
 
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Jilly92

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Don't put the whole cube. You can cut it into halfs or quarters, depending on how many corals you have and how much they eat.
There's only a couple zoas thus far. I will just put the clown in, thanks!
 

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