Coral only tank questions

[Reefngeek]

One of my tanks, a Waterbox Cube 10, somehow substantially slowed down in the overflow section so my ATO kept pumping in fresh water. This was while I was away for 4 days but luckily I had a camera watching the tank and a Wyze smart plug for the ATO so I was able to prevent the tank from overflowing. When I came home, the water was almost to the brim and all the food from the auto-feeder was floating in the overflow section. The tank smelled of ammonia and was, for lack of a better word, gross. The Waterbox Cube aquariums are nice but the overflow section is too narrow and I just can't stop wondering if it will overfill and flood my tank. So, having a UNS 60s (10 gallon shallow), I decided to empty the Waterbox and rescue what coral I could. The UNS is now running as a coral only tank. Tank has been running for 1 day now and I've dosed pods, phyto, and bacteria. For this tank, I'm going to try my best to avoid any pests and I'm thinking to keep it coral only; no fish.

For those who run coral only tanks, is dosing nitrates and phosphates necessary if I'm dosing pods and phyto?
For water changes, I see people take water from their bigger tanks to water change into the smaller tanks. Would that be necessary for coral only?

I've set this UNS tank up using CaribSea ARM calcium reactor media as the substrate. My ATO is also set as my kalkwasser doser (the kalk is just added to the freshwater). For filter, I'm using a Tidal 35 with the included media and a bag of carbon to clean the water. Given what I have, would I need to get a clean-up crew? I never really liked hermit crabs as they seem more of a pain (need to provide extra shells and they seem to kill off snails regardless of whether there are available shells). I'm not sure if having snails is needed? I'm thinking maybe a fire shrimp or cleaner shrimp. Not sure if that is a good idea.

Any tips for long-term success of a coral only tank?

Oh, I will add:
- I do not use RO water; never have. I live in Calgary, Alberta and the water here seems fine with the use of Seachem Prime.
- I do not have a skimmer. Don't plan to add one since the tank is only 10 gallons.
- Light is a Kessil a160we. I know it's overkill but I'm thinking of possibly replacing it with an Ecotech Radion XR15 G5 or G6. I really want a T5 look so the G6 is tempting.
- Using a Jebao SW-2 nano for flow. Adding a second one in a week.

 

[vetteguy53081]

One of my tanks, a Waterbox Cube 10, somehow substantially slowed down in the overflow section so my ATO kept pumping in fresh water. This was while I was away for 4 days but luckily I had a camera watching the tank and a Wyze smart plug for the ATO so I was able to prevent the tank from overflowing. When I came home, the water was almost to the brim and all the food from the auto-feeder was floating in the overflow section. The tank smelled of ammonia and was, for lack of a better word, gross. The Waterbox Cube aquariums are nice but the overflow section is too narrow and I just can't stop wondering if it will overfill and flood my tank. So, having a UNS 60s (10 gallon shallow), I decided to empty the Waterbox and rescue what coral I could. The UNS is now running as a coral only tank. Tank has been running for 1 day now and I've dosed pods, phyto, and bacteria. For this tank, I'm going to try my best to avoid any pests and I'm thinking to keep it coral only; no fish.

For those who run coral only tanks, is dosing nitrates and phosphates necessary if I'm dosing pods and phyto?
For water changes, I see people take water from their bigger tanks to water change into the smaller tanks. Would that be necessary for coral only?

I've set this UNS tank up using CaribSea ARM calcium reactor media as the substrate. My ATO is also set as my kalkwasser doser (the kalk is just added to the freshwater). For filter, I'm using a Tidal 35 with the included media and a bag of carbon to clean the water. Given what I have, would I need to get a clean-up crew? I never really liked hermit crabs as they seem more of a pain (need to provide extra shells and they seem to kill off snails regardless of whether there are available shells). I'm not sure if having snails is needed? I'm thinking maybe a fire shrimp or cleaner shrimp. Not sure if that is a good idea.

Any tips for long-term success of a coral only tank?

Oh, I will add:
- I do not use RO water; never have. I live in Calgary, Alberta and the water here seems fine with the use of Seachem Prime.
- I do not have a skimmer. Don't plan to add one since the tank is only 10 gallons.
- Light is a Kessil a160we. I know it's overkill but I'm thinking of possibly replacing it with an Ecotech Radion XR15 G5 or G6. I really want a T5 look so the G6 is tempting.
- Using a Jebao SW-2 nano for flow. Adding a second one in a week.

Dosing no3 and po4 not necessary. Corals foods such as Hikari coral menu and reef roids will raise these levels

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Until your racks and bottom are covered with live Coraline inhibiting the growth of other algae, snails for a cuc will be your friend.

 

[Reefngeek]

Dosing no3 and po4 not necessary. Corals foods such as Hikari coral menu and reef roids will raise these levels

I forgot to mention that I use Redsea AB+ as well. Would that suffice? I don't use foods such as reef roids.

 

[Tired]

Pods and phyto will reduce nitrates and phosphates, not increase them. You need some source of nutrients, as having 0 of either, particularly phosphates, will harm and potentially kill photosynthetic life.

A shrimp will need to be fed somehow. I don't know of any that thrive long-term on only detritus.

You can have a cleanup crew made of snails, with no hermits, but you need some sort of cleanup crew. Skip nassarius snails, they're only for eating leftover food.

If you want a small fish, you could probably keep a trimma goby. I kept one in a pico for awhile, feeding it a couple times a week at most, and it stayed fat from eating pods. A 10gal should produce plenty of pods for a trimma goby to eat, and the trimma goby will hopefully keep your amphipods from overpopulating and bothering things.

 

[Reefngeek]

Until your racks and bottom are covered with live Coraline inhibiting the growth of other algae, snails for a cuc will be your friend.

Funny (not so funny?) thing is I've never been able to get Coraline algae to grow. My corals grow and are mostly healthy. I say mostly because I have had some torches and hammer brown jelly on me, and I can't seem to keep most zoas alive.

Which snails would be best? I've only ever used turbo snails. I've found Bristletooth Tangs work the best for algae control but this tank is obviously too small for that.

 

[Tired]

Ceriths and dwarf ceriths are good all-purpose snails that will eat a bit of everything, and move your sandbed a little in the bargain. I like checkered nerites. Lightning dove snails are great, if you can get 'em. Check out ReefCleaners.

 

[Reefngeek]

Pods and phyto will reduce nitrates and phosphates, not increase them. You need some source of nutrients, as having 0 of either, particularly phosphates, will harm and potentially kill photosynthetic life.

A shrimp will need to be fed somehow. I don't know of any that thrive long-term on only detritus.

You can have a cleanup crew made of snails, with no hermits, but you need some sort of cleanup crew. Skip nassarius snails, they're only for eating leftover food.

If you want a small fish, you could probably keep a trimma goby. I kept one in a pico for awhile, feeding it a couple times a week at most, and it stayed fat from eating pods. A 10gal should produce plenty of pods for a trimma goby to eat, and the trimma goby will hopefully keep your amphipods from overpopulating and bothering things.

Did not realize that about pods and phyto. Thanks for that info. Will check out that goby as I've never heard of it before. Thanks

 

[Reefngeek]

Ceriths and dwarf ceriths are good all-purpose snails that will eat a bit of everything, and move your sandbed a little in the bargain. I like checkered nerites. Lightning dove snails are great, if you can get 'em. Check out ReefCleaners.

Thank you. Will check it out.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I forgot to mention that I use Redsea AB+ as well. Would that suffice? I don't use foods such as reef roids.

It will help

 

[Reefngeek]

It will help

Thank you

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Funny (not so funny?) thing is I've never been able to get Coraline algae to grow. My corals grow and are mostly healthy. I say mostly because I have had some torches and hammer brown jelly on me, and I can't seem to keep most zoas alive.

Which snails would be best? I've only ever used turbo snails. I've found Bristletooth Tangs work the best for algae control but this tank is obviously too small for that.

Where is your po4? I couldn't either until my PO4 was no longer elevated, and alk was stable.

I use all kinds of snails. I have the most trocus I believe. Reefcleaners is a great resource for mix and match packs of cuc.

 

[Reefngeek]

Where is your po4? I couldn't either until my PO4 was no longer elevated, and alk was stable.

I use all kinds of snails. I have the most trocus I believe. Reefcleaners is a great resource for mix and match packs of cuc.

I have not tested yet. Waiting till tomorrow to pickup a new test kit as I've run out. I see reefcleaners mentioned a lot. Not sure if they deliver to Canada but I'll check it out. Thanks!

 

[Tamberav]

That’s weird about the waterbox. Is it just too much stuff in the back? Or mesh clogging?

Does it slow down even if you only have a return pump and heater back there? Just wondering.

Anywho.. I had a coral only frag tank and picos before and never had to dose any nutrients. It was pretty live rock tho and worms and pods poop too!

 

[Reefngeek]

That’s weird about the waterbox. Is it just too much stuff in the back? Or mesh clogging?

Does it slow down even if you only have a return pump and heater back there? Just wondering.

Anywho.. I had a coral only frag tank and picos before and never had to dose any nutrients. It was pretty live rock tho and worms and pods poop too!

No idea. Nothing changed before I left home. I actually purposely used less filter floss as well so that there was no chance of it clogging while I was away.

The return pump was a Sicce Syncra Micra Plus. A little too powerful for the Waterbox but not powerful enough to cause what happened.

 

[undermind]

I've been running a 10g fishless nano for a while now. A Nuvo AIO. It's an SPS tank.

I'm still not seeing a source of maintaining NO3 or PO4 mentioned. And I totally disagree that you don't need to add anything. You could add nothing, but that's of course if you wanted both perpetually bottomed out. Aiming at least for NSW levels is ideal.

I've found that 3 drops of Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast keeps my PO4 locked in at exactly 0.03. I can adjust up or down by going up or down 1 drop per day. That's the great thing about a fishless system. The nutrients are extremely stable and predictable.

All For Reef is also great for maintaining Alk, Cal and your minor/trace levels dialed in. And I think your days of not growing coraline will be behind you if you ran AFR.

For CUC, I would start minimal and don't assume you need a lot. My rock (KP Aquatics) included 3 snails and they happen to be the perfect CUC for my tank. Of course there are plenty of brittle starfish and spaghetti worms in there though too. But I think a good plan is to start with a few snails and keep an eye on things. You'll know what you're missing soon, if anything.

 

[Reefngeek]

I've been running a 10g fishless nano for a while now. A Nuvo AIO. It's an SPS tank.

I'm still not seeing a source of maintaining NO3 or PO4 mentioned. And I totally disagree that you don't need to add anything. You could add nothing, but that's of course if you wanted both perpetually bottomed out. Aiming at least for NSW levels is ideal.

I've found that 3 drops of Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast keeps my PO4 locked in at exactly 0.03. I can adjust up or down by going up or down 1 drop per day. That's the great thing about a fishless system. The nutrients are extremely stable and predictable.

All For Reef is also great for maintaining Alk, Cal and your minor/trace levels dialed in. And I think your days of not growing coraline will be behind you if you ran AFR.

For CUC, I would start minimal and don't assume you need a lot. My rock (KP Aquatics) included 3 snails and they happen to be the perfect CUC for my tank. Of course there are plenty of brittle starfish and spaghetti worms in there though too. But I think a good plan is to start with a few snails and keep an eye on things. You'll know what you're missing soon, if anything.

Thank you for the alternate insight. This setup is too new to know what works and what doesn't so all these inputs really helps.