Fishless tank??

Branespikin · May 3, 2017

Hi guys!
I just lost all my fish to velvet. As I understand i need to go fishless for 76 days. So will my coral be ok? I have a bunch of zoas. Some LPS and some SPS. Jawbreaker and Bounce. Mostly high end stuff so im scared if this will affect my tank in any way.
Got a 65g had 6 fish.
I dose Aquaforest Coral A and Coral V. Every other day. AF coral food once a week and oyster feast once a week. Am i ok?
Thx
Brani

ReefQueen · May 3, 2017

My 8 gallon was fishless for a long time. If your feeding the corals they should be fine

for the record i never fed the corals in that tank, but they were mostly softies

Branespikin · May 3, 2017

If i can do without fish id probably even go fishless for good. Im a coral guy. Just when people come over they always ask where is the fish. They think the coral
is fake like in Tanked lol!

ReefQueen · May 3, 2017

You could always get one of these

for when company is over lol.

chefjpaul · May 3, 2017

ReefQueen said:
You could always get one of these

for when company is over lol.

[emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]
Do they get ich

jsker · May 3, 2017

Branespikin said:
Hi guys!
I just lost all my fish to velvet. As I understand i need to go fishless for 76 days. So will my coral be ok? I have a bunch of zoas. Some LPS and some SPS. Jawbreaker and Bounce. Mostly high end stuff so im scared if this will affect my tank in any way.
Got a 65g had 6 fish.
I dose Aquaforest Coral A and Coral V. Every other day. AF coral food once a week and oyster feast once a week. Am i ok?
Thx
Brani

AF makes food specific for corals, there are also products out the made by Reef Nutrition that will also feed your corals.

ReefQueen · May 3, 2017

chefjpaul said:
[emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]
Do they get ich

You will probably want to QT them just in case lol.

Branespikin · May 3, 2017

jsker said:
AF makes food specific for corals, there are also products out the made by Reef Nutrition that will also feed your corals.

Yeah man forgot to mention i feed them that powder coral food from AF aswell. I got Everything from AF. I love it

Branespikin · May 3, 2017

ReefQueen said:
You could always get one of these

for when company is over lol.

Haha. I love it gotta order me a mated pair.

Branespikin · May 3, 2017

ReefQueen said:
You will probably want to QT them just in case lol.

Well if I QT my real fish they would be alive now

jsker · May 3, 2017

Branespikin said:
Yeah man forgot to mention i feed them that powder coral food from AF aswell. I got Everything from AF. I love it

I have not used the food, so it does well?

Branespikin · May 3, 2017

jsker said:
I have not used the food, so it does well?

Yeah my corals love it. They extend those polyps like crazy

jsker · May 3, 2017

Branespikin said:
Yeah my corals love it. They extend those polyps like crazy

Are you just using the food or something else?

Branespikin · May 3, 2017

jsker said:
Are you just using the food or something else?

I use AF Reef Salt, Components 1-2-3, coral A, Coral V, AF Build, AF Energy, NP Pro, ProbBio S, Coral Food. AF Carbon and GFO.
Drop of Lugols Iodine once every 2 weeks.

mcarroll · May 4, 2017

IMO, concentrate on growing corals for now and get good at it. Once your corals are rolling and grown out, then consider adding ONE fish to the tank to see how it goes. Then after a few months, add another fish to see how that goes. And take it slow like that. If you go slow like that, maybe you'll even be happy with just that first or second fish – you never know!

JohnnyTabasco · May 4, 2017

I would see this as an opportunity to get all your parameters in check...
It can be fun to chase numbers

Branespikin · May 4, 2017

mcarroll said:
IMO, concentrate on growing corals for now and get good at it. Once your corals are rolling and grown out, then consider adding ONE fish to the tank to see how it goes. Then after a few months, add another fish to see how that goes. And take it slow like that. If you go slow like that, maybe you'll even be happy with just that first or second fish – you never know!

Yeah my corals are growing great. I kinda got a feel for them and know when they need something. I dint have a qt tank so would hate risking getting a sick fish again. I know some vendors offer some qt service and will most likely go that route if i get fish

brandon429 · May 4, 2017

Reefqueen you mention something interesting

corals are heterotrophic feeders they must eat to live as they are not classed as autotrophs and photosynthesis cannot produce enough nutrients as a stand alone diet. I read that you didn't feed, but they were still getting feed in some way and that makes for interesting discussion...where would indirect feed come from in your system? Was the live rock cured and cycled in the tank up from totally dry rock or was it moved in from another system after being around feed and the common associated micro animals? Did you ever feed the system at all?

If the corals put on mass indicating positive nitrogen balance then a protein source can be identified in the tank somehow, so curious to consider where it may have been. There is a finite lifespan for any unfed coral system when true input is stopped, however I wouldn't be surprised if relocated aged live rock or substrates brought enough protein to hold over for a long time

jwshiver · May 4, 2017

My tank has been fallow sense January 29th. I can't seem to get the velvet under control in my QT. I'm on my second 30 day copper treatment. I run a low nutrient tank with ZEOvit so it has been a challenge keeping my nutrients up with no fish to feed even though I feed my corals. I have managed to keep my NO3 and PO4 stable (5.0 and .03 respectively) by dosing Brightwell Aquatics NeoNitro and NeoPhos. If you find your nitrate and phosphate dropping to zero I would recommend these products.