Going Fallow... going to be a long 76 days...

[Wonf]

Going fallow starting today (specifics on my experience posted in the Quarantine tank thread... because of course, I did not QT....)

Are there any pointers I should/shouldn't be doing while fallow?

I've got some corals, snails, hermits, shrimps, and a GBTA...
- Should I feed them once in a while? (definitely feeding the GBTA. So fun watching him eat squid)
- Are WCs necessary?
- Do I need to keep my skimmer going?
- Should I raise or lower the temp (I heard raising the temp will speed up more parasite life cycles)?
- Do I need to keep my lighting schedule the same? I've got 4 T5's, 2 10k and 2 Actinic's.

(wouldn't mind saving a little on my elec bill during this time... haha)

 

[bif24701]

My NO3 and PO4 dropped like a stone, remove GFO and get some stump remover. I hAve to add nitrates and may start dosing phosphates also. All my corals went pale in a week.

 

[NeuroticAquatics]

I'm not an expert on this, but I would imagine the corals would appreciate the light schedule remaining the same and depending on what crabs/snails, they'd want some scraps to eat.
Raising temp apparently does not do anything for saltwater and I'd guess the corals would not appreciate it. I'd probably run my skimmer a lot less as it will have a lot less to pull out.

I've done fallow twice on my 240g, but it is a FOWLR so there was not much to worry about.

 

[Wonf]

Uh... I think I've seen the term GFO before, but not sure what it is. Google tells me Granular Feric Oxide... so, how do I remove that? (didn't know I had it). And I'll be honest, first time I've heard the term "stump remover". lol

 

[AdamNC]

Just keep up what you have been doing but you may want to feed your corals since they no longer have fish to "feed" them. Yes 75+ days is a long time but it's really the best way to erraticate all the ick and their eggs from your tank.

 

[Germ42]

Yeah I felt the same way, and as the days went by it still felt like forever! But let me tell you,this is the best thing I have done for my Tank, I got tired of coming home to parasitic surprises and or finding the ich attack at bedtime lol I feel less anxious about my fish now , of course now I quarantine everything I don't care if it's even quarantined, you know the saying if you want it done right do it yourself.

I left my coral in my tank as well and I ran my lights the same amount, however I wish I would've slowly cut the lights back slightly on intensity and length on, to help me rid of algae, also I slowed on my water changes and I think it caused my Tank nutrients top build up a little higher than I wanted.

So I suggest continuing everything like normal especially water changes lol

 

[Wonf]

Thanks for the input guys. Told the family we are going to start QT'ing corals as well now (going to try the full 76 days to make sure no fish parasites get in), and of course their response was, let's go get corals now so we only have to dip and put them in the tank. Guess I can't argue with that... Going coral shopping this weekend, guess the 76 days will reset. Oh well.. smh...

 

[MamaLovesHerReefTank]

Thanks for the input guys. Told the family we are going to start QT'ing corals as well now (going to try the full 76 days to make sure no fish parasites get in), and of course their response was, let's go get corals now so we only have to dip and put them in the tank. Guess I can't argue with that... Going coral shopping this weekend, guess the 76 days will reset. Oh well.. smh...

I am just starting my fallow period as well. Had to tear the tank apart to get all the fish out. Tried to re do the rock work but no matter how I tried, wouldn't go back the same way. I decided that I might as well rescape the whole tank making sure to have good flow, a lot of caves and hiding spots but most of all, room for more corals. Doing a little shopping myself this weekend.

 

[justingraham]

I say load up on corals so u have something to look at in the tank I'm on day like 90 cause I moved and took the move as a time to upgrade some stuff so it gets easier plus my fish are so healthy now it made it all worth it. But I would load up on corals and as soon as u put them in don't add anything else. I would check ur nitrates and phosphates tho and if they drop take ur skimmer offline till u put the fish back in but other then that I would leave everything the same

 

[Wonf]

0 Nitrates is not good for corals? (I've already turned off my skimmer, on day two of going fallow, it started flooding... I turned it off because it flooded even on Max [wide open], so the only way to get the bubbles down would be to raise it with egg crate.). Should I keep my skimmer running during fallow???

 

[tutmatt3]

Hopping in to listen! While emptying the tank of fish, it seems coral & anemones might be allowed in the tank? Just begin counting from the last day of introducing anything new?

 

[JMLewis]

Yes, zero nitrates is bad for your corals and nem. I went fallow and made the mistake of letting my nitrates drop to zero and realized to late that that's what was killing my corals. Add some pellets or some type of food once a week or so to keep nitrates steady. But you'll want to monitor it try to stay around 5ppm. You'll likely start to get nuisance algae so if you don't have snails and hermits it'd be good to add them to keep the algae at bay or else the algae will just absorb all the nutrients your trying to keep steady.

Gfo is a type of media that's used to reduce phosphates if your not using it then don't worry about it.

 

[Wonf]

Good to know. Thanks!
tutmatt3 - Yeah, fallow 76 day count starts after adding the last non-fish item (coral, anemone, even live rock).
Just added a bunch of corals over the weekend, so my clock restarted on Saturday. Although both my shrimp (cleaner and fire) died over the last 3 days... Not sure what happened there... my snails and hermits seem to be doing fine. Might just be me and the fact that I don't see any fish, but the hermits seem to be much more active since going fallow. I also knew of a fairly large bristle worm, he's also becoming much braver, actually coming out even when its not dark. Probably hungry looking for food. Just saw another worm show his face that I haven't seen before, he looks much more "red" than the other worm... hopefully not a fire worm, but that's for another discussion/thread.