Reef with No fish ok??

[juangringo]

I am new and want to start a reef tank. trouble is that I travel for a living and am gone 4 nights a week.

I was thinking that I could do coral only so that I don't starve the fish when I am away.

Will this work? Also if I use live rock, will the coral produce enough waste to keep the live rock / sand live and happy?

Thanks
Juan

 

[mrg02d]

The problem with being gone for so long is that if something dies and you arent there to remove it, it will rot and could cause your system to crash.

You could have a coral only tank and be just fine as long as you keep your lights on a timer. Its possible you could get away with some fish too, although eating once every four days would piss them off. They make automatic fish feeders, but if your more interested in coral, then fish would make for a really unnecesary challenge.

I would be more worried about my tank spilling or something and not being around to do anything. Another issue would be water evaporation. You can bet that will present a challenge trying to top off the water. If you dont, and too much water evaporates, then your salinity will rise and could anger your tank.

Matt

 

[Mitchell0605]

It's quite possible. You'll have to feed your corals a little though. And have good lights and an auto-top off system.

 

[Greenmaster]

If you have a sump you could rig a float switch to drip FW into the tank as the water level drops. That would help with the water level.

 

[thincat]

Like the other post stated your main problem would be evaporation and an ATO would remedy that. Feeding your corals every four days would be enough to also feed your LR and sand. The problem I see is in the initial setup as a SW tank takes lots of tweeking in the first year. I just installed a larger reservoir for my ATO from autotopoff.com so that I can be gone for 10 days on a future trip.

 

[austinsdad]

You travel 4 days every week? That makes a dif as opposed to being gone 4 days per week every so often.

 

[juangringo]

Unfortunately I am gone every week. i leave Monday morning and get back midnight or so on Thursday.

The automatic top off sounds good. what would the floater switch look like?

Also what would I need to feed the coral and rock / sand. I thought the coral had alge in them that fed off the sunlight?

Thanks

 

[Greenmaster]

they need some kind of decaying matter... (the sand/rock) basically the leftover of the coral food will be enough... corals need different kinds of plankton and some very small pieces of fish food...(like powder size)
This is a float switch... there are lots of kinds...

 

[Innovator]

Understand the more you automate the greater your risk if something fails and you are gone for several days. I agree that the system/corals would still need feedings.

 

[thincat]

Unfortunately I am gone every week. i leave Monday morning and get back midnight or so on Thursday.

The automatic top off sounds good. what would the floater switch look like?

Also what would I need to feed the coral and rock / sand. I thought the coral had alge in them that fed off the sunlight?

Thanks

Read this:AutoTopoff.com

 

[cabezon]

Also make sure your sump can hold the extra water in case of power outage and have a battery backup air pump.

 

[mfdrookie516]

you could compare an auto top off unit to the float in a toilet... it shuts it off when the bowl is full, opens the valve when you flush...

 

[Greenmaster]

There is also a fail-safe way of setting it up where you will have very little chance of overflow... if a diagram is needed let me know.

 

[mattdean]

I would highly recommend using a dual float with solenoid for your ATO. The float are too risky, IMO.

I have this in my sump and it is very sensitive to level changes and it works flawlessly.With 2 floats and the solenoid it is near impossible to have a flood. Plus, if the power goes out, it turns the feed off.

 

[Greenmaster]

Okay this is what I was saying... and sorry for the lame "paint" diagram it's just all I could do in 5 min

the 1 is the running water level (your level may be more or less a percentage of the tank)... when power is shut off your tank will be full. The top of the top-up tank is no higher than the sump/refugium if the Float valve fails (non electric) then it may cause your salinity to drop but it will not over flow... if the power fails and the float is working then it would be the same as no auto top-up was installed... the only way to get an overflow with this system is if the float fails till the water is level with the other one and then starts to work again (preventing back feeding) and then the power goes out. The biggest downside to this setup is you still need to top-up the top-up tank... but it would maintain a stable tank with no change in salinity and the top-ups could be a week between.

P.S. I'm a bit of a scatter brain in the evening I get up early. Sorry for the confusing post.