Questions on what is really "fallow"

[good11s]

I had a stupid question...
For a tank to be "fallow" does that mean no fish only?
What about shrimp, snails, and crabs?

 

[Seepu]

Fallow = prepared, but unseeded. In agricultural terms, fallow fields are fields tended to, but not planted with crops, to allow the soil to replenish nuturients.

In a tank... I would think it means maintained, but no added livestock allowing the rock/sand fauna to mature on it's own.

 

[Devilishturtles]

In what way are you talking about?

Fallow in the sense that you are treating ich means no fish, but it also means no addition of anything else either. Invertebrates cannot carry ich, so you do not need to remove them, but the addition of them can bring disease in (in the water or similar).

I only bring up ich because this is one of the main reasons I've read of letting the tank go fallow for a period of time.

Does that help?

 

[good11s]

I appreciate the responses.

I was only asking to better explain the term. I recently moved from CA to UT and I am now setting my my tank again. As a result, I have been studying the forums and articles to hopefully not make the same mistakes I have done in the past.

Currently my tank is cycling (been set up for 30 days). Everything seems to be working fine so far.

 

[cmor1701d]

Tell us more. How big is your tank?
What equipment and lighting do you have?
How are you cycling the tank?
What do you envision it being (FO/FOWLR/REEF)?
Do you have a sump?
Have you set up a QT tank for your first livestock?

 

[good11s]

The tank is a 75G tank with a 35G sump. it will start out FOWLR, but in time I will prob add SPS and other corals.
The sump contains LR rubble, Corallife 220 skimmer, heater, and mag 9.5 return pump. The fuge contains 40 lb of LS as a DSB and cheato.

For lighting, I have 4 96W CF,two 10K daylight, & two Actinic. Plus have three moonlight for nightime viewing pleasure. I will add MH lights when I get closer to adding hard corals.

The tank has about 140lb of LR, some came from CA during the move and 20lb or so were from the LFS to help seed the old rock.

I am using a fishless cycle process; die off from LR re-curing and a raw shrimp for good measure. I have already had my NH3 spike, a rise and fall of NO2, and my NO3 has maxed out at 10ppm.

Current readings: NH3 = 0; NO2 = 0; NO3 = 10 ppm. 20% PWC planned for today.

as for a QT tank, I have a 10G tank ready for setup. I have a mature sponge in my sump to be used in the QT tank when setup. I will use water from my display w/ some fresh made SW for PWC.

 

[lando]

"Fallow" in the world of reefs generally means no fish, Lindsay mentioned. It is a common method of treating a display tank for the parasite "ick". During a "fallow" period, inverts are fine in the tank as they do not host the parasite.