Maintaining coral only tank

[Hondatek]

I have a rather odd question. Just finished cycling my reef tank. It's an angler only tank and the angler I want has been out of stock for a while on live aquaria. So I planned to just add coral for now. Here is where my issue is .... Say I get the angler 5 months from now I'm pretty sure it would cause another cycle. how do i get around this issue? Thanks

[Beengirl]

Originally Posted by Hondatek

I have a rather odd question. Just finished cycling my reef tank. It's an angler only tank and the angler I want has been out of stock for a while on live aquaria. So I planned to just add coral for now. Here is where my issue is .... Say I get the angler 5 months from now I'm pretty sure it would cause another cycle. how do i get around this issue? Thanks

Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to keep a tank cycled without regular addition of ammonia. And I don't think corals will produce enough waste to keep it cycled. I'm thinking you would have to add some type of ammonia source on a regular basis. If you got corals that need to be fed a few times a week-like sun corals, and feed your trumpets, favias, etc regularly, that might help it. Not sure if it would be enough to keep it fully cycled, might still cause a mini cycle when fish is added. Hope someone else has a better and easier answer for you. :/

[jose7878]

This may sound harsh. But why not get something that the angler can consume when you get it.

[Qube]

I would think you would be fine. Bacteria, in general, are pretty resilient once established. Like Beengirl said, as long as you feed your corals once every couple of weeks, you should be good.

[Hondatek]

Thanks all. The only things I could think of is what beengirl said and what Jose said. I'll probably go check the Lfs for sw feeder fish today.

[MikeYQM]

Anglers are generally small. If you feed your LPS regularly you should stay cycled and your LPS will grow nicely.

Your coral tank will stay cycled even without feeding as coral/inverts still produce waste. Sure your bacteria population will be smaller but it won't be much different than adding a new fish to an established system. The added denitrification demand of a new fish will cause the bacteria population to increase.

The other concern is that all photosynthetic coral contain algae that need nutrients to survive. Some nutrient is needed but too much is detrimental. .03 PO4 & .25 NO3 is ideal for SPS while LPS tend to do better in slightly higher levels.

More than maintaining a "cycle" I would be feeding lightly but regularly to maintain health of your corals. Weekly or biweekly feedings of a filter feeding food such as Reef Roids or Coral Frenzy and/or frozen foods for LPS would be ideal.