Natural Filtration

[Perfect29]

Hi all,

I am about to start my first 60L reef tank and wanted to see how much success has been made with a 'natural filtration' tank, no filter, no skimmer just weekly water changes. 

I have been researching a lot and keep coming back to the natural way for a smaller tank rather than spending loads of money going round in circles. Just looking for some advice on how to succeed in this way, best CUC and anything else that may help (seneye etc)

I will most likely be adding a sump with fuge once in the swing of things but wanted to know if this was essential for starting out. Ideally looking to house a pair of clowns and a firefish and lots of lovely colourful corrals! 

[Tamberav]

6 hours ago, Perfect29 said:

Hi all,

I am about to start my first 60L reef tank and wanted to see how much success has been made with a 'natural filtration' tank, no filter, no skimmer just weekly water changes. 

I have been researching a lot and keep coming back to the natural way for a smaller tank rather than spending loads of money going round in circles. Just looking for some advice on how to succeed in this way, best CUC and anything else that may help (seneye etc)

I will most likely be adding a sump with fuge once in the swing of things but wanted to know if this was essential for starting out. Ideally looking to house a pair of clowns and a firefish and lots of lovely colourful corrals! 

 

@WV Reeferhas two thriving tanks set up this way. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GetPsyched2124]

You can definitely run the tank on just water changes and proper maintenance, then adding a fuge later down the line.

 

just slowly adding the fish and corals so that the bacteria build itself up to meet the bioload

[Tired]

You will want to have a pump in there, though, your corals will want flow. 

[Perfect29]

On 11/19/2019 at 10:07 PM, Tired said:

You will want to have a pump in there, though, your corals will want flow. 

Oh yes! Saving money on all the filtration I am going to get a programmable wave maker and additional pump to make sure there is good flow. Love seeing corals having fun!

[Nano sapiens]

Yes, this is one way to nano reef that works...

 

Keep it simple and start off with the best quality live rock you can find (gives you the most diverse bacterial community).  Go slow and don't overdo the fish (especially in the beginning).  Develop a maintenance routine that exports enough of the waste to maintain good water quality.  Select corals that match your flow (or adjust your flow to meet the corals' needs).

 

Read up on the tank journals from those who run nano tanks in this 'natural' way.

 

Ralph.

[Perfect29]

13 minutes ago, Nano sapiens said:

Yes, this is one way to nano reef that works...

 

Keep it simple and start off with the best quality live rock you can find (gives you the most diverse bacterial community).  Go slow and don't overdo the fish (especially in the beginning).  Develop a maintenance routine that exports enough of the waste to maintain good water quality.  Select corals that match your flow (or adjust your flow to meet the corals' needs).

 

Read up on the tank journals from those who run nano tanks in this 'natural' way.

 

Ralph.

Thank you 🙂 LFS doesnt have alot of live rock so most likely will be ordering online as well as the live sand, Caribsea is a brand that keeps popping up. 

Planning on starting out with CUC and a firefish then most likely get a pair of clowns later down the line. Don't want any unnecessary deaths on my head!, would rather take it slow and steady. 

[Garf]

I agree with getting the best live rock you can. And slow and steady wins the race, take it slow, resist the temptation to get those shiny new things in the tank. If ordering online, shipping and handling is a considerable cost, so it makes sense to order several. Perhaps push that order back a few weeks instead of dropping half a dozen new corals the day after the tank finished cycling.  

 

With CUC, I don't think you can go wrong with the price of a cleaner package. However, realize that there are probably 5 times as many snails that you need, and twice as many hermits. It helps if you have a place you can banish those extras to. I have a Fluval 5gallon tank that has a damsel in it, and some nice hairy mushrooms. I let it get nice and dirty, and put all my extras in it. Then if I need to replace any snail, I have a ready supply at hand. 

 

Get a bit more rock than you need, it is easier to remove it than to add new. Depending on what you plan with your sump, if you are planning additional rock for filtration, let it sit in the display tank until you get the sump setup, then just move it from the display to the sump. Use the several months time as the tank gets established to observe the tank, see which rocks will work best in the display, which look best together. 

 

Another option is to use biofiltration media, drop a few cubes or a plate in the tank instead of live rock. Then you can use less live rock in the display. Not sure if this meets your "natural" criteria though. 

 

With a couple of wave makers, be sure to choose the right sand for the tank. This depends on the corals, and what flow you want in it. I like the look of the fine grained sand, fiji pink araga live, but it can blow around with high flow. This isn't a problem with my tank, as it is an all LPS coral setup with lower flow. 

[Garf]

Oh, and I am pretty sure you should add in the firefish first, then clowns later. It may help, though it may be hit or miss if they can peacefully coexist. If you can, get tiny clowns.

[Perfect29]

14 minutes ago, Garf said:

Oh, and I am pretty sure you should add in the firefish first, then clowns later. It may help, though it may be hit or miss if they can peacefully coexist. If you can, get tiny clowns.

Yes i was planning on adding the firefish first then once I have got all the parameters correct and used to the water changes, finding some lovely little clowns to add.  My LFS told me to add the LR in 1kg at a time, is that necessary to build up bacteria or put it all in at once and let it do its thing. 

[Garf]

1 hour ago, Perfect29 said:

Yes i was planning on adding the firefish first then once I have got all the parameters correct and used to the water changes, finding some lovely little clowns to add.  My LFS told me to add the LR in 1kg at a time, is that necessary to build up bacteria or put it all in at once and let it do its thing. 

I'd put it all in at once. If you are getting live rock from online (ie: rock that has been cured with all kinds of stuff on it, good and bad), then it is usually shipped wrapped in newspaper, and will spend it's travel time just damp. There will still be die off, and will need to be "cured" again in your system.  I have never heard of putting it in a little at a time, not sure what the thinking is there.  Perhaps they are thinking of a tank with fish in it already?