Fish poop substitution- coral tank no fish

[anen]

A little background: I recently moved into a small apartment and took a new job with long hours. I would like to have a tank in my new home but worried I won't be able to responsibly take care of fish but I am thinking of having maybe some sort of coral only tank, even if its more of a science experiment more than anything else.

I know that to have a thriving reef having plenty of well-fed fish is ideal. I've tried to do searches here on RC but I haven't seen much chemistry-wise as to fish poop substitutes. Can having dendros sun corals and other lps that eat meaty food produce the waste necessary to give corals nice color and growth?

Has anyone experimented to alternatives to fish poop? Human urine and/or feces? (I know it sounds disgusting but I'm trying to be scientific here lol) is there anything harmful to corals in human fecal matter

[Mikez1207]

What about adding some shrimp and crabs...could but a time feeder also...another idea would be to add amminos to help a ulns...not an expert but just throwing some ideas out there :)

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

yes, a think a small shrimp or crab would be a good choice, wouldn't need constant feeding, and would eat some normal fish food you added.

Barring that, you can always just add tiny bits of fish food. Bacteria will turn it to the equivalent of poop fast enough. :)

[bongarone]

Has anyone experimented to alternatives to fish poop? Human urine and/or feces? (I know it sounds disgusting but I'm trying to be scientific here lol) is there anything harmful to corals in human fecal matter

:crazy1::crazy1::crazy1::crazy1::crazy1:

[gweston]

LOL

This reminds me of a thread I ran into once about using #1 as a ammonia cycle kickstart for a new tank. And yes, apparently it has been used! How effective it actually is. I have no idea. Would I do it? No. My wife would boot me out of the house if she walked in and saw me 'cycling' the tank.

Now as far as #2. Besides the plain nastyness. I wouldn't want to explain to the wife why I was using a plunger in an overflow. HA!

More seriously... you certainly can 'ghost feed' the tank without fish in there. Maybe drop a dry/powdered coral food into an autofeeder and have that drop into a feeding ring and slowly distribute from there? An alternative might be to occasionally feed other liquid, or even live food. Planktonic food, artemia, brine, or some such. I wouldn't think you need fish to have corals, especially if you choose more photosynthetic corals.

[bertoni]

There are a lot of foods available that corals might like. I'd probably just start with fish food, as suggested, although some corals might have more specific requirements. I also liked dosing phytoplankton, although how much more useful it is than fish food is unknown.

[brandon429]

To the op-
fish poop is not an important nor required link in the tanks we keep. It is not helpful to generate in these closed systems, if you lack it that's lucky. in no way should extra waste material be added. Simply feed the tank, corals either benefit directly or indirectly.

[anen]

Wouldn't everyone agree that a tank with well fed fish have corals with better colors?

[anen]

yes, a think a small shrimp or crab would be a good choice, wouldn't need constant feeding, and would eat some normal fish food you added.

Barring that, you can always just add tiny bits of fish food. Bacteria will turn it to the equivalent of poop fast enough. :)

Is it only the breakdown of food that gives corals color or is there something else the fish are providing?

[hollister]

Some coral will take food like brine shrimp. Use a turkey baster and reduce the water flow. blow a little above them and if they will feed it will happen right away. You could also use phyto plankton and add a little brine shrimp once a week or so.

[brandon429]

The fish provide nothing directly to make corals more colorful. Im merely speaking on behalf of all the invert only reef aquarists, lots of people keep nice sps reefs with no fish only shrimp/crabs

[bertoni]

There are so many species of corals with such varying dietary requirement that making useful blanket statements is difficult. Some are nearly autotrophic when you consider their symbionts, and others require a lot of protein from the water column, sometimes in very specialized form.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The breaking down of fish foods provides many of the nutrients that corals need, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, and possibly a bunch of others. Corals may eat the foods directly, or consume the nutrients after bacteria breaks them down. :)