REEF ONLY

[10gnano]

When creating a reef only tank, is it safe to say that water peramiters stay a bit more consitent than if you have live stock in your tank??
I am going to turn my 15 gallon Nano into a reef only tank. I will still keep snails and hermits, but no fish. Will I still have to worry about nitrates as much?? I know nutrients will be needed and calcium suppliments for the corrals, but other than that it should be easy to maintain?

[Cheebs]

It should be significantly easier to maintain than a system with fish in it. Not that you should slack on water tests and water changes, but a smaller bio-load does mean less junk in the tank for sure!

[QueensU]

Corals are all alive too, and they produce waste.. IMO, I would treat it the same as if it had fish in it... and if it stays a bit cleaner than a system with fish in it..  all the better. 

[Vincenzo.]

^agreed. Especially if ur maxing out the tank with corals. It's the same with or without fish, in the sense ur replacing the fish with more coral.

[beertech]

You will still have to feed the tank, just different types of food. Some corals like LPS benefit from large, meaty foods like Mysis or Brine shrimp, while others such as SPS need dissolved nutrients that would normally be provided by the fish. You should consider feeding very lightly of course, maybe foods like frozen Cyclopeze, Oyster eggs and liquid live Phytoplankton. The usual supplements for Corals mainly provide Calcium, trace minerals and help maintain Alk levels.

[veron]

I won't keep 0 fish, corals need food/bacteria etc as well and a few fish are good for this. its all about balance. 0 fish IMO is worse than a few good selections. besides,  a reef tank with something swimming is just not a reef tank.
I'd go for a firefish or jawfish.

[SeahorseGuyetGal]

I agree.  A small livestock addition makes the reef tank work.  I converted my 12 gal nano to a reef only tank and decided to keep 2 false percs in company with the inverts and corals.  Makes the tank a bit more alive.   Also, I have resisted over-use of supplements given the ease for which the tank can become polluted.  Water conditions and quality are more volatile with smaller tanks and depending on what you want to keep, feeding different sorts of foods will be necessary (mysis to the BTA and percs, reef roids , phyto, cyclopreeze and cacl/iodine suppl are my choices for now).  Given the small size of the tank, I do 30% water changes weekly.

My BTA requires regular (2-3 times per week) feedings to keep it happy given that the light in these nanos are not really sufficient for them.  I also added a really nice maxima clam (which can tolerate lower light conditiions, a X'mas tree rock and have pulsing Xenia growing like a weed.  I tried hammer head and found it wasn't happy in the tank and started fading despite feedings (prob the pc compact lighting).  I also have a purple sponge that a LFS gave me and it is doing quite well.  A helfrichi firefish is nice or other gobies that don't have much of a bioload.

Have fun!