Self Sufficient Reef?

[paintbfreak1325]

Is it possible to build a reef system that is self sufficient, other than feeding the fish?

[poo-tang]

not sure what you mean by self sufficient. is that zero maintenance? i think the answer is no.
but i think you could do a reef that is very low maintenance and cost effective.
based on the cost of water, it could be cheaper and easier to do on the way of 50% water changes bi-weekly, and if you set-up your sump appropiatly sized...ie 50% of the display with a drain down valve piped to a drain, water changes could be incredibly easy and you may not need any other equipment except lights, heater, flow. i pay about 27 cents a gallon for water. on a 100 gallon system this would cost me 351 dollars a year.
anyways i don't actually know exactly what you are asking but i went with it.

[geoxman]

50% is rather drastic!! There are very successful reefers that do not skim and almost never, if ever, change their water and have beautiful SPS, LPS and soft reefs.

I feel that it would need to be an established system with good biological and plant filtration in order for this to work.

As long as you have an ATO and something to supply Ca and Alk it could very easily be done. good luck

[paintbfreak1325]

Sorry about being so vague.

I mean as little maintenance as possible

What I was thinking is a system set up that you would use algaes and other plants to filter with. No mechanical filtration, no water changes.
What I am thinking is trying to make the reef as natural as possible.

This is just something that popped into my head while browsing the other day. I am more curious if it can be done than actually doing it right now.

What I was thinking was setting up all up with live rock and sump/fuge and letting it run like that for 6 months or so to mature a little. Then slowly adding corals and fish until I get to my desired stocking level. My thinking behind this is that perhaps by slowing increasing the bio load that the bacterias and whatever else breaks down the nutrients can keep up and the macro algae can keep up with absorbing them.

Is this at all feasible and how large of a system would it be feasible on?

[poo-tang]

the reason i said 50% is because this allow the owner o do absolutely nothing else, with no other equipment. no dosing ca or carbonate. phosphates and nitrates would surely stay low, unless the owner feeds like a madman. this type of system would make more sense the smaller you go, i want to set up a 30 gallon cube this way, water chnge vessel and pump underneath...not a sump.

and to answer your question i don't think what you are describing is possible, if it was you'd have to have a very low bioload to gallons ratio and a very high algea to bio-load ratio, probably by way of an algal truf scrubber, but then yu just added a filtration device that takes upkeep and power, water changes could be easier and chaeper depending on the size of the system.
i don't think chaeto floating in a sump is nearly as effective as some think. personally i feel its main benefit is pod production/habitat.

[geoxman]

poo-tang there are very many ways to eat chicken, not just baked with no seasoning.

I have just cheato rolling around, actually it is packed full, but it is working.

paintballfreak you might want to research Eric Borneman and his articles. He is an author on Reefkeeping magazine and is very well recognized in the reef community. He has many large and small SPS, reef setups like you are talking about and they are very successful.
He also feeds very heavily and relies on the natural ability of a reef to support itself, via DSB, natural filtration, no skimming, critters and plant nutrient export.

There are many of way's to eat chicken and you must find which fits your taste the best. Just do your research! good luck.

Edit. I also forgot to add that in my 62.5 gallon I have
2 chromis
1 clown
1 yellow tang
1 six line wrasse
1 PJ cardinal
1 sand gobie thingy and a couple of shrimp
a various mixture of snalis and crabs.
I also feed heavy.

I am medium bioload and pretty much follow what you are trying to do. I do add 2 part and do small WC

[paintbfreak1325]

Thank you for you help Geoxman. From the little bit I just read of his articles it looks like what I was looking for.

[geoxman]

good luck my man and have fun doing so. There is
a bunch of info over on the MD forum in EB forum as to what you are tying to accomplsh.good luck!