Can I keep SPS with no live rock?

maldivian_chicken · #1 04/08/2005, 04:17 PM

I have to move in a couple of months, so I'm planning on
slowly taking down my tank in the next few weeks so that
I can take advantage of the situation to:

1) cook my rocks,
2) scrape off all the coralin algae from my acrylic tank and polish
off all the scratches from over the years,
3) convert to bare bottom.

In the meantime, I'm thinking of chipping off all the acros from the rocks and
keeping them in a 30gal glass tank with just one 250W DE AB10K,
and a CPR bakpak skimmer. If I can figure out a way to reconnect
the calcium reactor I will.

The fish (a powder blue tang, a blue damsel, a lawnmower blenny, and a pair of false percula clown) will have to live in a Brute
trash can with a ASM G3 skimmer and a few pieces of liverocks for them to hide. The rocks will be cooked in another trash can with some power heads.

Will the SPS and fish be able to live for say 6 months with no
real filtration?

Thanks for any advice.

mhurley · #2 04/08/2005, 04:32 PM

What will be your biological filtration then? You have to have something and you wont.

IMO, you have a recipe for dead fish and corals there.

Fishtale7 · #3 04/08/2005, 04:41 PM

Put the fish in another tank if possible and use a small hang on filter. frags will be fine in a prop tank with just a skimmer and powerhead.

MiddletonMark · #4 04/08/2005, 04:52 PM

I'd think you should be fine ... just keep bioload/feeding down in the coral tank [fish in another tank is a good/necessary idea IMO].
I'd change water quite regularly just in case ... but IMO it's definitely possible.

maldivian_chicken · #5 04/08/2005, 05:33 PM

I'm assuming that I won't be feeding the corals at all so I hope
not having a biological filter can work if I keep a reasonable
water change schedule.

The fish will be a different problem. I'll need some form of
biological filter. Hard to put a HOB filter in a trash can though...

thanks

Bomber · #6 04/08/2005, 05:43 PM

Outside of the hobby and a few display systems, corals are cultivated bare. Nothing but a container of water, circulation, and a skimmer to remove the plastisizers from the plastic in the system.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=45254

nyfireman3097 · #7 04/08/2005, 05:47 PM

u will b fine the sps's will do fne also i have a frag/grow out tank for 2 years nuttin but 1 fish n lights skimmer tunze in it

Nick

Fishtale7 · #8 04/08/2005, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by maldivian_chicken
I'm assuming that I won't be feeding the corals at all so I hope
not having a biological filter can work if I keep a reasonable
water change schedule.

The fish will be a different problem. I'll need some form of
biological filter. Hard to put a HOB filter in a trash can though...

thanks

I would not worry about it. Just do water changes a little more frequent than you would normally.

davejnz · #9 04/08/2005, 11:22 PM

definately listen to these guys.When i removed all of my LR from my old tank,I place the corals on a frag rack.My cheap berlin skimmer was acting up and i slacked on waterchanges/husbandry and 90% of my SPS browned out.They were there for 2.5 months while the rock cooked.Fortunately,when they were placed in there new 40gal BB tank with a ER skimmer,most of the color has returned and every coral survived the ordeal.

SeanT · #10 04/08/2005, 11:34 PM

My tank ran for almost 6 months with no LR, sand or anything.
Just corals on PVC racks while my rock cooked.
A few of the larger colonies had smaller bits of rock still attached to their bases.
But nothing of any significance.

They all did great AND I kept my fish in there.

OUinLA · #11 04/09/2005, 12:39 AM

rock only gets in the way. you'll be fine.

maldivian_chicken · #12 04/10/2005, 01:06 AM

Thanks for all the replies, I feel more comfortable doing it.

One more question: why do we normallly advise people not
to keep SPS until their tank has been set up for 6 months to a year?
I'll be putting my SPS (from a few weeks old to about 7 years) into
a new set up.

thanks,
/tom

Bomber · #13 04/10/2005, 07:39 AM

Tom, that's mostly because people buy rock "with all that life on it" and all that life takes a while to die off, release ammonia, and get stable when you put it in your tank.
If you "cook"/age your rock ahead of time, you can use it immediately.
Also, if you are using substrate (deep or shallow), it takes a while for the layers to stratify and stabilize too. Especially if your rocks are producing a lot of waste.