refugium project, equipment?

well i am doing a a science experiment for school on what bulb promotes more cheato growth. my question is would i have to get a fish for this tank if i am just keeping things like mangroves and cheato and caulerpa and such to keep the tank cycled? i just thought it would be cool to have a tank with just redugium algeas and mangroves. i figured if i am not keeping any corals or anything i could just go without a fish.

 

No you do not have to keep a fish in this tank unless you want to. It will be fine without it.

 

+1

It is not necessary, but if you do decide to put a fish in there so you don't get bored, blue damsels are nice to look at and damsels in general are one of the toughest marine fishes in the hobbyists aquariums.

 

I think you will need to have some way to add a source of nitrates to keep the macro growing. It may work without one but I think you may get better results with a fish. You could just add a measured amount of food once a week and just let it decompose but I think a fish would be more interesting though...

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If you need the nutrients for your chaeto/mangroves/etc. , you can dose a couple mL of Ammonia each day or perform a routinely schedule. The ammonia needs to be pure ammonia with water. This can be purchased at your HD, Lowes, or AceHardware. Make sure the ingredients does not say "perfumes" as these are not fish-safe. To check if its pure ammonia, shake the bottle. if foam builds up, then the bottle has perfumes.

 

I think I would rather just add a measured amount of food. Cheato feeds on phosphates too doesn't it?

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Yes, PO4 and NO3 are used by chateo and mangroves. I like the fish idea for a source of nutrients myself. Just my .02

 

Yes you are probably going to need some nutrients for the plant life. So I agree with the above statement.

I like the idea of just plants, thought about doing this a couple times myself. I love mangroves;D