IDK. When I began, I had a FOWLR temporarily while I was gathering the money for some LED lights that would support corals. With the FOWLR, I had some random Fluorescent light fixture with bulbs that came with it that I had in the garage... For the three months, it grew nothing. The day after I installed my LED Lights, algae exploded all over my tank. So, Maybe you can do it with bad lights or no lights.... But. That means no reef tank