If you mean insects no you don't need them. But you still must have 'good' bacteria cultures. The system must be balanced or you will be cleaning it out completely every month. As it takes time to establish plants this defeats the whole set up. It is very similar to closed system tanks where the tank grows food for the fish it holds. The fish then feed the plants and feeding externally is not very common.

Properly set up will run with out anything more than plant care (pruning and rare fertilizing) and removing solid wastes with occasional stirring the soil. Friends have a huge royal enclosure that has not had a substrate change in years it smells like outside fresh plant and very slightly earthy. There should never be any smell that is unpleasant.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk