Protein Skimmer .. To be or not to be ??
 

Any thoughts on not using a protein skimmer, just a canister filter with proper media.

I'm currently looking at a fluvol corner setup, problem being that the stand doesnt allow for a sump ( as most corner stands dont ), and I'm completely opposed to a hang on skimmer. So I'm debating a fluvol filter with ammonia media, carbon, Phosphate Remover ,Nitrate Remover and of course bio balls.

Any thoughts ? suggestions ....

What size of a tank are we talking about (assuming you are looking at a new setup) and how heavy is the bioload?

If you can keep your bioload low and do regular, large water changes there is no reason to have a skimmer. Good flow will become even more important to keep oxygen levels up and to expel co2.

I wouldn't use the bioballs though unless you have no live rock either

tank is 60 gal and will house, about 60 pounds live rock, same for sand, mostly corals but will have 4 sea horse, and possibly some smaller fish in the future.

I tried it...lasted about a month. The tank looked great and corals actually had better color then now but I hated the maintenance and it was only a month! I can't imagine a long term skimmerless tank personally. Just too much work. Its easy in the beginning but over time once the "new and exciting" part wears off, I think it gets harder to keeping doing water changes. I only had two clowns most of that time in the tank and I still had to do water changes every two weeks to keep the nitrates at 0. It was a 68G, so about the same size as your thinking.

I think if you don't mind a lot of extra water changes (which will cost more than a skimmer eventually) then its a cool way to do a tank but if not, don't bother. Find a tank you can fit a sump.

Definitely do-able. Dont use bio balls. Use live rock rubble instead. No nitrate sponge. Put a good phosphate remover (rowa or GFO) in a media bag. You can also run carbon this way if you so desire. A sump doesnt have to be huge or fancy. I can be as basic as a small tank big enough to hold a return pump. A custom sized sump designed to fit the inside of the cabinet could be commissioned from a LFS for a couple hundred bucks.

What kind of tank are you setting up? Take bioballs and saltwater, and remove the combination from your head! :p Bioballs are not suitable for reef tanks. In fact, I personally don't think bioballs have a place in any saltwater tank. Maybe if you are setting up a fish only, but even then bioballs are just a nitrate factory. You should not need ammonia media, and nitrate media is only needed in overstocked fish only tanks. It sounds like you're a freshwater import by the medias you've listed? If so, there is a lot of differences in the filtration of freshwater tanks versus saltwater tanks, and a lot of new knowledge in the last 10 years that's for sure! As far as the skimmer goes, I would say that I would only suggest skimmerless to someone who has successfully kept a saltwater aquarium before, and by that I mean learned how to keep a tank "algae free". A skimmer helps HUGELY in this factor, and unless you can keep your tank algae free with a skimmer you have no hope in heck of doing it without one. You can make yourself a nice little algae mess.

Bioballs are great in proper FO systems. If you ever want many, many large fish and 0 nitrates, one of the best ways to go is bio balls and a denitrator IME. Bio balls have much better surface area than LR in many cases and are easier to keep clean in a FO tank. They allow a nice open display for large predators and enough surface area for large populations of bacteria to keep up with many large fish. A denitrator will then keep nitrates at 0. If I were to ever set up a shark and ray tank, this is the way I would go for sure. All sand with a few pieces of LR for looks but a sump full of bioballs. Bioballs need a decent amount of flow through them though to keep them "clean".

Sorry off topic...

Ya, that's pretty much what I said..."maybe in a fish only". They only work well with a good denitrator, and by that I don't mean nitrate media in a filter box, I mean a sulfur denitrator with reactor. I think it was Precision Marine that (used to?) put out a good one.

But ya, how about that skimmer? :D

Thanks for all the input ... think I will move away from the fluval corner tank and find a different one, that I can fit a sump under the stand ...

Thanks again PPL