Ive done it with reverse sump lighting, I didnt use a skimmer, I didnt do any water changes except for fresh water top up and I only added salt when the salinity dropped over a 4-6 month period(about a cup or 2), it was on a 77 gallon tank with 160W of NO lighting, sump had mineral mud, and calurpea, and liverock, tank had 90 lbs of liverock, a couple dozen corals of all different varities, 1 regal, 2 bangii cardinals, 1 colored bubbletip anemone, 120 or so cleaners of various varities, 2 goldstripe maroons, and a school of chromis. everything did very well, not the best for sps, but it worked great, I also added salifert all in one and iodine ocasianally. I never changed the bulbs and am infact still using them on a different tank, the bulbs were used for 4 years on that reef, I only took it down because I moved, it cost me about $150 a year to maintain it, I used tap water with conditioner.

This tank was setup to see how basically a tank could be maintained, it always looked beautiful.... I dont recommend anyone do this, but it did work in my situation very well