Tank without Skimmer

[Farrmanchu]

Soft Corals like a Skimmerless system.

[Squiddy]

Have a look at Andreas' 72G skimmerless reef on http://www.reefvideos.com/. He has no skimmer and his tank is very healthy.

[Saltysteve]

I'm willing to bet that 80% or more of us are running less than adequate skimmers to begin with

Removing the skimmer from most of our systems due to above would more than likely account for less than 10% difference in what you're seeing now!

[Beverly]

I've run tanks as small as 2.5g and as large as our current BB 120g skimmerless. As long as the fish load is low, you don't over feed, keep non-invasive macroalgae to consume nutrients, and you do weekly maintenance all should be well. Have been running our skimmerless BB 120g for well over a year with no nitrate.

Also, as with any reef, make sure you keep an eye on alkalinity, calcium and magnesium levels to help your corals grow.

[danny zubot]

If you want to keep a bunch of SPS I don't think going skimmerless is a good idea. Softies and LPS won't mind though. I just picked up a bunch of corals from my friends virtually skimmerless system, and his softies were amazing, even though the rest of the tank was covered with bubble algae.

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by danny zubot

If you want to keep a bunch of SPS I don't think going skimmerless is a good idea.

I have sps in my skimmerless BB 120g and they are growing well.

[Parker]

I run my 30 skimmerless 75% of the time. ( Not because I want to, my CSS throws a ton of microbubble into the tank) and have had zero problems so far (knocks on wood)

[danny zubot]

Originally Posted by Beverly

I have sps in my skimmerless BB 120g and they are growing well.

Is it a good idea though? To me it's not because I don't have enough time to do weekly water changes.