Contemplating a Skimmerless Tank

Carrera75 · #1 09-27-2007, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fragalot

I saw lots of tanks run without skimmer But honestly i wouldnt run a tank without skimmer.
IMO
Without skimmer: Less feeding=slow growth, less live stock, more live rock, sandbed and macroalgea, more water changes, Have to keep hardy corals. This list can go all day
Worth it? I dont think so.

well buddy, my tank has been running for a year skimerless. My tank has never had any algae problems. All I have in the tank is 1 Koralia powerhead and heater, yes ...that's all I have. I do biweekly water changes and so far everything has been doing very very well.

There are some guys that have very expensive hig-tech equipment and they still have algae problems. Am not saying that what I do will work for everyone but why change what I have been so far when my tank looks healtier and nicer than some other tanks that have very expensive skimmer, phosban reactor, calcium reactor and the list goes on.

Cheers

fragalot · #2 09-27-2007, 06:46 PM

Well Buddy,
All your corals can handle almost all water parameters. So it doesnt matter what you have or not have they will survive. Once you have high demand coral in your tank you will understand why you need those " High-tech " products.
I saw a tank 55g with 10 big fishes in it and lots of corals (hardy ones) with no skimmer, no fuge etc.. They are "surviving" with no algea, clear water, good parameters. But question is how long it will go like that?

But its your choice how you run your tank, what you give to animals under your responsibility. I just told my opinion. Dont take it too hard.

I didnt say change it. If you are happy, keep it same way. I wont gain anything if i suggest you a skimmer or not the suggest.

Carrera75 · #3 09-27-2007, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fragalot

Well Buddy,
All your corals can handle almost all water parameters. So it doesnt matter what you have or not have they will survive. Once you have high demand coral in your tank you will understand why you need those " High-tech " products.
I saw a tank 55g with 10 big fishes in it and lots of corals (hardy ones) with no skimmer, no fuge etc.. They are "surviving" with no algea, clear water, good parameters. But question is how long it will go like that?

But its your choice how you run your tank, what you give to animals under your responsibility. I just told my opinion. Dont take it too hard.

I didnt say change it. If you are happy, keep it same way. I wont gain anything if i suggest you a skimmer or not the suggest.

Hi there

Am not upset at all, I just wanted to say that this has been working for me so far and I don't see the need to change what I do. All my corals have grown but am not going to deny that thier growth is slow and that's probably because I feed very little.

There are some reefers that use very high-tech equipment and they still run into problems. My tank has been algae free since day 1 and can't say that for some of the tanks with hig-tech equipment I have seen here on Canreef. I am aware that you didn't suggest me to change the way I run my tank. All am saying is that different things work for different people.

You mentioned that you saw a 55 gallon with 10 big fish and no skimmer. My tank only has 6 fish and they all are fairly small. Am not interested in having big fish or the very delicate and demanding SPS Corals, personally I think they are ugly but again that's my opinion.

Cheers

fragalot · #4 09-27-2007, 07:22 PM

Hi,

Can tank run without a skimmer? Of course. With well knowladge, lightly loaded, lightly feeding, lots of biological filtration and keep close eye on your tank. It can be done very well. But if tanks biological filtration overloaded it will fail then your tank will start having problems. This point skimmer starts to work.
If big fish dies in your tank without your knowladge it will cause lots of problems. Skimmer helps to clear that mess up before it damages more.

So it has positive points

But again its my opinion

Burc

Carrera75 · #5 09-27-2007, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fragalot

Hi,

Can tank run without a skimmer? Of course. With well knowladge, lightly loaded, lightly feeding, lots of biological filtration and keep close eye on your tank. It can be done very well. But if tanks biological filtration overloaded it will fail then your tank will start having problems. This point skimmer starts to work.
If big fish dies in your tank without your knowladge it will cause lots of problems. Skimmer helps to clear that mess up before it damages more.

So it has positive points

But again its my opinion

Burc

Hi Burc

I totally agree with you!

Having a nice skimmer is nice for sure and at some point I thought about getting one. But since my tank has been doing well I decided not to get a skimmer. I think I can get away with running my tank skimerless because am always on top of everything,,,water changes, light feeding and only have small fish.

My tank is lightly loaded, feed very little and do bi-weekly water changes. I also keep a very close eye on my tank and am If i notice that a problem starts I try to fix it right away. If something dies in my tank the snails and crabs take care of it but I have been lucky having no casualties in a long long time. I only lost 2 Clown fish when I first set up my tank and I think they died because they were sick.

By the way, I want to say that you have some amazing looking corals and I might buy some nice Ricordeas from you in the near future.

Cheers
Daniel

albert_dao · #6 09-27-2007, 07:55 PM

My main contention with this whole arguement is that newbies will read into trends like this and disregard the value of having a skimmer.

Delphinus · #7 09-27-2007, 09:19 PM

I'm with Albert on this one.

If a system works for you then it works for you.

That's good, but to then point at a system that might be having an issue and start blaming the "high tech equipment" is a bit of a flaw in logic. You don't know what the problem is in that case. Removing the skimmer from a tank like that isn't going to solve anything.

The bottom line, a good skimmer does add value to a system. I, for one, could not keep some of the fish that I have, and also have a tank with a balanced nutrient load, without the skimmer that I do have. It works for me. I'm not saying run out and buy a skimmer because everyone else has one, because that's the wrong reasoning. The reasoning should be about understanding the purpose of a piece of equipment, and running it to acheive a specific goal. If your goal is being acheived without it, then by all means you don't need it. But that may not work for everyone. So the risk is that people may drawn incomplete or incorrect conclusions.

fragalot · #8 09-27-2007, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yvr75

By the way, I want to say that you have some amazing looking corals and I might buy some nice Ricordeas from you in the near future.

Cheers
Daniel

Thank you Daniel. Having a skimmer is a must for my opinion.

Der_Iron_Chef · #9 09-27-2007, 10:14 PM

I don't think it's a MUST. For example: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=893433

It just depends on what you want to keep.

fragalot · #10 09-28-2007, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fragalot

Hi,

Can tank run without a skimmer? Of course. With well knowladge, lightly loaded, lightly feeding, lots of biological filtration and keep close eye on your tank. It can be done very well.

But if we keep this topic under like " Skimmerless is better " Its not going to help new hobbiest with very limited knowladge.
So please dont forget what we are talking about. Skimmer covers alots of new hobbiest mistakes.