Contemplating a Skimmerless Tank

[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

[Carrera75]

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]

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]

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.

[Carrera75]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

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.

Never said that the skimmer or hich-tech equipment was to blame for the algae, and have never said that their problems would go away as soon as they got rid of their skimmer or high-tech equipment. What I meant is that nobody should say that a skimmer is a must because my tank and other tanks are the proof that it can be done without a skimmer. Even when a reefer has all the expensive high-tech toys there is no guarantee that his tank will be amazing and beautiful.

If you read my posts well again, I also said that a skimmerless tank has been working for me so far but I also said that it does not mean that it will work for everyone. Different things work for different people.......I have never denied that a skimmer can be very handy to have but I also believe that if one stocks lightly, feed little and religiously does water changes among other things then a skimerless tank is possible.

You are right that for some set ups a skimmer is a must but not for mine and that's why I stated that IT WORKS FOR ME BUT IT MIGHT NOT WORK FOR SOMEBODY ELSE. It all depends on your set up and needs. I remember Seahorsefanatic mentioned a while ago on this site that he ran a skimerless tank for a long time and that most people thought that this skimerless tank is the most beautiful set up he has ever had.

Again, am not trying to mislead people and I apologize if I have done that. But I will firmly support that a skimerless tank can be done with success.
Cheers
Daniel

[fragalot]

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]

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.

[Carrera75]

Originally Posted by Der_Iron_Chef

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.

Thanks for posting that link showing that amazing looking SKIMERLESS tank. I'll have to read this thread wheh I get some time. It seems that this guy has also kept a very beautiful set up without the need of a skimmer.

Cheers
Daniel

[marie]

Here is an interesting thread for those interested in going skimmerless.

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic71360-9-1.aspx

[marie]

A picture of one of the skimmerless tanks from the link I just posted. It's Eric Bornemans tank