Contemplating a Skimmerless Tank

[Carrera75]

Originally Posted by Der_Iron_Chef

yvr...nice! I see it's full of LPS and Soft corals, as is mine. My system is 13 months old and I've been skimmerless for two, like I said before. My corals have looked much better since I took the skimmer out.

The only thing I add is Kent Turbo Calcium and Kent Superbuffer dKH. I feed nightly and use RO store bought water.

I'll try to get a pic sometime soon, too

Thanks man, when the pic I posted was taken the corals were not fully open-expanded yet. I am pretty sure that a reef tank without all the high tech expensive equpment can be done as long as water changes are done weekly and the fish are fed very litte among other simple things. A few Canreef members have come over to my apt to pick up corals and they can't believe that my tank only has a heater and 1 Koralia poewr head as equipment. Lately , I have been thinking about using RO water to help get rid of the Diatmos (excess of silcate). Other than the Diatoms, my tank has been algae free. I'll try to take some more pics later of all the corals.

I would really like to see pics of your skimerless tank!

[michika]

I'd love to see a photo too!

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I'm way too nervous, with all these amazing tanks, to post my own FTS! But...I decided to plunk my skimmer back in and see what happened, after about 4 months skimmerless:

1 hour later...


3 hours later...


Wow. Nasty. I think I might leave it in for a while

Or maybe forever.

...and maybe I should clean my wall...hah.

[Carrera75]

Originally Posted by Der_Iron_Chef

I'm way too nervous, with all these amazing tanks, to post my own FTS! But...I decided to plunk my skimmer back in and see what happened, after about 4 months skimmerless:

1 hour later...


3 hours later...


Wow. Nasty. I think I might leave it in for a while

Or maybe forever.

...and maybe I should clean my wall...hah.

Hi there

Well, my tank has been skimerless for a year now. I have had very very few problems with my tank. Never had any algae problems and all my corals-fish are doing very well. Here are some pics that I took yesterday.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I agree, your tank looks awesome!! To be honest, I saw several of my corals decline over a period of 3-4 weeks, and I couldn't pinpoint the reason. I think it was simply too nutrient-rich an environment. In particular, my open brain, frogspawn and torch corals were retracted more than usual. When I skimmed for a day, they were fully open, etc.

[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.

[Carrera75]

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]

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]

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]

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