Others running tanks without skimmers???

[kenargo]

About a year ago I switched from a Jaubert/Plenum with a ETS skimmer which I had setup for nearly 20 years to a larger, 180g tank, refugium (45 g) and no skimmer.

Over the year I have had, what I consider a very healthy tank; lost 1 fish which was 8 years old (and may have just been old) but other than that all is well. SPS is growing at an increased rate from before (1" or more per month) as well as my softies (e.g. 5 cuttings of toadstools have increased 8-9 fold and other doing equally well).

Now to my question. I am running carbon, as a just in-case and to keep bad stuff out of the water column (clam likes this). I am also running a CO2 and KALK reactors and I have no water yellowing to date. I also perform periodic 25 G water changes about every 1-2 months).

However, what else should expect or watch out for? Since I have only been running skimmerless for about a year I am especially interested from persons who have been running skimmerless for a longer time to hear their practices and experiences.

Thanks,
Ken

[str8clownr]

i run skimmerless but do have a fuge, i cant complain at all,
all my corals look phenomenal and my caluerpa soaks up all nitrates, so my water quality always seems to be on point.

i do have a skimmer that i would like to set up, but cant figure out the plumbing since my sump has no space.

i have been skimmerless for two years and gone through a tank move, i have lost a fish here and there, but that i believe is from other pests and fish.

i also run carbon 24/7

[kenargo]

Sounds like we have very simular setups; curious, is there a reason you are looking to add a skimmer?

[stevedola]

interested in seeing a few pictures of the skimmerless tanks.

[kenargo]

I put some tank picture on a (VERY BOORING) webpage here:

http://mysite.verizon.net/resoixy5/mysite/id11.html

I don't have a lot of space but I will keep them up as long as I can.

[str8clownr]

to answer your question.

I have it laying around and want to set it up, ive seen what kind of gunk skimmers pull and feel if i can take that out, my tank might thrive even better,
but thats not to say it doesnt thrive, because it hasnt looked this phenomenal in a very long time, i attribute that to my macro-mix (grape caleurpa, red and green, cheatomorpha, and some halimeda) my fuge also has a 5" sand bed that has never been disturbed. I dont have any kind of clean up crew in the fuge, except for some bristle worms that made their own way into it.

Ill take some pictures soon but have none as of now.

[drudude]

Str8clowrn,
Why dont you want your dsb fuge distubed with clean up crew?

Im about to set up a skimmless tank and am lookin for as much info as possible.
Thanks

[str8clownr]

well its not that i DONT want it disturbed, its that to this day, it hasnt been disturbed and ive had such great results i dont see why i should "fix" it.

[joe_shmo]

I have a nano that I'm running skimmerless. I have a couple SPS species which seem to be doing great and a couple clams as well as an anemone and all seem to be doing wonderfully. I am a little paranoid however and do water changes every three days because I find it necessary to maintain the water quality I have without skimming.

[joe_shmo]

Oh, here's a pic of my skimmerless nano

[boggs32]

I have a tank without a protien skimmer. My nitrates are a little high right now but there's also not a lot of corals in the tank. It's a seahorse tank so the skimmer is optional but I'm thinking about getting one anyway even though the tank has been set up for over a year without a skimmer and did just fine. I bought the entire set up about a month ago.

kenargo- what is the long skinny coral called in the last picture on your page? http://mysite.verizon.net/resoixy5/mysite/id11.html

Anyone?

[MeuserReef]

I run without a skimmer (havent gotten around to building mine yet). I always seem to have higher-than-normal nitrates but nothing seems to mind. I do run carbon and GFO to help.

Oh, and bi-weekly 30% water changes help quite a bit.

[sunny1977]

i do run skimmer less system for 2 years but i have mud system and fug with RDSB i also run carbon and rowa phos in FR my phos and nitrate reading is 0 mostly lps just started to add sps frags and brown out sps from fellow refers seems colors are getting great in this system

[boggs32]

Originally posted by boggs32
kenargo- what is the long skinny coral called in the last picture on your page? http://mysite.verizon.net/resoixy5/mysite/id11.html

Anyone?

I've narrowed it down to a gorgonian, but I'm not sure what type it is.... is it a purple ribbon? Or something else? I'm asking because I have a similar one in my tank but it doesn't have all of the purple on it that a purple ribbon has.

[fali]

My tank has no skimmer. I had one but it was causing too much air bubbles in my tank. I have chaeto and mangroves but i still have phosphates and nitrates. I use chemi-pure for carbon. I use tap water too. Had an RO unit but a pain to get water from. Only draw back is the slime agae. Other than that all my corals are doing good. I even got sps that maintained their colors. I don't have and phosphate absorbers. I need one. Any suggestions?

[MeuserReef]

Originally posted by fali
I use tap water too.

Ouch... Personally, the only algae that I consider acceptable in my tank is coralline algae

I would re-hab the RO If I were you, even if it is a headache. I cant imagine the TDS of tap water in Queens.

You might want to look into the GFO type phosphate removing media that is run in an up-flow type of reactor.

[kenargo]

kenargo- what is the long skinny coral called in the last picture on your page? http://mysite.verizon.net/resoixy5/mysite/id11.html

Yes. it is a Purple Ribbon Gorgonia.