No Mechanical Filtration

[igotreefermadness]

I will throw in my .02 and say that I ran my tank without a skimmer for a year doing a 33% waterchange every week and minimal feedings. I added a skimmer and saw immediate increase in sps color, growth, and polyp extension, a huge decrease in algae growth, and I'm now doing a 25% waterchange bimonthly.

 

I think it's critical that we have continual nutrient export, versus small daily W/C's or a large weekly. On top of that, if you plan on supplementing the diet of your animals to any degree that they are getting it in the wild, its going to put a huge load on your system. A natural reef is truly a nutrient desert, but it's also abundant in live foods, and that's what is setting us apart from a natural reef environment, we are adding food supplements that increase nitrates/nitrites/ammonia, so we need to acommodate for it.

[Wizzy]

I will throw in my .02 and say that I ran my tank without a skimmer for a year doing a 33% waterchange every week and minimal feedings. I added a skimmer and saw immediate increase in sps color, growth, and polyp extension, a huge decrease in algae growth, and I'm now doing a 25% waterchange bimonthly.

 

I think it's critical that we have continual nutrient export, versus small daily W/C's or a large weekly. On top of that, if you plan on supplementing the diet of your animals to any degree that they are getting it in the wild, its going to put a huge load on your system. A natural reef is truly a nutrient desert, but it's also abundant in live foods, and that's what is setting us apart from a natural reef environment, we are adding food supplements that increase nitrates/nitrites/ammonia, so we need to acommodate for it.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

 

I'm planning on starting without a skimmer and adding one if I think the system would benefit because of it.