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Running a 14g All in One with only live rock and sand? Possible?


Hig789

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Well I finally got around to setting my 14 gallon all in one up and I decided to leave the skimmer out, at least for now. It is made just like the bio cubes from what I have e seen except the back doesn't have baffles in it. The skimmer was designed to make 3 separate chambers. But I needs work on the skimmer and get it fine tuned before I use it in there. It makes micro bubbles like crazy so it is staying out for now. I can always add it back in later. So the back is one big open chamber right now with two shells under the overflow that had bio balls in between them when I bought it.

 

But that got me thinking, I only plan on having two fish at the most, a clown of some sort and burrowing goby possibly. The clown is for sure though. I plan on keeping mainly softies(zoo's and shrooms) and possibly a couple LPS. It has about 2.5" of live sand and 10 lbs of live rock. There will probably be more rock added in the near future.

 

Anyone thinking would be possible to keep this thriving with just the biological filtration and 10% weekly water changes? Also this is not my first tank, I've had 3 tanks in the past when I was single but I had to tear my 90g down when we moved and eventually just sold it. This one was the wife's idea so I was more than happy to get another.

 

Thanks for any help in advance. Here's a old pic of the back of the tank with the skimmer in.

 

B4A482EF-E72E-4030-AD22-27B2B4D1C4DD_zps

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Yes. Success depends on how much you feed and how much nutrient export you have. At least put some chaeto in the back and trim that for nutrient export.

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The biggest problem I have always found with my 12g AIO is that waste builds up in the back chamber and will eventually drive up phosphates. I would be sure to give yourself plenty of room to get a vacuum back there to suck up all the detritus every couple of weeks. The water changes will work for now, but once you get a massive amount of Coraline algae and some larger LPS colonies you will need to watch the Alk & Cal closely as you will find that 10% will not be enough to replenish what is being used and will need to start looking at dosing. That will be some time before you have to worry about that though.

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I thought of some cheato but need to find a way to make a temporary chamber to keep the cheato from getting sucked up in the return pump. There's plenty of room for me to get a vaccum in there. Figured I'd just suck the water out of there to do my water changes. Eventually I realize it will need to be dosed I'm using IO and from what you be seen the calcium is on the lower side in the salt so it might be sooner rather than later.

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That is how I run my tanks. The only thing I use is live rock, filter floss, Chemipure Elite, Purigen and carbon. Change 10 to 15% water each week and replace floss twice weekly, and chemical media monthly. The only other thing is to make sure you have good water circulation.

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reefernanoman

That is how I run my tanks. The only thing I use is live rock, filter floss, Chemipure Elite, Purigen and carbon. Change 10 to 15% water each week and replace floss twice weekly, and chemical media monthly. The only other thing is to make sure you have good water circulation.

Same here with my Nanocube 28g. Been doing the exact same thing for years. No skimmer, no dosing.

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Live rock, live sand, no skimming, weekly water changes and a little polyfiber in the overflow (changed twice a week) is all I'm doing. I'm dosing to maintain alkalinity (mostly sps in my nano) and top off with ro/di water. I've always kept nano tanks (since the early 80's) and have always maintained a simple routine. The key is to go slowly and keep parameters stable. If you can make the chaeto work in the back chamber, that would be far better than skimming. If you use a high quality salt mix, you may never have to dose, but that all depends on what animals you choose? Good luck and keep us posted.

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