Filter or no Filter

[WillyWonka]

As most of you know i have an eclipse 12 thats been established since june. So far everything is going really well, but i've hear of a lot of people yanking out the filter in the back all together. i've pulled the bio wheel out and i'm wondering if this is a good idea. i'd hate to mess everything up right now but i'd love to have the extra light i could pop in there. i dont have a skimmer and would do water changes every week. Will it make my tanks bio load go up or will not having any mechanical filtration be ok on my tank considering all the items i have below?:

 

ps. would a protein skimmer help if no filtration was present?

[Joxer the Mighty]

My skimmerless 12 gal Eclipse has been set up for two years now. Nitrates always read 10ppm, I couldn't bring them down no matter what. I finally tossed the biowheel a few weeks ago and guess what, Nitrates are now zero! Dump the biowheel.

[MKramer]

Most of us here are probably running filterless. I have two powerheads in my 10gal, and that's it. My levels are always 0/0/0. If I skip a water change one week, my nitrates creep up a little, btu they still stay under 10ppm.

[Christopher Marks]

Removing the bio wheel was a good idea. And, removing the rest of the filter system really won't effect anything, other than removing a small amount of water flow. I say remove it. Just make sure you have a powerhead that moves the surface

[WillyWonka]

i've already pulled the bio wheel out and your right my nitrates have dropped but what about the other filter?

[Joxer the Mighty]

I pulled out the other filter also, but I do run carbon pretty much 24/7. I've only been running carbon for about a month, so far I haven't seen any negative effects because of it. I will put in a little bit of filter floss while I 'baste' the tank. It traps floating debris, but I make sure to remove it right away as to not let another nitrate factory get started.