Skimmerless?

[Subsea]

Max,

What kind of lights do you now have on your 29G AIO? I have maintained softies, mushrooms and macro with as little as 2W per gallon. When considering light, you should have already determined what your life stock will include. If you go with low light theme tank, you will illuminate a lot of cost and headache.

Good fortune on your venture.

Patrick

[tennis20]

Subsea, I don't have a 29 AIO. I used to have a 6g AIO but lost it in hurricane sandy. But if I were to get a 29 gallon(30x18x12) it would have the maxspect razor 160 watt

[NicoS]

No skimmer, no carbon, no reactors, water changes 10% bi-monthly, twenty nine gallon tank. I recommend letting a tank become established before jumping right into sps colonies.

 

[Etphi]

Very red anemones in bottom right. It is huge. What kind of lights over it?

Thanks! there's actually two anemones. One is a rbta and the other is a rainbow. It's kind of hard to tell from the picture that it's a rainbow. The lighting is actually reefkoi's evo150. I absolutely love reefkoi leds. I've used them in two different tanks and they work great. Highly recommend them.

[Seiryoku]

Enjoy the hobby, it does not have to be expensive.

Patrick

 

Best quote ever.

[Hart24601]

While skimmers have been considered a "must have" for decades now with the latest, largest, and most powerful unit being the best, I prefer to not use them unless I have a lot of fish in the system. In the last few years many nano tanks have had amazing SPS and have challanged the thought that it was impossible to have SPS and not skim.

 

While it is a great export sytems and oxygenates the system, it does decrease microbial populations and diversity:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/3/aafeature

It also removes phytoplankton and pods.

 

I don't have one in my 14 cube and don't see why I would ever add one. I have SPS and feed often, but I do run carbon and gfo.

[xerophyte_nyc]

I think we used to believe that skimmers were necessary for SPS because it helped mimic low nutrient levels found in nature. What we have learned is that a low nutrient level in our tanks is not needed for SPS to thrive. "Dirty" is OK for SPS, with the exception of phosphates which at high levels inhibit calcification, but this too does not mean you can't keep SPS in a high nutrient system, it just means that those SPS maybe won't grow as fast as their genetic ability.

 

I use a skimmer to help control levels of organic phosphates to help keep algae under control. My last tank had a few SPS, never ran a skimmer, and they seemed healthy enough.

 

As for the skimmer removing bacteria, plankton and pods which are known food sources...My skimmer does not foam up while food is in the tank, so I believe that it does not impair the ability of the inhabitants to eat. It's also debatable whether the plankton being skimmed is growing in the skimmate, or if it consists of plankton from the tank water.

 

Good husbandry goes a very long way if one wishes to use less equipment.

[The Salt]

Hey There!

Just my two cents here… I started with a 29 gallon and all I had was a wet/dry sump and carbon in a net sack. I did a 5-gallon water change weekly and chems. I had soft corals and never had one problem with it. Below is a 55-gallon I ran for 4 years without a skimmer, just a DIY sump, carbon along with weekly water changes and chems. It really depends on how many fish you have and what types of coral. I would suggest you get your feet wet first. Save your money and buy a nice skimmer if you do, you get what you pay for with that purchase. Always do your homework on purchases. LFS will sell you two of everything, even the good ones.

Best Wishes!

 

[Subsea]

Hey There!

 

Just my two cents here… I started with a 29 gallon and all I had was a wet/dry sump and carbon in a net sack. I did a 5-gallon water change weekly and chems. I had soft corals and never had one problem with it. Below is a 55-gallon I ran for 4 years without a skimmer, just a DIY sump, carbon along with weekly water changes and chems. It really depends on how many fish you have and what types of coral. I would suggest you get your feet wet first. Save your money and buy a nice skimmer if you do, you get what you pay for with that purchase. Always do your homework on purchases. LFS will sell you two of everything, even the good ones.

 

Best Wishes!

 

 

 

 

Very nice tank. The colors in your tank are so vivid. That Flame Angel is gorgeous. I see so many pictures of reef tanks that are soo blue, it is very unnatural looking to me. What lights are you using to get this effect.

Patrick

[The Salt]

Thank you Patrick! I was using 4 PC (Power Compacts) retro fits. Two actinic and two daylight. I like more of a natural look too but I know some corals look 100% better with more of a blue tint to the lighting. I'll be uing T5 VHO on the next setup, hopefully I can recreate this feel.

 

 

Very nice tank. The colors in your tank are so vivid. That Flame Angel is gorgeous. I see so many pictures of reef tanks that are soo blue, it is very unnatural looking to me. What lights are you using to get this effect. Patrick

[rkum19]

I had skimmers on both my 29 biocube and 16 nuvo. I only noticed it skimming when I didn't change the water in for about 3 weeks and also when I feed alot. IMO, if you plan on doing weekly or bi-weekly water changes, then I wouldn't get one. I would simply save my money and try it first with out a skimmer and later get one if your noting getting good results. But I would definitely recommend getting an RO/DI and an ATO.

[GrandLotus]

I have a skimmer and ill tell you what:

 

Take a look at what that skimmer pulls out weekly and imagine that your only getting 10% of that everyweek out of your tank if you do a 10% change weekly.

 

Just buy a skimmer and you will be happier that you did.

[NicoS]

I have a skimmer and ill tell you what:

 

Take a look at what that skimmer pulls out weekly and imagine that your only getting 10% of that everyweek out of your tank if you do a 10% change weekly.

 

Just buy a skimmer and you will be happier that you did.

 

Looking at how your corals are doing is more important than how much your skimmer is pulling out.

 

More skim mate production does not correlate nor reflect a healthy system or healthy corals.

 

You sir have been lead astray by bells and whistles.

[GrandLotus]

Water quality all the way, I dont disagree with you.

Keeping water is #1 and #2 is stability.

 

Skimmers work and I see it working via collection cup.

[Subsea]

Water quality all the way, I dont disagree with you.

Keeping water is #1 and #2 is stability.

 

Skimmers work and I see it working via collection cup.

The nutrients that your skimmer pulled out of the water would have gone to growing coral and fish biomass. Of course skimmers work.

So does skimmer less.

Patrick

[GrandLotus]

Never said skimmerless dosent work.

I bet you have great water quality. I just dont want a display filled with macro.

[Subsea]

I actually don't test.

 

I feed heavily and control with nitrates. I use a Pinpoint Monitor to measure nitrates. This 55G lagoon is running 53 ppm of nitrate nitrate.

[NicoS]

Water quality all the way, I dont disagree with you.

Keeping water is #1 and #2 is stability.

 

Skimmers work and I see it working via collection cup.

 

Oh I know.

 

It's just we are told by the fish stores, and so called experts of 5 years in the hobby, that it's an absolute must, essential to have this and that.

 

What you really need to have for a healthy fish tank is a biological filter, flow and intense lighting with appropriate water chemistry. All the rest is just icing on the cake for the equipment geeks and money for the industry.

 

Skimmers are excellent pieces of equipment when you choose the correct/quality one for your tank.Are they essential to keep SPS successfully nope.

[GrandLotus]

Agreed.

 

I keep stable ocean water paramaters in a tank.....their just so happenes to have a thriving reef their also! What a coincidence.

 

Doing a weekly water change does help and I enjoy a skimmer too. Do you happen to have a skimmer, NicoS?

[Nano sapiens]

Yes, skimmerless. Tiny skimmers for small tanks are not much use and regular detritus removal along with regular WCs removes the waste at it's source anyway.

 

I'd possibly consider a skimmer on a larger system, but don't consider one a necessity to have a thriving hard coral tank.

[NicoS]

Agreed.

 

I keep stable ocean water paramaters in a tank.....their just so happenes to have a thriving reef their also! What a coincidence.

 

Doing a weekly water change does help and I enjoy a skimmer too. Do you happen to have a skimmer, NicoS?

 

No I have not had a skimmer going on 3 years now.

 

After having large ones, small ones, good one and crappy ones, now without one there is no significant difference.

 

BUT I keep a light bioload and feed sparingly.

 

Considering getting another in the near future but only because I am thinking of the Zeo nano products or dosing a carbon.

 

My coral coloration is good probably because of available nutrients.

 

 

I am not anti skimmer, I just want people to know they can have a tank without spending a small fortune.

[xerophyte_nyc]

It is better to feed coral directly, than to have their nutrition reliant on waste products from other tank life. When you feed the tank, which is the primary food source, whatever is not captured by the tank animals becomes detritus. Yes, this secondary food, or detritus, is technically "coral food" for lack of a better term, but it is also in excess because of our small systems. Here is where a skimmer helps. I would rather feed more primary food and skim more, than feed less and not use a skimmer.

 

Both methods clearly work, and you can also screw up your tank whether or not you have a skimmer, so it is not an essential piece of equipment as others have noted. It's just another tool.

[tennis20]

Wow! I have a lot of considering to do. Thank you all again for your thoughts and comments!

[Neto]

no skimmer for over a year..

 

[Chadf]

It is better to feed coral directly, than to have their nutrition reliant on waste products from other tank life. When you feed the tank, which is the primary food source, whatever is not captured by the tank animals becomes detritus. Yes, this secondary food, or detritus, is technically "coral food" for lack of a better term, but it is also in excess because of our small systems. Here is where a skimmer helps. I would rather feed more primary food and skim more, than feed less and not use a skimmer.

 

Both methods clearly work, and you can also screw up your tank whether or not you have a skimmer, so it is not an essential piece of equipment as others have noted. It's just another tool.

 

Agree. I feed filter foods heavily and let the skimmer remove it.