spankey Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 I have been testing my new 12 gallon aquapod going on two months now.. I have 3 small fish in the tank and its packed with corals... Here is a shot of the tank itself... Any rate. I do weekly 2 gallon water changes and I feed every other day. Frozen mix and flake from time to time. I do not feed lightly at best. Any rate... I have been testing this pod faithfully and it shows perfect water parameters.. What I mean is no Nitrates,Phosphates and such... I do NOT run any type of skimmer on this tank, just water changes... I run a skimmer on my other tank, which is a 46 gallon bowfront reeftank. It's mixed with SPS and LPS.. Mostly small acro frags and digi frags in the line of sps... After seeing how well the smaller tank does without the skimmer? I am debating testing the larger tank without one to see how it fairs? What my real question is, what good things do skimmers pull out of our tanks? Anyone else try this and what were your results? Thanks for replying fairly and not to bash me. I was just curious about this? Spankey:) Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 I saw an article on this in ReefKeeper Magazine. The article was written after a pseudo-scientific study was done. The author of the article found that there was virtually no "beneficial" things removed. Trace elements, salt, and essential macronutrients stayed in the water and the crud got skimmed. If I can find the link I'll post it. Link to comment
pet_doc Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 I have no clue....sweet tank though! Link to comment
jeremai Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 I am debating testing the larger tank without one to see how it fares? That's flawed logic (and a minor grammatical slip that I edited, sorry ). If it ain't broke... I believe your smaller tank, although it is doing 'fine' now, would benefit from a skimmer, although not to the same extent as the larger tank - something about the live rock as a filter, and the surface area to water volume ratio... like Fosi, if I track down the article, you'll be the first to know Link to comment
reffer9391 Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 If you have a skimmer run it but in a 12g a 2g water change every other day that 100 percent in 6 days not 30 percent a month your fine Link to comment
audiocontrol Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 I believe it...protiens and lipids are virtually the only thing which gets attracted to the bubbles. The amount of minerals a skimmer pulls, if any, is so miniscule that the average sucessful reefer would never notice a detectable drop and neither would the corals. Corals themselves will pull and utilize more mineral content than a skimmer ever could (assuming the probability of someone with an oversized downdraft skimmer on a 10gallon tank with 1 soft coral has been omitted). I think the issue would only become a problem if you NEVER do waterchanges. Link to comment
spankey Posted March 30, 2006 Author Share Posted March 30, 2006 Thanks for the replies guys. Good thoughts... I would love to read that article from the magazine.... If you can post it do so.. I can't run a skimmer on the aquapod? Unless I rip the lid off... ????? Link to comment
Smada77 Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 If you have a skimmer run it but in a 12g a 2g water change every other day that 100 percent in 6 days not 30 percent a month your fine I do weekly 2 gallon water changes and I feed every other day. I misread it the first time, too. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 I found the article: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/...ature/index.php Link to comment
CZ3 Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Just a fast note: You can do without a skimmer if you have a DSB and live rock. The DSB is critical to running with no skimmer. 4" is the depth that the sand starts to function effectively. Link to comment
minireefkeeper26 Posted April 28, 2006 Share Posted April 28, 2006 I believe it...protiens and lipids are virtually the only thing which gets attracted to the bubbles. The amount of minerals a skimmer pulls, if any, is so miniscule that the average sucessful reefer would never notice a detectable drop and neither would the corals. Corals themselves will pull and utilize more mineral content than a skimmer ever could (assuming the probability of someone with an oversized downdraft skimmer on a 10gallon tank with 1 soft coral has been omitted). I think the issue would only become a problem if you NEVER do waterchanges. I have hydnophora, it doesn't look like that, what's your secret. I just put a metal halide on the tank hoping it gets brighter. Yours looks excellent! Link to comment
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