Skimmerless System

[Elliott89]

Hi Guys

Im gonna go completly skimmerless now

There shouldn't really be much for a skimmer to do in my tank as it will be fishless
so i know this is kinda experimental but i have been doing some reading and if i take the right precautions skimmerless can work

So im gonna increase the amount of liverock in the tank(this is essential for a skimmerless system?) as this is where all filteration takes place

No food will be added to this tank

It won't be necessary the Inverts will find food off the liverock to eat

All SPS in this tank will be started as frags mainly for the fact that they are hardier
and it will be interesting to watch there growth in this sort of system

Weekly 30% water Changes also essential as this helps remove any excess nutrients

And there will be loads of flow in the tank Stream 6100 and Maxijet 1200

But My Question is

Is there anything else i can do to run a successful skimmerless system?

Thanks

Elliott

[Martyn]

Hi Elliott

First and very important is always have a skimmer connected up not working but there for if it is needed.

On the reef food consists of relatively few things: zooplankton, phytoplankton, dissolved organics, particulate material, and bacteria.

Many tanks are low in zooplankton and phytoplankton.
That means the other things have to make up the lack.
What does your skimmer remove? The rest of the natural food.

The gunge collected by skimmers looks and smells foul.
So does bacteria, fish poo, and coral mucus, three dominant parts of what most sessile filter feeding invertebrates, including corals, use for food. You are skimming out waste material that seems foul to us, but is food to other animals, however disgusting it might be.

Are you skimming out unwanted things too?
Yes Possibly allelelopathic chemicals, excess metals and excess dissolved organics.
Activated carbon. does the same thing but it leaves the food in the water.

Tanks without skimmers have higher amounts of particulates in the water, and this substitutes for plankton. and has higher populations of plankton.

Don't do to many water changes and not so large try 5% water changes as this will remove far less of the natural plankton and foods that are in the water column.

Try to have as much biodiversity as you can If you have a sump try lighting it and have turf algae on the rocks and harvest that regular.

and always keep a close eye on your coral for the first signs of any problem that I expect is a done anyway.

Just a few things for you to think about.

Martyn

[Elliott89]

Fantastic advice there :thumbsup:

Cheers Martyn

Elliott

[Martyn]

NP Elliott I have made a slight change about water changes above.
Martyn

[karen1bernese]

HI
Sorry but i had to tell you my experience!!I have had a fish only system for around 9 years, now have halides so have added many inverts of different sorts.My system has never had a skimmer at all.Thats my opinion.Good luck :rolleyes:

[gio]

Hi Elliott

Before you decide to go skimmerless take a look at this thread. :huh:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/TOTM/Nov04.htm


This thread has been recently shortened but previously there was a lot of information on the bigger the skimmer the better it is for SPS

[Glyn]

Elliot -

After years of skimmers and UV sterilisers, I've had a skimmerless 21-gallon tank for just over a year now. I do use carbon, about 3-4 ounces changed monthly, in an external filter. My hourly flow rate is about 20-33 times the tank volume, depending on the time switching. I do 10% water changes weekly. The corals are only soft ones, and the fish are the usual suspects - regal tang & 3 green chromis.

I have a fair amount of live rock, including some "dead" live rock that has now become colonised. I used about 1-2 snails per gallon from the very outset, didn't add fish for 3 months and now have 2 "Halloween" hermits, which are workaholics. The soft corals are doing well enough for me to begin to to frag them - I've had 3 frags grow on well so far.

The sand bed had Kent Biosediment added before I set it up and is now about 2-4 inches deep. Before I added fish the sand bed began to heave with bristle worms & sea serpents; if I had room for a second tank, I'd make it a non-fish tank to see what happened.

The most interesting development is that over the past 2 months a pink nepthea coral has had babies which have sprouted over lots of rock - at least 20 in all. Would this have happened with a really fierce skimmer? I don't know, but I'm encouraged enough to carry on without one for the moment.

My initial idea, as part of the skimmerless approach, was to grow caulerpa in the tank, and prune it back every time I did the weekly water change. This worked well until I foolishly added the regal tang, which ate the lot.

I'm not sure that I would go skimmerless with a fish-only tank, even with lots of live rock, because it's so tempting to keep feeding them. However, I suspect that coral tanks have been rather under-fed in the past, and one of the reasons - not the only one I grant you - that we're all doing better since the 1980s, is better feeding. Perhaps skimmers may take up more planktonic things, or the food that the plankton needs, than we may have realised in the past.

Anyway, all the best with your tank.

Glyn

[Gubs]

Bear in mind Elliot that a smaller amount of live rock with effective circulation has higher filtration potential than more live rock with lower effective flow.

Otherwise, just do it!

G