Anyone run a large aggressive tank with a skimmer only?

selarman

Member
I'm running a 125 gallon tank with just a protein skimmer, 100 pounds of LR and about a 100 pounds of LS. But the skimmer is rated for a 300 gallon tank. It has been setup for over a year and have had no problems. Water Levels test out great.
 

moto757

Member
i guess it would work as long as you run a lot of live rock and a good skimmer and enough powerheads that is how i am going to run my next set up actually keep us posted
 

jim27

Member
Well thats the thing. I dont have a lot of live rock. Maybe 30-40lbs at most.
I'm just curious because my 180g shark tank has been like this for the past year or so. I haven't noticed any changes since I took off the wet/dry. I'm just wondering if someone out there has done this with negative effects.
 

squidd

Active Member
That would depend on Bioload relative to the tank...
What works now may not be able to keep up with more (or bigger) fish...
 

fmarini

Member
W/out live rock, or a wet/dry where is the benefical bacteria to live? (besides the sides of your tank).
Live rock, live sand, wet/dry filters all provide surface area for denitrifiyng bacteria to colonize adn work. I guess dependin on your bioload, your water paramters would eithe rget better or worse. Small bioloads could proly do Okay w/out any LR/LS, while a higher bioload tank would suffer.
So.... whats your current stocking plan?
 

squidd

Active Member
I think he was planning on LR/LS and a BIG skimmer from the first post, just not any wet/dry, canister, UV,fluidized sand, or any "mechanical" filtration...
Although I'd recomend a sump/fuge for macros/additional lr/ls and water volume...(plus it gives you a place for the "massive" skimmer...)
 

jim27

Member
First to clear a few things up:
This is a 3 year old tank we're talking about here, not one I'm planning on setting up. Its been without a wet/dry for the past year.
W/out live rock, or a wet/dry where is the benefical bacteria to live?
The tank has about 200lbs of live sand in it as well as 30-40lbs of lr.
So.... whats your current stocking plan?
The tank has a horn shark, whitespotted bamboo shark, and a small tesselata eel.
 

moraymike

Member
JIM27:
How is the Tessy doing? Are you planning on adding another one, or are you just going to keep one eel? Next to Dragon Eels, Tessys are my second favorite eel. Unfortunately, my two Tessys got way too big and aggressive. I couldn't keep ANYTHING with them. The sharks weren't even safe with them.
 

jim27

Member
Two weeks ago the eel decided to go exploring and ended up in the sump(and luckily avoided the intake of the mag 24) but other than that its been great. I'm not planning to add anything else to the tank though. For now the sharks should be safe since they're both about 6 inches bigger than it, but I've problems arise I'll sell the eel.
 

moraymike

Member
JIM27:
You may not have any problems. A buddy of mine kept a nurse and a horn with a large Tessy for a few years without any problems. It was weird, the eel ate everything else, but never touched the sharks. My Tessys thought leopard sharks were food. Good luck!
 
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