ATTN: Skimmerless Reefers!
- Thread starter ogredawg
- Start date
viper_930
Active Member
I've had my frag tank skimmerless for about a month or maybe more and everything looks good. I have all my favorite corals in there, including many SPS corals. But I do use a 50 micron filter bag on the overflow and that definitely helps a lot. I would never try going skimmerless without the fine filter bag on my tank with all my valuable corals, especially with SPS. For filtration I just use that filter bag, carbon, live rock in the sump, and weekly 15% water changes. The bag gets cleaned every 3-4 days or so.
bonebrake
Active Member
I don't use a skimmer.
Bonebrake's JBJ 24 gal. Nano Cube!
Tank is going on nine months of age.
I run about 8 oz. of activated carbon 24/7 and replace it once a month and I perform a three gal. (20%) water change once a week.
:joy:
Bonebrake's JBJ 24 gal. Nano Cube!
Tank is going on nine months of age.
I run about 8 oz. of activated carbon 24/7 and replace it once a month and I perform a three gal. (20%) water change once a week.
:joy:
whitey_028
Member
Im skimmerless right now on my 185 reef tank but i have a huge refegium underneath full of manggroves and cheato and miricle mud and live rock and i keep up on my water changes... I have no mechanical filtration (skimmers,UV sterilizers,drippers) and is done all naturally and the only time i had a problem is when i didnt do my water change for like a month after my first 10% water change in a month i was back running normally.
zanoshanox
Active Member
No skimmer here on my 20 gallon long. Have two, but dont use either one. lol
sinaloa213
Active Member
Originally Posted by ViPeR_930
I've had my frag tank skimmerless for about a month or maybe more and everything looks good. I have all my favorite corals in there, including many SPS corals. But I do use a 50 micron filter bag on the overflow and that definitely helps a lot. I would never try going skimmerless without the fine filter bag on my tank with all my valuable corals, especially with SPS. For filtration I just use that filter bag, carbon, live rock in the sump, and weekly 15% water changes. The bag gets cleaned every 3-4 days or so.
that is soo awesome u gotta tell me the specs of this set up im interested in setting up a frag tank
I've had my frag tank skimmerless for about a month or maybe more and everything looks good. I have all my favorite corals in there, including many SPS corals. But I do use a 50 micron filter bag on the overflow and that definitely helps a lot. I would never try going skimmerless without the fine filter bag on my tank with all my valuable corals, especially with SPS. For filtration I just use that filter bag, carbon, live rock in the sump, and weekly 15% water changes. The bag gets cleaned every 3-4 days or so.
that is soo awesome u gotta tell me the specs of this set up im interested in setting up a frag tank
viper_930
Active Member
The tank itself is 45x13x10 (custom) ~ 20 gallons
2x150 watt DE Phoenix 14k bulbs powered by two PFO magnetic ballasts
The return is a mag drive 9.5 and a SCWD which splits into four returns in the back of the tank.
The SCWD cut down a lot more flow than I thought, so I added a maxijet 900 in the corner.
This tank was meant to be my frag tank and display (sorta) at the same time, so I spent a bit more money on it that the usual frag tank.
2x150 watt DE Phoenix 14k bulbs powered by two PFO magnetic ballasts
The return is a mag drive 9.5 and a SCWD which splits into four returns in the back of the tank.
The SCWD cut down a lot more flow than I thought, so I added a maxijet 900 in the corner.
This tank was meant to be my frag tank and display (sorta) at the same time, so I spent a bit more money on it that the usual frag tank.
ogredawg
Member
I'm asking because when I had my 10 gallon I didn't have a skimmer and all my softies (I only have softies) did better than my 25 gallon now. And I've heard from a lot of people before that they didn't use skimmers also and their tank did well. So maybe I'll just sell my current skimmer if I don't really need it, especially if I'm just going to keep softies. I don't think I'm ever gonna go sps, because I really don't want to spend more money on lights and chiller (that's if I go MH). I currently have a fluval 204 filter as well, I guess I'll just stay with that running carbon 24/7 like what I did with my 10 gallon before.
Here's my tank right now...
Here's my tank right now...
reef diver
Active Member
I thot softies feed on dissolved organic matter ie the same stuff that the skimmer pulls out. ITs slightly off topic, but does anyone have any reccomendation as to how to frag a pipe organ, I got an accidental frag when 6 of the stalks broke during a snail rain (litterally), and I placed them in the rocks , and now they are like 20 polyps. I guessed i could do it the same way? Sorry dont mean to hijack. Nice tank ogredawg
ogredawg
Member
Ok, just an update on my tank.
So I downgraded to 20 gallons shortly after my post and everything was doing great for 2 months. Then I decided to upgrade my lighting because I wanted an anemone. One of my coral didn't respond well and ended up dying. I guess corals can throw your water para off too like fish when they die. So I just did water changes but still my parameters were pretty off and everything else started dying. So I had a 50 gallon that I was planning to set up later on. Well that didn't happen, I transfered everything I have from my 20g to the 50 with new water.
My point is, you really don't need a skimmer if your tank is in great shape. But if something dies in your tank, it's a harder job for you to fix things if you don't have a skimmer. I know this because my friend has a skimmer and same thing happened to him. Actually he had more die off than I did, and all he did was change his water twice and everything went back to normal.
Here's an updated pic of my tank by the way.
This was my 20g (before the crash)
And here's my 50g now (after the crash)...
I'm going to slow down on corals and only buy maybe one every other month or something.
So I downgraded to 20 gallons shortly after my post and everything was doing great for 2 months. Then I decided to upgrade my lighting because I wanted an anemone. One of my coral didn't respond well and ended up dying. I guess corals can throw your water para off too like fish when they die. So I just did water changes but still my parameters were pretty off and everything else started dying. So I had a 50 gallon that I was planning to set up later on. Well that didn't happen, I transfered everything I have from my 20g to the 50 with new water.
My point is, you really don't need a skimmer if your tank is in great shape. But if something dies in your tank, it's a harder job for you to fix things if you don't have a skimmer. I know this because my friend has a skimmer and same thing happened to him. Actually he had more die off than I did, and all he did was change his water twice and everything went back to normal.
Here's an updated pic of my tank by the way.
This was my 20g (before the crash)
And here's my 50g now (after the crash)...
I'm going to slow down on corals and only buy maybe one every other month or something.