For those who don't have a skimmer.

[charvel]

I was wonder ing what type of filtration you have other than rock and dsb. I have a 120 130lbs LR and 215lbs sand 1 404 and 1 304 fluval.Since I don't have a skimmer yet I was wondering if I should use the foam in my fluval or filter floss for mechanical filtration? What do you guys use? Thanks, MIke

 

[pbuck]

I use a lot of macroalgae and red mangroves to remove waste. I don't have any foam in the tank because it gets full of s*** and usually causes a problem for me where ever it is at. I am doing well with my setup, I have been running for a year. I have soft corals, LPS, and SPS. They are all doing quite well.

 

[pbuck]

by the way, I have a lot of mangroves and if you are interested in a few I can hook you up with some.

 

[logan15]

hey pbuck can you hook me up with some mangroves?
if you can email me at my email

 

[charvel]

Anyone else? by the way my tank has been running for three months.

 

[goldrush]

Tell us about your sump.Do you have a refugium? How big? I'm assuming you are primarily reef.

 

[charvel]

Originally posted by goldrush
Tell us about your sump.Do you have a refugium? How big? I'm assuming you are primarily reef.
I do not have a sump or a refugium and the only corals I have are mushrooms and a couple star polyps. Thanks

 

[y2says]

I've been doing reef tanks for about 2 years now without any skimmers. I've always used either a fluval 404 or Filstar cannister filter. My brothers don't use skimmers either (one should) and everything seems to be ok. I'm currently running skimmerless on both my 54g corner and 10g. I just clean the media evertime I do a water change. I rinse them out using the water that I took out of the tank. Once your tank matures, you'll see pods growing in the media, that's why you don't want to rinse the media with fresh water. I also have some halimeda plants in my tank that help combat the bad algae. Just control your feeding, do frequent water changes, have a good clean-up crew and keep your livestock at a minimal and everything should be fine.

 

[nacl-h2o]

I use a DSB, LR and a larg refugium full of caulerpa. Water parameters are always OK and rank remains stable and fruitful.

 

[charvel]

Originally posted by charvel
I do not have a sump or a refugium and the only corals I have are mushrooms and a couple star polyps. Thanks
Hi,I do see pods in the media. Just dunk the foam pads in the tank?What about the pods in the canister itself,shouldnt I throw all that water away Thanks alot

 

[y2says]

What I do is use the water that you are about to throw away and rinse the media in it. I usually don't shake it too much.

 

[dreeves]

Rinsing your media in freshwater will kill all your nitrifying bacteria. That is a good idea using the old water to rinse things with.

 

[fishkiller]

Yeah, anytime I used tap water to clean my filtration (when I first started this whole thing), my water always seemed to get cloudy for a while then go back to normal. I figured it out for my self that cleaning it out with the tank water you are about to throw out (not on your mom's geraniums) works just as well, but what was better was my freakin tank didn't cloud up a few days later. Somebody told me it was kinda like a mini-cycle for the stuff in the filters. He said it, not me, so don't quote me.

 

[dburr]

Macro and water changes.
I also run carbon once and a while.

 

[jja]

I do a 10% water change every week to 10 days and it works well for me. I have never had any sort of fish loss due to water params, only the occassional bully. I also have quite a few inverts and corals. I use a wet/dry and change the pad in the tray at each water change.

 

[jonthefb]

been skimmerless on my 135 reef ready for about three years now...foam prefilter on the overflow is the only mechanical filtration on the system...everything else is biological! sumpfugium with DSb and caulerpa and a few lr in sump, dsb in display, and tons of rock seems to take care of everything just fine!
good luck
jon