DonW
R.I.P.
I decided to start another skimmerless thread just to see how it goes and if its doable for an extended period of time. I'll let this go for 1 year and see what happens unless the tank starts to crash in the mean time.
Here is the history. The sump flows 3000+ GPH I toyed with adding flow to the tank for six months adding Koralia K4's until there were 4. I removed all 4 K4's in favor of the cleaner looking tank without powerheads. So as of today there is only a return pump flowing about 3000 gph, thats about 60 time turnover of the display volume through the sump.
On the 1st I shut down the Tunze 9010 skimmer. A little history behind the skimmers. I ran the tunze for about two months and thought it was subpar so I bought a SWC 160 along with a second cup. I spent 4 weeks skimming and evaporating the skimmate and weighing the cups after they were dry. I then reinstalled the tunze and did the same. To my surprise the tunze produced more crap by dry weight than the SWC 160 even with the extra salt that would have had to of been left in the additional volume of skimmate. So I sold the SWC and kept the tunze.
Now I want to try something a little different. We already know most people set up their sump flow pretty low. Usualy only a few times per hour turnover rate. Since mine is 60 I want to know if a filter sock and carbon would be enough to keep the tank in shape for sps. Usually when someone tries this they dont up the sump flow so they are filtering through the sock slowly and change the sock every few days. They also dont stop the air from entering the overflow so the water gets more oxygen which is going to produce nitrates in the sock over time.
I figure changing a sock every few days is just as much work as cleaning a skimmer so it cant hurt to give it a shot. Since there is no air in the overflow it shouldnt create nitrates as quickly as a durso or some other stand pipe configuration.
The tank specs are: Rimless 54G
Pump Reef flo dart
Heater 2x 250w / ranco
Lighting T-5
Carbon TLF reactor
Thats it no ato, timers or anything else.
Bioload is probably some where in the middle. One PBT, two chromis, one maroon clown, two scooter dragonets, 40 astrea snails, three hermits and one sand sifting star.
Nutrient parameters are: Nitrates 0 salifert, eleos and 5 sprectra labs
Ammonia 0 salifert, eleos and .2 spectra labs
Nitrites 0 salifert, eleos and .2 spectra labs
Phoshates 0 salifert, eleos .04 hanna and .04 spectra labs
Its been six days with no noticable difference in alge growth on the glass and no change in nutrient levels from salifert, eleos or the hanna. Now I just wait and do the normal 10g per week water changes that ive done for the last six months. Ill post the results on this thead weekly until the tank goes south or one year has past.
Don
Here is the history. The sump flows 3000+ GPH I toyed with adding flow to the tank for six months adding Koralia K4's until there were 4. I removed all 4 K4's in favor of the cleaner looking tank without powerheads. So as of today there is only a return pump flowing about 3000 gph, thats about 60 time turnover of the display volume through the sump.
On the 1st I shut down the Tunze 9010 skimmer. A little history behind the skimmers. I ran the tunze for about two months and thought it was subpar so I bought a SWC 160 along with a second cup. I spent 4 weeks skimming and evaporating the skimmate and weighing the cups after they were dry. I then reinstalled the tunze and did the same. To my surprise the tunze produced more crap by dry weight than the SWC 160 even with the extra salt that would have had to of been left in the additional volume of skimmate. So I sold the SWC and kept the tunze.
Now I want to try something a little different. We already know most people set up their sump flow pretty low. Usualy only a few times per hour turnover rate. Since mine is 60 I want to know if a filter sock and carbon would be enough to keep the tank in shape for sps. Usually when someone tries this they dont up the sump flow so they are filtering through the sock slowly and change the sock every few days. They also dont stop the air from entering the overflow so the water gets more oxygen which is going to produce nitrates in the sock over time.
I figure changing a sock every few days is just as much work as cleaning a skimmer so it cant hurt to give it a shot. Since there is no air in the overflow it shouldnt create nitrates as quickly as a durso or some other stand pipe configuration.
The tank specs are: Rimless 54G
Pump Reef flo dart
Heater 2x 250w / ranco
Lighting T-5
Carbon TLF reactor
Thats it no ato, timers or anything else.
Bioload is probably some where in the middle. One PBT, two chromis, one maroon clown, two scooter dragonets, 40 astrea snails, three hermits and one sand sifting star.
Nutrient parameters are: Nitrates 0 salifert, eleos and 5 sprectra labs
Ammonia 0 salifert, eleos and .2 spectra labs
Nitrites 0 salifert, eleos and .2 spectra labs
Phoshates 0 salifert, eleos .04 hanna and .04 spectra labs
Its been six days with no noticable difference in alge growth on the glass and no change in nutrient levels from salifert, eleos or the hanna. Now I just wait and do the normal 10g per week water changes that ive done for the last six months. Ill post the results on this thead weekly until the tank goes south or one year has past.
Don
. Well at least that's what they prefer to call it LOL.
