So I have had my reef up for a precocious 6 months, maybe a little more. After about a month the skimmers pump quit and never revived despite my best efforts. I have a refugium in place that has some pretty decent growth and the tank is loaded with pods. All the corals, fish and other inverts are doing really well. So, Iguess I am asking, are there long term dangers Iam leaving myself more suseptible to? I've thought of adding a clam or other filter feeder as Idon't really use any kind of strong mechanical filtration either and there are a little bit of suspended particulates. Like I said, everybody is really happy, my frogspawn is probably the best I have ever seen it. Any conversation to be had on this?
No skimmer, no problem?
- Thread starter cruzanm
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pandora32
Well-known member
I dont know about long term, but to me, all the particles in the water might start annoying the livestock. Kinda like me or you living constantly in a dust storm. If the tank is doing as good as you say it is, more power to you. Maybe just get a filter sock and or a sponge to catch those particles.
NanaReefer
Well-known member
What size tank? How often are you doing WC? A skimmer doesn't only remove small particles but most importantly excess nutrients known as protein. A somewhat oily substance that is nasty and very smelly.
TJL
copod
You can certainly run a Reeftank without a skimmer as many do, as long as the water changes are kept up and having a large refugium is also a bonus. I ran my last system as above without a skimmer for some time but feel personaly that a skimmer is a very advantageous piece of equipment to keep a healthy system running long term.
Cheers, Todd
Cheers, Todd
pandora32
Well-known member
Agreed. Skimmer would be like our kidneys and liver. Kinda like the powerheads and pumps are the heart. Man o man, didnt know i had a reef runnin me!!!
NanaReefer
Well-known member
I ran my tank skimmerless for 6 months. EVERY WC I did during that time (1x 5 1/2g weekly) the water was totally yellowed. Since adding my skimmer again I do 1x bi-weekly 5 1/2g WC. NO yellow water at all.
I was all for going skimmerless. I learned
I was all for going skimmerless. I learned
in my opinion a decent skimmer will make or break a tank and make the hobby more enjoyable. but agreed if weekly water changes are done u really don't need any mechanical filtration. all mechanical filtration really does is allow us to be a little more lazy. which I'm all for. but 1 thing i believe to be a must in all tanks is to blow off the rock,coral,substrate to prevent detritus from settling and causing issues. i use a turkey baster in my small tanks and a small pump/power head in my larger tank and do this at least 1ce a week. :hippie:
I do give the rocks "storm blasting" about once a month.
I hear you on the "kidneys" comment, I guess I was wondering if there were biological controls I could try. I'm sure it doesn't have the consistency but I figured it might be a good question to ask and see if perhaps clams or other filter feeders were out there that I wasn't aware of that could perform some functions like that. I'll probably be installing a skimmer in the coming months.
The tank is 125g with a 40 gallon refugium that has actually had a few snails grow up to maturity in it. Tons of sponge and fan worms in there as well, really rather happy with that aspect.
I can't be screwing up too bad, one of my RBTAs just split off a baby. I'll get some pictures up hopefully tonight
I hear you on the "kidneys" comment, I guess I was wondering if there were biological controls I could try. I'm sure it doesn't have the consistency but I figured it might be a good question to ask and see if perhaps clams or other filter feeders were out there that I wasn't aware of that could perform some functions like that. I'll probably be installing a skimmer in the coming months.
The tank is 125g with a 40 gallon refugium that has actually had a few snails grow up to maturity in it. Tons of sponge and fan worms in there as well, really rather happy with that aspect.
I can't be screwing up too bad, one of my RBTAs just split off a baby. I'll get some pictures up hopefully tonight
I ran this tank (120 gallon) skimmerless for 2 years without any issues.
Full Tank Shot by mrdillpickle, on Flickr
I had success with just regular water changes, phosban, carbon, filter sock, light feedings, sump full of live rock (that need to be serviced as well), and just a few algae grazing fish.
I did not have any issue until adding several more fish (including an adult pair of Anthias). Shortly after I started having cyanobacteria outbreaks.
(I took the tank down for home repairs.)
Full Tank Shot by mrdillpickle, on Flickr
I had success with just regular water changes, phosban, carbon, filter sock, light feedings, sump full of live rock (that need to be serviced as well), and just a few algae grazing fish.
I did not have any issue until adding several more fish (including an adult pair of Anthias). Shortly after I started having cyanobacteria outbreaks.
(I took the tank down for home repairs.)
TJL
copod
FTS same tank as above with SWC Extreme 200 Skimmer...lol
Cheers, Todd
Cheers, Todd
I can't be screwing up too bad, one of my RBTAs just split off a baby. I'll get some pictures up hopefully tonight
Anemones dont just split because its happy. They also split to ensure their survival (the whole "safety in numbers" thing). If it feels threatened or in danger it may split as well.
Prior to the split, there were two in the tank, both 9-10 inches across expanded, everything in the tank is healthy and all the water tests are all well within accepted parameters. All the corals are growing, all the fish are doing great as well.
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Yes, you can run a tank without a skimmer and the tank may be healthy and thrive. However, Anemones DO NOT split because they're happy. In fact, in the wild, Anemone rarely split at all and if they do, it's usually due to storm damage. Anemones split because they're stressed and fighting for survival. You'll find hundreds of threads where people WANT their anemones to split. Most suggestions, as to how to induce the split, revolve around stressing the anemone. There's a reason for that... I had an RBTA in a skimmerless tank, with inadequate lighting, for 4 years. It would split every 3 months. I moved it to a much more appropriate tank, with a great skimmer and good lighting. It split once in 3 years. That split was due to it's foot getting ripped when I moved some rocks.
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rbc1225
New member
I fully agree. Yes there are a lot of people who run skimmerless but doing so to make an amemone split would not be cool. I have also always heard that they split due to stress.
kpiotrowski
Kevin
with my 120g and 50g fuge and 200g rated skimmer while I had very few fish, I had to overfeed my tank to keep the macros alive! now that I am fully stocked things seem in balance and still have no nitrtates. point being that yes I fully belive you can have great succes without a skimmer with the right balance of size of fuge/bioload.
My goal is not for the animals I care for to live in an environment where they are stressed or dying. I have additional lighting I can put on the tank and getting a skimmer up and running isn't a problem. The point of the post was to ask if this was a possible way to keep a healthy tank and if there were other ways of reinforcing this method with biological controls. Your news about RBTA's which I don't have much experience with, honestly felt a little like a gut punch. Re-evaluating the system and implementing changes.
A proper skimmer will help you remove most dissolved nutrients, proteins and some particulate. So if your going to run a system with out one then you must find alturnatives to taking these products out of your system or you will simply build them up and overload. Cause and effect basically.
Mojo
Mojo
Skimmers remove polar organics. So does carbon (as well as phosban). So no surprise that with water changes and carbon, a tank could thrive skimmerless.
But carbon is expensive, and gets exhausted quickly (when I've tested while using carbon, it was exhausted in under two days.).
As mentioned previously, having a good skimmer allows us to be "lazy". I prefer to phrase it that having a skimmer makes one's tank more robust.
I took a closer look at the skimmer last night, there was a piece of the pump impeller that had broken, repaired using zip ties to hold it back together and silicone. Once the silicone has a chance to cure, will see if I can fire the pump back up. Also performed a 20 gallon water change. It will be interesting to see if the devils hand leather I have had a problem with constantly dropping frags stops once the skimmer is up. The split anemones seem to be healing up.
