Could you run a Coral Only with no skimmer ?

Bonta

New member
Saying that the coral does not need any feeding, or major feeding. Is it possible to run a Coral Only tank with no skimmer ?
 
It doesn't even need to be coral only. I have seen tanks with coral and fish that relied and frequent water changes.
 
You can also set up a nice fuge/sump. I had a 20L frag tank with a 10 galllon sump/fuge for a little while when I was setting up the new system and all I was running was some cheto and more rock. I also had a 6 line wrasse and a pair of percs in it.
 
YES. You can successfully run a tank without a skimmer. My 20H uses LR, LS, and a canister filter with Purigen. I make sure to clean out the filter once a week as I'm doing my water change and everything is good. To say you have to use a skimmer is lack of open mindedness. This hobby can be done many different ways and so far there is nobody saying you have to do it this way or the other. If everyone did it the same way then the hobby would never move forward.
 
Yeah, we had nice tanks long before the berlin method was created. One of the nicest tanks I have ever had was skimmerless for 10 years or more. I still recommend nanos to be run without skimmers and using regular weekly water changes.
 
I have had a 10 gallon for one year and I have no skimmer, I have two damsels,lots of LPS some softies,CBS,serpent starfish, no problems my tank looks awesome.
 
Saying that the coral does not need any feeding, or major feeding. Is it possible to run a Coral Only tank with no skimmer ?


If you had to ask the question you should probably get a skimmer. They're not "necessary" but they add an extra layer of protection should something go wrong.

I have 4 nanos (the newest one is 4 years old) and three skimmers. The skimmers are on a shelf in the garage. I don't use them but if something went horribly wrong I wouldn't hesitate to get one down and install it ASAP.
 
I would think the skimmer would help the most with battling nuisance algae, but you can definitely run a tank without one. When you say "coral" it would really depend on what kind of coral. softies,lps, or sps. I would think you could do all of them but in the long run, you may see some issues. Frequent water changes should help with all of it though as stated before.
 
To answer the question "can you".. yes you CAN. If you had asked "would you" then I would reply "I'd rather not".

A skimmer just removes gunk from your tank. Keep in mind that fish aren't the only things that cause gunk.

Also, if you have a tank full of corals you'll need some means of filtration that is capable of removing any chemical warfare the corals may wage on each other.

IMO running skimmerless is a big gamble.

dont skimp on skimmer or lighting.

B
 
It certainly is possible and I do it on my two 12g nanos and a 20g Long "Bad Boy Tank" (Mantis, various crabs).

That said, I have exactly one small fish (a tiger goby) between the three tanks.

I also do water changes almost every week and run polyfilter and carbon.

Nitrates are at zero.
 
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