Does anyone have sumpless system???

[JeffDubya]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8968917#post8968917 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Marc
What is your nitrate reading and what do you use as a test kit? Also what is your livestock level?

My nitrate reading is 10. I use the SeaChem test kit.

I have 2 percula clowns, 1 royal gramma, 1 firefish, 1 6 line wrasse, one green banded goby and one neon goby. All small fish. I have one blue banded coral shrimp, and there are a couple hh emerald crabs as well.

My cleanup crew consists of about 18 snails (astrea, margaurite, nassarius) and a bunch of little hermits.

I have a big frogspawn, a bunch of polyps and mushrooms, a small hammer and a couple small montiporas.

Up until last week I had a bed of crushed coral, medium to coarse. Now, I have a deep sand bed, 2-3 inches of fine aragonite sand. I have probaby 30-40 lbs of live rock.

I have circulation from three powerheads of about 25x and a HOB remora skimmer.

About 2 months into my tank, I nuked my pop population trying to treat a sick fish with melafix. I don't know if this has anything to do with anything, but I am seeing my first pods on the glass in 5 months as of last night!

I really work hard to not overfeed my tank. I target feed cyclopeeze and mysis to my hammer and frogspawn, I feed my fish only once every 3-4 days (sometimes waiting to the point that I feel a bit guilty - but everyone is still fat and happy) I feed (sparingly) blood worms, mysis ad flake to my fish, and treat them about every week to live bbs. With the exception of bbs, I feed as demand warrants, and no more.

 

[Steadyhand]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8972254#post8972254 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Moloch_0
Steadyhand - I'm curious to see how the heater module seals once you put he heater in.

I've been sumpless with just a skimmer for 2 years, all is well!

Here is a pick of how the Heater (any standard heater works) fits in - the module comes with different size fittings for different diameters.

Here is a pic of how it fits under the tank - my tank is 36" wide and a bit messy underneath - pardon the wires - i have zippy cords for them I need to use!

 

[Marc]

JeffDubya


From the sound of it your doing everything right so you must have an excellent setup. The only thing I can say is water changes. They make a huge difference. Even though sometimes your nitrate will hit a platue and stay the same because of your livestock. 10 ppm is not much at all so you should be fine.

Marc

 

[Secondgen]

Also you have to consider microbubbles when you do not run a sump.

 

[Marc]

Yeah the microbubbles are a small concern but I had that anyway even with the sump, but there not bad at all. I have to get a bubble diffuser from Jeff at Lifereef so that should take care of it when i install it on the skimmer.

Marc

 

[JeffDubya]

Thanks Marc... always looking for that elusive "0" because as much as I can, perfection is my goal. I wish I could afford larger, so I am trying to do the best I can with what I have!

I have had some luck with a product called "AZ-NO3" (Absolute Zero Nitrates - 30 day nitrate remover) but (1) I would prefer to overcome this naturally, and (2) I have to admit that my ability to stick to a strict daily dosing schedule is, well, not so much.

As for water changes, when I first started, I was a religious 10% guy every week. However, that waned to every two weeks and now every 3-4 weeks. At first, I mixed up my schedule just to see if it made a difference. But now, I work pretty hard with testing and dosing to get my parameters perfect that I have a hard time changing water that is better in the tank than what I have in the bucket, if you know what I mean.

Has anyone here heard of or used the AZ-NO3 product? (http://www.simplifiedreefkeeping.com/faq/AZ-NO3.HTM)