Dropping the Skimmer

[DetectiveTofu]

I am thinking of using no protein skimmer on my tank. The tank would be 20g, and will only have two fish in it (maybe three at most).

This tank will be in my room, so it would be kind of nice to have a tank that makes no noise at all! Also one less thing I would need to look at in my tank. I can use a small air pump (dialed way down) for aeration. Having been using a protein skimmer since I've started the marine hobby, I am having a hard time just dropping it. That said, I have seen some skimmer-less set ups that are astounding.
I can also put some macro algae in my tank for some nutrient export.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Talk me into keeping, or ditching my skimmer.

 

[danel]

for a small tank I would go skimmer-less. I've always had a skimmer, but I've been running 120g+ tanks. I'm thinking of setting up a smaller nano and I'm definitely going to go skimmer-less, just try to keep up with water changes.

 

[DetectiveTofu]

20g tank, with two small fish. I am 95% sure I am going to not use the skimmer, but I am looking for support with my decision, lol!
I am fairly good with the water changes. I normally change 2g or so every other week.

 

[danel]

Yeah, on a tank that small I firmly believe a skimmer is not necessary at all

 

[spamreefnew]

IMHO any tank can be skimmerless. and IMHO a skimmer that costs less than $400 is not gonna skim the way you want it to any how, i am on my 2nd 300 dollar skimmer and its noisy and does not seem to do much for my system that i could not do myself with weekly water changes,so i say ditch the skimmer!

 

[DetectiveTofu]

IMHO any tank can be skimmerless. and IMHO a skimmer that costs less than $400 is not gonna skim the way you want it to any how, i am on my 2nd 300 dollar skimmer and its noisy and does not seem to do much for my system that i could not do myself with weekly water changes,so i say ditch the skimmer!

I am 95% sure this new tank is going to be skimmer free! Sweet!

 

[Ben_Im]

I've always wanted to run a skimmer-less 20 gallon long. 5 gallon water change every week and you're golden.
I'm getting tired of having a loud tank in my bedroom

 

[Nathan.Titulaer]

On my 7 gallon nano I just did weekly water changes for over a year then I upgraded. Yea on smaller tanks I think a skimmer is useless if you have a small bio load.

 

[meco65]

You can always have a hang on back refugium.

 

[DetectiveTofu]

I've always wanted to run a skimmer-less 20 gallon long. 5 gallon water change every week and you're golden.
I'm getting tired of having a loud tank in my bedroom

Yeah, I am aiming to do a 2g (10%) water change every other week

On my 7 gallon nano I just did weekly water changes for over a year then I upgraded. Yea on smaller tanks I think a skimmer is useless if you have a small bio load.

Only two clowns

You can always have a hang on back refugium.

I may just put some macro algae in my tank to help with nutrient export!

 

[Bosco83]

My wifes tank is in our bedroom and we just put her skimmer on a timer to only run during the day time. Her tank is a 55 gallon without a sump and having the skimmer really helped keep the nitrates down without doing a lot of water changes.

Brian

 

[Frick-n-Frags]

for that setup, you dont need a skimmer.

skimmers pull organics and small particulates. fish arent as touchy about nitrates and particulates. so waterchanges would be fine. keep the light low so you dont grow a lot of cyano in there.

 

[DetectiveTofu]

My wifes tank is in our bedroom and we just put her skimmer on a timer to only run during the day time. Her tank is a 55 gallon without a sump and having the skimmer really helped keep the nitrates down without doing a lot of water changes.

Brian

I thought about the entire putting the skimmer on a timer sort of thing, but I figure by going skimmer-less, I'd only have the noise from my Vortech pump (not much at all), and a air pump dialed way down.
The pump, which is an MJ900 and prefilter sponge, for the skimmer looks horrible; in my new tank I want everything to look streamlined, and clean.
Plus, I save electricity by not running another pump!

for that setup, you dont need a skimmer.

skimmers pull organics and small particulates. fish arent as touchy about nitrates and particulates. so waterchanges would be fine. keep the light low so you dont grow a lot of cyano in there.

I will have two clownfish, and their sea anemone. Maybe a couple LPS and SPS. A basic reef tank. I am not so worried about nutrients -I only feed once every other day, and a 10% water change once a month should cut it. Never had cyanobacteria -this tank will also be bare bottom so during the water changes I can siphon out of the detritus on the bottom of the tank.
I'm going to opposite, and pounding the tank with light haha

 

[James404]

IMHO any tank can be skimmerless. and IMHO a skimmer that costs less than $400 is not gonna skim the way you want it to any how, i am on my 2nd 300 dollar skimmer and its noisy and does not seem to do much for my system that i could not do myself with weekly water changes,so i say ditch the skimmer!

I'm sorry but thats a pretty bad blanket statement. What makes $400 the magic number for skimmers? I think perhaps you need to choose more wisely when picking out a skimmer if you are having such issues with $300 skimmers. I am running a Super Reef Octopus that was under $400 on my system and it performs like a champ and the BubbleBlaster pumps are very quiet.

 

[RVANANO]

My Octopus Extreme 200 does a mighty fine job on my 120.

 

[autopro]

I have a BioCube 14 for over a year now and no skimmer. I change a gallon of water a week. Keep up with your maintenance and you don't need the skimmer.

 

[lars on live]

I've recently went skimmerless on my 120. It's only been 3 weeks so hard to tell if it's going to be a good long term solution. I have almost 200 pounds of live rock, a large fuge with a DSB, and a homemade turf scrubber. It's mainly a softy reef with a light bioload. So far my corals seem happier.

 

[cody6766]

I doubt you'll have issues if you keep up with regular water changes. I'm sure you could feed daily if you do so responsibly. Just change 3-4g every week and you'll be in good shape. A pair of clowns won't stress a 14g too much. People keep clown pairs plus a goby or 2 in skimmerless nano tanks all the time. Nanos are easy as long as you are careful to give them the attention they need.

 

[DetectiveTofu]

I doubt you'll have issues if you keep up with regular water changes. I'm sure you could feed daily if you do so responsibly. Just change 3-4g every week and you'll be in good shape. A pair of clowns won't stress a 14g too much. People keep clown pairs plus a goby or 2 in skimmerless nano tanks all the time. Nanos are easy as long as you are careful to give them the attention they need.

Definitely not my first nano, however my first nano where I will running no skimmer!
I plan on doing a 2-3g water change once every week or two.

 

[allsps40]

I have a 6 gallon nano cube with no skimmer I do weekly water changes on it. I feel that if you can run a skimmer do it. My 40 gallon SPS tank has a Octo NW110 on it, this tank always has better water quality than the nano. But I is not NEEDED to keep coral, just do water changes.