opinions about skimmerless setups for you

[zombiereef]

The color on my corals just isnt intense and looks faded. my issue is that i buy a nice dark color sps (or lps for that matter) and the colors will slowly fade out over the course of about a month or two. talking with another reefer last night, i am thinking about removing my skimmer for a while and see if that makes my system a little dirtier and thus improving colors and intensity. maybe adding another fish too.
to give a little background...
62g tank (36x18x24) with 30g sump. sump has skimmer, deep sand bed.
250w mh 20k se bulb in lumenarc pendant.
i have 6 small fish in it and i feed very, very light.
i target feed the corals every week. i usually use mysis, reef chili, cyclopeeze and spot feed the heads.
my params are:
cal=380-420
alk=11.5
s.g=1.025 (refractometer)
amm=0
phos=0
mag-1350
-----
I also run a kalk stirrer and add reefbuilder to maintain alk. ph is steady at 8.3 controlled by my acjr.
our thoughts are that I either need another pig of a fish to create more nutrients or remove skimmer. i am hesitant to add another fish as the fish in there have been there for a year and are pretty set in their ways. the clarkiis are pretty agro and will beat up newbies. but, if i get a fish like a dwarf angel or tang, they might be tough enough to take the abuse by the clowns. the clowns lay eggs every two weeks and get real cranky when laying them down. any thoughts would be great.

 

[tmilton6]

if you are considering going skimmerless, maybe consider doing a algea scrubber, it seems like a good way to prevent nitrate and nitrite issues cused from food break down. i am definatly researching it for possible use in my new system.

 

[zombiereef]

i think i want some nitrates, thats the problem. i havent had any and i think it is bad.

 

[porthios]

all my best tanks (including my current one) have been skimmerless. that's just how i like to get down..

any specific reason you're feeding so lightly?

 

[dv3]

how does a 525G get by without a skimmer? ...what other equipment are you running?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

how does a 525G get by without a skimmer? ...what other equipment are you running?

+1. I've been thinking about going that route on the 120 when I set it up.

 

[zombiereef]

i have always fed light to not create a lot of pollution in the tank. i guess a few years ago it was the "in thing" to have really clean water. who would have thunk? thats it, i think i will take the skimmer out and see how it goes for a month or two.

 

[zombiereef]

i also have a decent sized crocea in there that would also eat a lot of crud. add a skimmer and a deep sand bed and nitrates dont have a chance.

 

[porthios]

i run carbon in a reactor and have the following subsystems plumbed into the 525 display..

75g macro tank (ssb, caluerpa profilica, sargassum, euphyllia and montipora digitata)
90g rdsb (which i'd planned on making a seagrass tank. haven't got to it..)
58g qt (ssb, live rock and some calustrea)
100g rubbermaid sump (live rock and chaeto)

it's my only system currently and has only been up for about 10mos but no3 tests 0 (salifert and lamotte) and po4 tests .03 (hanna photometer thinga-ma-bobber..). i don't do water changes unless i think there's something that needs correcting. i've run a few tanks this way (although i'll do wc's if i'm not using carbon) and had good luck with it.

there's more in my build thread. nutrients are the easy part for me. ca/alk/ph are giving me fits ..

ymmv of course

 

[dv3]

how often do you need to change your carbon?
i dont think your build link is working

 

[porthios]

hmm.. click on my name, then 'visit porthios' homepage'. seems to work for me atm. though it drops you in some random spot within the thread..

i don't have a solid answer to your carbon question yet because i just switched to a larger reactor. the current one holds 12cups of rox 8.0 and i'm hoping it'll last me a month or more. i typically just let it run til i notice the water starting to yellow a bit..