skimmerless 40 breeder

[golferbud101691]

So..My girlfriend wants a saltwater aquarium. Damnit, i knew this was going to happen. Anyway, shes been doing the fw thing for about 2 years now. We do not live together and she takes care of her own tank just like I take care of mine. She's terrified of a skimmer. The foam head, overflow, maintenance, smell, everything scares her. I have a 40 breeder, and 10 gallon sump lying around. What do you guys think about drilling the 40, making the skimmer section of the sump a fuge, and running some carbon? Maybe like 3-4 small fish, inverts, cool macro/gorgonians in the display? Ive got an orbit marine light too that she could use. My concern is if the 10 gallon is big enough..with the baffles, the section is about 5 gallons..thoughts?

 

[golferbud101691]

Bump

 

[thegrun]

You can certainly run the tank without a skimmer as long as you (or she) keeps up with the water changes. I don't think a 10 gallon tank is going to be big enough to handle the drain down water when the return pump is off. I would pick up a 20 gallon tank and use it.

 

[Art13]

i've seen a 10g on a 40b, apparently it worked, but there wasn't much room at all in it, i would rec the 20g long tank, would give you the room and they are cheap. I'm not too sure why a skimmer would bug her so much, if you put it in the sump, even if it overflows its not going on the ground at that point.

 

[golferbud101691]

I ran a 40 breeder with a 10 gal sump for a while. The drainage was fine with a siphon break. I'm more concerned about the fuge space being enough. The skimmer issue is one I'm not going to argue with her any more about. I've told her it would increase her odds for success, but she's not comfortable with it and I know if she's not comfortable with it, I'll be the one taking care of it.

 

[Art13]

I'd say its possible with plenty of algae, i ran a freshwater tank at one point, a little different but same idea to use plants as a filter, i would rarely ever touch that tank, accept to feed it. Maybe a water change once or twice a year, that was about it. The only filtration i used was i filled a canister filter with matrix and used it as a bio filter, same idea that live rock will do for a saltwater tank, never had to touch it.

 

[Devaji108]

why not to a up flow ATS. that is what I am doing on my 40br ( not 100% up and running cycling now for 3 weeks )

but it a good option IMHO

 

[CStrickland]

I don't run a skimmer on my tank. I've just been putting it off until I felt like I needed it to keep the water clean, and so far what I've got has been working out fine. I have a filter sock that I change every other day, and I vacuum the poop out of the sand every week when I change the water. I only have 6 smallish fish in a 55, it gets a lot harder to maintain the water when your tank is crowded. I probably couldn't grow sps but I like softies and lps better anyway.

A sump is great to hide equipment in, the extra space in mine makes it easy to remove poop that settles in there too.