Skimmerless?

[MayoBoy]

Anyone here going skimmerless?

If so, how long has it been?

What do you do to compensate (phos. reactor, carbon reactor, etc)?

 

[Shooter7]

I have a skimmerless 10g. Does that count?

 

[beapeams]

I went skimmerless for about 2-3 months and did not see a difference in water quality with my various test. But my original skimmer was a undersized for my system. The one I have now is oversized. I now am seeing a good drop in nitrates.

 

[jwalters103]

i ran skimmerless for 5 or 6 years and had great success. i used nothing else to compensate. i only added a skimmer after i had battled bryopsis for a year and couldnt get rid of it and now that ive gone to sps, i do run a skimmer. personally, i think that running skimmerless is key to keeping a lot of leathers and lps that people consider impossible. i had a carnation coral split in two and a goniopora that fluorished for about a year until it got a brown jelly infection, and most people say that any success with these two corals is impossible

 

[saltyunderground]

We did skimmerless for a couple of years. The trick was not too many fish and to not overfeed.

 

[McBeck]

I've always been skimmerless. I don't do anything to compensate and I rarely do water changes.

I added an undersized skimmer to The Tub about a year ago, but I don't run it constantly. I haven't been as successful w/ macro in The Tub, which was my main reason for adding the skimmer. I keep mostly LPS and a funky pink SPS that seems to like the unskimmed water. I also keep a fairly low bio-load.

I think skimming factors in to what you plan to keep just as much as your lighting choice. Feather dusters, LPS, clams, mandarins & potters angels seem to do well in "dirty" water.

 

[kpc01]

Mines skimmerless, I don't do anything to supplement it, but will check my levels every once and a while. I have a small skimmer but my pump recently broke. I have some sps that dont have good polyp extension, I actually am FINALLY in the market for a skimmer since I got my taxes!

 

[MayoBoy]

Thanks everyone. I have 2 reactors ordered (1 phosban, 1 carbon) so after they're hooked up and running, I might try unplugging the skimmer for a couple of months to see what happens. (I also have to get around to building an ozone reactor one of these days.)