Thinking of going skimmerless.

[marinelife]

Having no skimmer on my tank with all SPS I will say it can be done but I would recommend you slowly remove the skimmer by running it shorter periods of time each day.
I feel the corals would reach badly to a sudden change.

 

[Electrobes]

Out of curiosity, are you running an Carbon? I've had a similar issue recently. I have a good number of leathers and I just started running carbon again (Albeit not much) and I've noticed the zoos poking their heads out more. It's too short of time to make any definitive statements about it (It's only been about a week) but I am obviously hoping for the best.

Of stranger note is that it's only my zoos that seem to be at a standstill in terms of growth. The paly's look great, and while growing some, their own growth has been slowed for a while.

My basic theory is that the much larger leathers are battling with some of the other LPS', and probably tossing toxins into the water column. I do a bi-weekly waterchange, which may not be enough in extracting the toxins out.. hence the reintroduction of carbon.

Time will tell.

 

[Eric45]

What test kits are you using for PO and Nitrate?

 

[Palting]

I used IO Reefmaster and the LFS used Salifert, Eric. I use GAC, 24/7, Christian.

I've decided to go slow. You guys are scaring me a little . First, I've cut back water changes to once every two weeks. Let's see what that does. If that's inadequate after a month, I'll put the skimmer on a timer, 12 hours on, 12 hours off. I'll flip a coin to see which 12 hours is which. If that's still inadequate for the softies, and the SPS are doing fine, then I'll take the skimmer off.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

So, I'm thinking, why not take the skimmer off line and see what happens? Better than throwing more food in, only to have the skimmer take it out, yes?

no.

Better to (theoretically) "over skim" and feed more than remove or reduce protein skimming.

Post a pic of your reef aquarium!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Putting it on a timer sounds like a good idea. Similar to downgrading, except no additional expense of a new skimmer

putting a skimmer on a timer is a terrible idea. All that crud will ferment in the skimmer body while it's turned off. This is one of the major problems when power comes back up after a power outage.

 

[dave sullivan]

Generally acro's and soft corals are from different parts of the oceans. Perhaps you need two different tanks. However, I have never had problems with zoo's and acro's living together. Have a great day!

 

[Saltydrip]

Either way you look at it, if he adds more food or removes the skimmer he will get the same result.

I would turn off the skimmer and just have a large water change on hand in case you need it. Just test as often as possible, several times a day. Make a chart to monitor your parameters until you know things are leveling out. If there is a sudden change, do a water change and fire the skimmer back up.

 

[greech]

no.

Better to (theoretically) "over skim" and feed more than remove or reduce protein skimming.

Post a pic of your reef aquarium!

Completely agree. I made this mistake once and will never do it again. Mixed reef is probably the toughest thing to do. I would much rather have to overfeed than deal with the keeping algae at bay. When I backed off skimming, my tank took a quick turn. I feel my tank is lightly stocked and i feed very little daily. Always do 15% a minimum water change weekly. GF) and carbon in a reactor 24/7. All I did was reduce skimming and had a pretty bad outbreak of turf algae/bubble algae. Tank has recovered but it was a crap load of work!

 

[Palting]

no.

Better to (theoretically) "over skim" and feed more than remove or reduce protein skimming.

Post a pic of your reef aquarium!

C'mon, now. You didn't ask for just "a" pic, did 'ya?

 

[Palting]

putting a skimmer on a timer is a terrible idea. All that crud will ferment in the skimmer body while it's turned off. This is one of the major problems when power comes back up after a power outage.

Hmm. Something to think about. I think you're right. Better to just take it off completely, if I do it.

 

[sponger0]

putting a skimmer on a timer is a terrible idea. All that crud will ferment in the skimmer body while it's turned off. This is one of the major problems when power comes back up after a power outage.

This wasnt a problem for someone local to me. He actually had to down grade his skimmer and he would run it on a timer during the day. It was too powerful for his tank.

 

[Palting]

Generally acro's and soft corals are from different parts of the oceans. Perhaps you need two different tanks. However, I have never had problems with zoo's and acro's living together. Have a great day!

The problem is I like the look of a mixed reef. That's the challenge, finding a "happy medium", if there even is one. I already have a second tank, a FOWLR, since I also wanted non-reef safe fish. I can't see myself maintaining 3 tanks. Working kinda gets in the way . Maybe when I retire :beer:

 

[Palting]

Completely agree. I made this mistake once and will never do it again. Mixed reef is probably the toughest thing to do. I would much rather have to overfeed than deal with the keeping algae at bay. When I backed off skimming, my tank took a quick turn. I feel my tank is lightly stocked and i feed very little daily. Always do 15% a minimum water change weekly. GF) and carbon in a reactor 24/7. All I did was reduce skimming and had a pretty bad outbreak of turf algae/bubble algae. Tank has recovered but it was a crap load of work!

Wow. I guess that's one more point to the "no" column. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Either way you look at it, if he adds more food or removes the skimmer he will get the same result

this is incorrect

Beautiful aquarium, Palting

 

[Saltydrip]

How is that incorrect? In stead of over feeding he can feed the correct amount and reduce waste. Lots of people run without skimmers. I was pinching pennies saving up for a skimmer and then one day asked myself why?? My tank is healthy, everything is growing nicely and I'm not wasting money. Granted I have about half my DT volume in fuge so I do have a great neutrient export system,

 

[greech]

Nice tank. Corals look healthy!

Do you ever vacuum your sand? It looks fairly coarse and am thinking it might trap a fair amount of detritus. Its also not all that great for burrowing sand cleaners. Have you ever considered siphoning any out ann adding back a thin finer grain sand. I like black sand too but I have never seen it in a finer grain (something like figi pink or aragmax select).

The overall flow of the tank got much better when I took my sandbed down to a thin layer. More worms and critters in your sand and its easier for them to get through .

 

[Palting]

I used to vacuum the sand with each water change. Sounded like a good idea at the time. Then I read that bacteria and little critters reside in there, adding to the biofiltration and biodiversity, overall adding to the health of the tank. So, I haven't vacuumed for the last 2 years! I will occasionally run a wooden dowel through and stir it, but I do that more to feed the mandarins rather than cleaning the substrate. They will follow that wooden dowel, and peck at the critters that the wooden dowel brings up. Pretty cute, actually. I do have a lot of flow going across the substrate, I don't seem to have any detritus accumulation, no nitrate spike of any sort when I stir it, so I continue to not vacuum it for the above reasons.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

This wasnt a problem for someone local to me. He actually had to down grade his skimmer and he would run it on a timer during the day. It was too powerful for his tank.

we make our own problems