30 gallon w/o skimmer? low stock

[Scotty LaBeouf]

Hey there,

Ive decided I want to set up my 30 gallon custom again. Although... I forgot I sold my skimmer My plan is very easy coral (zoas and such), yasha and candy shrimp pair, and inverts for cleaning, soooo low stock basically. Whats your thoughts/suggestions?


ps. I have my sand from when I took it down in a 5 gallon bucket from about a year ago, still usable?

 

[ZoWhat]

Feed lightly and accordingly. Do a 5g water change every 2 weeks and lifes beautiful



.

 

[Scotty LaBeouf]

Feed lightly and accordingly. Do a 5g water change every 2 weeks and lifes beautiful



.

Thanks for the reply! This may sound hypocritical, but my goal would be to minimize water changes, so is there a skimmer you would recommend? I had a bubble magus curve 5 running originally, but would prefer not to shell out that much dough. Are there any good skimmers that would work for under $100?

 

[User1]

Depends on the layout of the tank. On my 40 breeder and earlier 29 gallon bio cube I used a CPU Bak Pak. Maybe a bit out of price range but you can look for used. I've had good luck with them and it is the one I'm using to set up a QT tank.

You don't need a skimmer though like @skimjim notes. Just comes to down to planning and what you are, are not, willing to do. But really not necessary. Check out the nano sub forum - lots of tanks to check out and see what they are doing.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Hey there,

Ive decided I want to set up my 30 gallon custom again. Although... I forgot I sold my skimmer My plan is very easy coral (zoas and such), yasha and candy shrimp pair, and inverts for cleaning, soooo low stock basically. Whats your thoughts/suggestions?


ps. I have my sand from when I took it down in a 5 gallon bucket from about a year ago, still usable?

Have on hand for emergency , ammonia detoxify. Prime, or Fritz

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Why not do bi weekly 5g wayer changes? Its cheap and highly effective at removing nutrients and replacing major and minor trace minerals. Ime a skimmer in a tank under 50g is just not worth it. Yes you can reuse your old sand just rinsemit really well. Melevs reef has a good you tube vid on cleaning old sand.

 

[Scotty LaBeouf]

Why not do bi weekly 5g wayer changes? Its cheap and highly effective at removing nutrients and replacing major and minor trace minerals. Ime a skimmer in a tank under 50g is just not worth it. Yes you can reuse your old sand just rinsemit really well. Melevs reef has a good you tube vid on cleaning old sand.

Just watched the video. He rinsed it with a garden hose and put the sand right back in? Is that safe? Or should it be dried first?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Depending on your setup, you don't always have to have a skimmer. Or even a sump for that matter.

I ran a thriving 40g w/o a skimmer or sump for nearly two years. My only filtration was a Fluval 306 canister filter. I kept purigen and chemi-pure blue on the top tray and bio-home ultimate ceramic in the middle and bottom trays. I cleaned the filter every 6 weeks and replaced the twin 11oz chemi-pure pouches each time as well as put in a pair of freshly regenerated purigen pouches. The only other thing I did was maintain regular 10% weekly to 20% biweekly water changes.