Going Skimmerless

benapilot · Nov 9, 2015

Greeting R2R!

I seem to have a curious conundrum....

My skimmer pump died today. The problems started a few months ago with it would fail to restart after a power interruption. I'd have to remove the cover and give it a nudge to get it going. Today after not being able to get it going, I took the pump out and found the shaft sheared. I'm not sure if it was the impeller magnet ($) or the pump itself ($$). Either way it's going to cost some money to get back up and running.

My dilemma is this: I'm in the process of upgrading to a 75 gallon. I've got a Vertex Omega 130 on order with my LFS that, unfortunately, will not fit in my current sump. I really don't want to spend any money on my current 46 gal that I'm going to be tearing down sometime after the holidays.

Can I go skimmerless for a couple months???

wpeterson · Nov 9, 2015

It's a tough question to answer: maybe?

What is your current nutrient export regimen? Some folks are successful with no protein skimmer, either because they have an alternative regime of nutrient export (big water changes? big refugium?) or have a system that's tolerant of higher levels of nitrate/phosphate. What are you nitrate and phosphate levels today? How much do you feed? How heavy is your bio load?

If you have a lot of sensitive SPS, you're probably going to have a bad time if you lose a strong nutrient export source in your system. If you have an LPS/softy tank with a small number of fish, you may be able to run higher nutrients and experience great LPS/zoa growth.

stunreefer · Nov 9, 2015

You could likely order a new replacement shaft for cheap. Would get your current skimmer running again. Contact the retailer/distributor/manufacturer of skimmer to find out more.

Or you could implement more frequent water changes to keep the system going in the meantime.

Triggreef · Nov 9, 2015

You'll be perfectly fine. Keep testing and if you see anything start to climb, fix it. Lanthanum chloride works great for po4 and no3 never really hurt anything anyway.

benapilot · Nov 9, 2015

Thanks for the replies. I'll just go without and see what happens.

I have mostly LPS and softies, half a dozen fish auto-fed with NLS pellets. Auto water change does about a gallon three days a week. Running Carbon and GFO. Phosphates at zero, Nitrates around 10ppm.