making an awesome reef without a sump or refugium

[Tommy's Reef]

So I got an awesome reef in the making, I have 110 fluval hob filter and a huge 210 rated gallon hob protein skimmer so I've had the tank established for over a year but recently I've changed it to a reef tank it was a fish only it's been about 3 months since the changes I've noticed though I don't think I can do it without a sump and fuge though cause with the fish only I had nitrates at like 160 but now making it a reef I've got them down to 10 I've taken out fish moved rocks around got phosphate almost not detectable but I've notice diatoms keep coming up cause I don't have a nutrient export like a fuge I run carbon and phosban but it's not, diatoms not bad nitrates will not go down any further but I know they're from extra nutrients in the water that macro can take out. So running a reef with no fuge nutrient export, is not possible unless you want to deal with a little algae, which I don't any thoughts??

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Anyone got a perfect reef without a nutrient export??

 

[Bdog4u2]

Get a gfo reactor. They make hob ones.

 

[human]

Water changes every week, my first reef tank was a 75G with no skimmer or sump, bc I was a poor kid, it was up for 15yrs that way. I only had 5 fish and didn't overfeed to keep nutrients down. You could get some shaving brush and mermaid fan macros for your tank to help absorb nutrients, they are unique looking also.

 

[reef lover]

It can b done here's a shot of my 55 before everything got moved to the 120. No sump everything was hob and I aggressively exported nutrients.

 

[3dees]

due to back issues, my 120 gal. softie/lps tank is sumpless. I don't dose anything. 2 1/2 years and so far everything is good. I get a little diatoms on the sand and glass. thinking of getting a hob phosphate reactor.

 

[Tommy's Reef]

I hear what yall are saying i run phosguard ( I said phosban in my first post but I meant phosguard) due to having bad diatoms pop up a bout 3 months ago there gone but I can see with no macro algae in the tank, algae and diatoms are still trying to take a foot they come one day and are gone the next cause they are starving out. I mean sum times I won't see them for a week but they creep up for a day and then disappear on there own the next

 

[Tommy's Reef]

I feel like putting sum kind of little fuge on there with macroalgae will keep them from every popping up

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Phosguard is great to get rid of the stuff I mean it works amazing but you need to change it every 4 days or diatoms sneak up (in my tank anyways) so I feel like a fuge gets completely rid of thee nutrients since the macro algae competes with the diatoms and other algae, what Evers bigger usaly wins

 

[Tommy's Reef]

I'm ordering the cpr hob refugium so I'll let yall know how it goes in 2 weeks

 

[Wesley42079]

due to back issues, my 120 gal. softie/lps tank is sumpless. I don't dose anything. 2 1/2 years and so far everything is good. I get a little diatoms on the sand and glass. thinking of getting a hob phosphate reactor.

Beautiful tank setup. It looks razor sharp.

I'm going to have to checkout your build thread.

 

[Chrisfish]

due to back issues, my 120 gal. softie/lps tank is sumpless. I don't dose anything. 2 1/2 years and so far everything is good. I get a little diatoms on the sand and glass. thinking of getting a hob phosphate reactor.

Really awesome tank!!

 

[reefrider777]

This is my sumpless closed loop 75. Its been up and running for 13+ years.

 

[Chrisfish]

This is my sumpless closed loop 75. Its been up and running for 13+ years.

Really beautiful!

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Dang 3dees there's alot of flesh in there and it looks like a heavy bio load, amazing your not having no algae growth or dirty water due to not having nothing to suck up the nutrients like algae

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Yeah bdog4u2 still gfo will only get so much out people still usaly need macros help to get no unwanted algae

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Reef rider777 what do u dose though (like nopox gfo)

 

[New2Saltwater]

due to back issues, my 120 gal. softie/lps tank is sumpless. I don't dose anything. 2 1/2 years and so far everything is good. I get a little diatoms on the sand and glass. thinking of getting a hob phosphate reactor.

Nice!

 

[reefrider777]

Reef rider777 what do u dose though (like nopox gfo)

I have always just topped off with Kalk and do a 10% weekly water change (religiously). I just started using 2 dosing pumps for ALK and CA, January 1st. I don't supplement anything else...

 

[dbrewsky]

Any aquarium management concept can produce excellent results. The key in any system starts with planning. If you fill a new tank quickly with way too many fish and want to immediately keep SPS corals that have the characteristic pastel colors of a ULNS/Zeovit system with minimal water changes or maintenance then you will be wondering why you have failed.

My recommendation is ensure you bolster your biological filtration with appropriate rock and/or sand arranged in away that waste remains suspended. Then stock the tank SLOWLY and with way less fish than you might be thinking. Design your system so that water changes are effortless- either automatically or so all you need to do is throw a few valves. Keep an eye on the tank and recognize issues before they spiral out of control and you will be successful. Stick to a plan and you will be able to achieve your goals.