No skimmer for zoas?

[KellyCorals]

I have been thinking about unplugging my skimmer for a while to see if it helps my zoas. Anybody have any experience with this? I see some nano tanks that run no skimmer and they seem to have zoas that open fully and grow better. I’m worried about affecting the fish of course. What do you think?

 

[4tanks]

No skimmer here my little garden is doing nice but could be a million other reasons tho

 

[Oscar47f]

Your skimmer should not be your primary filtration but something that helps your Bacteria with the bioload so instead of shutting it off put it on a timer and maybe run it 12 hrs instead of 24hrs and such you know ? That way you can slowly increase the nutrients minimizing fish stress and coral stress

 

[KellyCorals]

I like the idea of 12 / 12 with the skimmer. At least that way I can see how everything adjusts. I have a lot of bio blocks / bio pellets from maxspect that I added recently along with some old school bio balls. So I’m thinking I should have enough filtration. I also run floss and small amount of cheto and carbon bags / phosban reactor. So I’m starting to think maybe the skimmer is just pulling too much out.

 

[KellyCorals]

No skimmer here my little garden is doing nice but could be a million other reasons tho

Yeah that’s how I want mine to look! They look happy!

 

[Pistondog]

I have been thinking about unplugging my skimmer for a while to see if it helps my zoas. Anybody have any experience with this? I see some nano tanks that run no skimmer and they seem to have zoas that open fully and grow better. I’m worried about affecting the fish of course. What do you think?

Daughters marinecube 11 gal has best zoas, very frilly. I attributed this to the clown pair that host in the zoa garden, rubbing the polyps.
No skimmer, but an algea scrubber (hog2) with bubbler, which aids oxidation.
How does running a skimmer hurt zoas?

 

[sikorskys]

Skimmer is used to get nitrates and phosphates under control. Test for it and you'll see if you really need it.

I turned my Nyos 120 off, since I want my nutrients to be detectable. That said, being skimmerless is not the best option. Tuning it to be less effective is way better.

 

[KellyCorals]

Daughters marinecube 11 gal has best zoas, very frilly. I attributed this to the clown pair that host in the zoa garden, rubbing the polyps.
No skimmer, but an algea scrubber (hog2) with bubbler, which aids oxidation.
How does running a skimmer hurt zoas?

The skimmer doesn’t “hurt” zoas but what I’m thinking is my water might be a little too clean and no nutrients left for the zoas to feed on. I agree some of the best zoas I’ve seen are in nano tanks. I was checking out the hog scrubbers and honestly might be my next investment. Thanks for the input

 

[Pistondog]

Skimmer is used to get nitrates and phosphates under control. Test for it and you'll see if you really need it.

I turned my Nyos 120 off, since I want my nutrients to be detectable. That said, being skimmerless is not the best option. Tuning it to be less effective is way better.

In our case, the tank nutrients are undetectable anyway, maybe due to scrubber. So the idea that zoas thrive in dirtier water, is not the reason in this case. But you are right, that is a prevalent opinion.

 

[Pistondog]

The skimmer doesn’t “hurt” zoas but what I’m thinking is my water might be a little too clean and no nutrients left for the zoas to feed on. I agree some of the best zoas I’ve seen are in nano tanks. I was checking out the hog scrubbers and honestly might be my next investment. Thanks for the input

What are your nitrates and phosphate levels

 

[KellyCorals]

Nitrates at 10 and phosphates at 0. Oscar, I rolled with your idea and hooked my skimmer up to a timer. It runs 6 hours on and 6 off now and alternates with the light for the cheato. We’ll see how it goes!