Refugium only sump

[Alexander Lucas]

Wondering how many successful refs are just running refugium with no skimmer I'm thinking of trying to run a reefer 250 with only refugium just wondering if anyone has any pointers or experiences

 

[sikorskys]

Having a skimmer is much safer in case of disaster. And it helps with aeration, preventing a disaster in some cases.

Just buy one, even you don't want to use it for now

 

[Alexander Lucas]

Yeah it's just there isn't much room in the sump so it's kind of one or the other, and i was thinking if throwing a good size air stone in the sump in a couple spots for O2, I dont know of any skimmers small enough to fit in the return pump chamber on the reefer 250

 

[Alexander Lucas]

 

[PDR]

I ran what I would consider a successful reef for almost 3 years without a skimmer. I recently got rid of the fuge and went with a skimmer. I like how clean the sump is without the fuge, but I do miss some of the benefits.

Are you primarily wanting to run the fuge for nutrient reduction or for microfauna? Are you planning on heavily stocking your tank?

 

[Chris Villalobos]

I'm running no skimmer but found out that I have a lot of Organic Nitrogen in the water even though my NO3 reads close to zero. All those organics that are only partially decomposed will never show up in an NO3 test. Is this a cause for concern? Maybe my cyano and dinoflagellate problems are caused by high organic nitrogen sources.