Skimmerless Tank Pics/Info

[ApoIsland]

Curious to see some pics and get some info from everyone who is running a tank without a skimmer.

Hoping everyone can load a pic of their display tank and also their sump and provide the following info:

1. size of display tank
2. size of sump
3. fish stock
4. what food and how much goes in the tank
5. any other filtration you use
6. water change schedule
7. how long have you been skimmerless

I'll start
1. 120g display
2. 40g sump
3. Yellow Tang, Blue Tang, Sailfin Tang, Kole Tang, Marine Beta, Royal Gramma, Longnose Hawk, Potters Wrasse, Zebra Barred Goby, Copper Banded, File Fish.
4. Feed 1.5 cubes of regular frozen mysis daily. Also daily a 1 inch by 1 inch piece of red seaweed hand fed to the Sailfin tang since he is the runt of the litter.
5. No mechanical filtration
6. Change 65 gallons once every 4-6 weeks.
7. Skimmerless for 7 years now.

Thank you in advance to everyone who participates.

 

[vlangel]

I also have a skimmerless mixed reef. It's a 56 gallon column display that overflows into a basement 30 gallon XH fuge that overflows into a 20 gallon long DIY sump. Originally it was only the 56 gallon as an AIO but when I took down my Seahorse tank (the 30 gallon XH and sump) I made everything all one system.

Currently the display has 13 fish, 2 pajama cardinals, 2 barnacle blennies, 2 green citron gobies, a yellow head venomous blenny, a linear blenny, a orange spot blenny, a royal gramma, an ocellaris clownfish, a carpenter wrasse and firefish goby. I also have a cleaner, a coral banded and 2 peppermint shrimp some nassarius snails and a hermit crab. I feed a cube of frozen everyday plus either flakes, or pellets. 3Xs a week I add some sort of coral food. In the 30 gallon fuge I have a seahorse that I feed frozen mysis every day and also live ghost shrimp.

I have non photosynthetic gorgs, feather dusters worms, and a clam that filter feed. Also there are ornamental macro algae in the display and caulerpa in the fuge. The rest of the coral are predominantly LPS but some softies and a few SPS too.

I do a 7 gallon water change every week. I add a capful of either strontium or coral vote after the water change.

The display tank has been skimmerless for about 2 years.

Shared album from Dawn 📸

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

 

[Victor_C3]

I’m currently in the process of setting up a skimmerless system. I’ve read quite a bit about cryptic filtration over the last 10 or so years and I’ve decided that my current system will be setup along those lines.

When I get my display tank, it will hold about 90 gallons and might hold about 50-60 pounds of rock and a 2” sandbed. My sump has been cycling since the first week of February and currently has 125 gallons of water volume and 210 pounds of rock in it. I’ve separated it into three different zones, an algae refugium zone, a cryptic zone, and a semi-cryptic zone.

Water from the display tank enters the sump in the semi-cryptic zones be which will eventually house a robust population of Aptasia and other filter feeders. They will serve to remove larger particulates from the water column. From there, the entire flow will pass into the algae refugium. A small portion of the flow will pass into the cryptic filtration area and the rest of the water volume will be directed into the return area of the sump.

In the return area, I’m using a media bag filled activated carbon passively. Other than that, no mechanical filtration of other media will be used.

I have more detail in my build thread, but this is the rough concept for what I have planned.

 

[ApoIsland]

I also have a skimmerless mixed reef. It's a 56 gallon column display that overflows into a basement 30 gallon XH fuge that overflows into a 20 gallon long DIY sump. Originally it was only the 56 gallon as an AIO but when I took down my Seahorse tank (the 30 gallon XH and sump) I made everything all one system.

Currently the display has 13 fish, 2 pajama cardinals, 2 barnacle blennies, 2 green citron gobies, a yellow head venomous blenny, a linear blenny, a orange spot blenny, a royal gramma, an ocellaris clownfish, a carpenter wrasse and firefish goby. I also have a cleaner, a coral banded and 2 peppermint shrimp some nassarius snails and a hermit crab. I feed a cube of frozen everyday plus either flakes, or pellets. 3Xs a week I add some sort of coral food. In the 30 gallon fuge I have a seahorse that I feed frozen mysis every day and also live ghost shrimp.

I have non photosynthetic gorgs, feather dusters worms, and a clam that filter feed. Also there are ornamental macro algae in the display and caulerpa in the fuge. The rest of the coral are predominantly LPS but some softies and a few SPS too.

I do a 7 gallon water change every week. I add a capful of either strontium or coral vote after the water change.

The display tank has been skimmerless for about 2 years.

Shared album from Dawn 📸

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

Great tank. Awesome reefscape. I love the elevation change!!

 

[ApoIsland]

I’m currently in the process of setting up a skimmerless system. I’ve read quite a bit about cryptic filtration over the last 10 or so years and I’ve decided that my current system will be setup along those lines.

When I get my display tank, it will hold about 90 gallons and might hold about 50-60 pounds of rock and a 2” sandbed. My sump has been cycling since the first week of February and currently has 125 gallons of water volume and 210 pounds of rock in it. I’ve separated it into three different zones, an algae refugium zone, a cryptic zone, and a semi-cryptic zone.

Water from the display tank enters the sump in the semi-cryptic zones be which will eventually house a robust population of Aptasia and other filter feeders. They will serve to remove larger particulates from the water column. From there, the entire flow will pass into the algae refugium. A small portion of the flow will pass into the cryptic filtration area and the rest of the water volume will be directed into the return area of the sump.

In the return area, I’m using a media bag filled activated carbon passively. Other than that, no mechanical filtration of other media will be used.

I have more detail in my build thread, but this is the rough concept for what I have planned.

I'm excited to see the finished product!!. When I start the remodel on my place im going to tear this tank down and probably copy your sump design Thanks for sharing.

 

[Paulie069]

Curious to see some pics and get some info from everyone who is running a tank without a skimmer.

Hoping everyone can load a pic of their display tank and also their sump and provide the following info:

1. size of display tank
2. size of sump
3. fish stock
4. what food and how much goes in the tank
5. any other filtration you use
6. water change schedule
7. how long have you been skimmerless

I'll start
1. 120g display
2. 40g sump
3. Yellow Tang, Blue Tang, Sailfin Tang, Kole Tang, Marine Beta, Royal Gramma, Longnose Hawk, Potters Wrasse, Zebra Barred Goby, Copper Banded, File Fish.
4. Feed 1.5 cubes of regular frozen mysis daily. Also daily a 1 inch by 1 inch piece of red seaweed hand fed to the Sailfin tang since he is the runt of the litter.
5. No mechanical filtration
6. Change 65 gallons once every 4-6 weeks.
7. Skimmerless for 7 years now.

Thank you in advance to everyone who participates.

Wow brother that is gorgeous Tank it just makes me wonder if my tank will look as good someday I’m basically only on month number 4 so I’ve got a loooong time ahead yet

 

[ApoIsland]

Thanks. I'm sure it will someday. I dig your seahorses!

 

[Paulie069]

I also have a skimmerless mixed reef. It's a 56 gallon column display that overflows into a basement 30 gallon XH fuge that overflows into a 20 gallon long DIY sump. Originally it was only the 56 gallon as an AIO but when I took down my Seahorse tank (the 30 gallon XH and sump) I made everything all one system.

Currently the display has 13 fish, 2 pajama cardinals, 2 barnacle blennies, 2 green citron gobies, a yellow head venomous blenny, a linear blenny, a orange spot blenny, a royal gramma, an ocellaris clownfish, a carpenter wrasse and firefish goby. I also have a cleaner, a coral banded and 2 peppermint shrimp some nassarius snails and a hermit crab. I feed a cube of frozen everyday plus either flakes, or pellets. 3Xs a week I add some sort of coral food. In the 30 gallon fuge I have a seahorse that I feed frozen mysis every day and also live ghost shrimp.

I have non photosynthetic gorgs, feather dusters worms, and a clam that filter feed. Also there are ornamental macro algae in the display and caulerpa in the fuge. The rest of the coral are predominantly LPS but some softies and a few SPS too.

I do a 7 gallon water change every week. I add a capful of either strontium or coral vote after the water change.

The display tank has been skimmerless for about 2 years.

Shared album from Dawn 📸

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

Great tank love the music video lol

 

[Paulie069]

Thanks. I'm sure it will someday. I dig your seahorses!

Thanks there is 16-18 of them in there,, I lost count because I have a heavy rotation

 

[GeoSquid]

Curious to see some pics and get some info from everyone who is running a tank without a skimmer.

Hoping everyone can load a pic of their display tank and also their sump and provide the following info:

1. size of display tank
2. size of sump
3. fish stock
4. what food and how much goes in the tank
5. any other filtration you use
6. water change schedule
7. how long have you been skimmerless

I'll start
1. 120g display
2. 40g sump
3. Yellow Tang, Blue Tang, Sailfin Tang, Kole Tang, Marine Beta, Royal Gramma, Longnose Hawk, Potters Wrasse, Zebra Barred Goby, Copper Banded, File Fish.
4. Feed 1.5 cubes of regular frozen mysis daily. Also daily a 1 inch by 1 inch piece of red seaweed hand fed to the Sailfin tang since he is the runt of the litter.
5. No mechanical filtration
6. Change 65 gallons once every 4-6 weeks.
7. Skimmerless for 7 years now.

Thank you in advance to everyone who participates.

What if any filtration are you using? You mentioned a 40 gallon sump.

 

[Victor_C3]

I'm excited to see the finished product!!. When I start the remodel on my place im going to tear this tank down and probably copy your sump design Thanks for sharing.

Before you do, be sure glance through my build thread. I’m generally happy with my sump design and the build of the plywood tank, but I intend to build version 2 of the sump in the next month or two.

The nice thing with a plywood sump is it is relatively cheap to build. If you’re unhappy with it, just build it again!

 

[ApoIsland]

What if any filtration are you using? You mentioned a 40 gallon sump.

Just a bunch of rock in the sump. No filtration. I do pull a couple handfulls of hair algae from the sump during water change. So I guess it's kind of like a nuisance algae scrubber down there.

 

[ApoIsland]

Before you do, be sure glance through my build thread. I’m generally happy with my sump design and the build of the plywood tank, but I intend to build version 2 of the sump in the next month or two.

The nice thing with a plywood sump is it is relatively cheap to build. If you’re unhappy with it, just build it again!

I'm not a competent builder so I'll buy a large used tank and turn it into a sump

 

[vlangel]

Great tank. Awesome reefscape. I love the elevation change!!

Thanks! Yes the elevation change both helps me utilize the height of my display tank and also gave me a DSB when this tank was an AIO. I like the looks of it too however.

I love the vibrant colors in your tank. I like your fish selection too. I love tangs and also hawkfish, especially the longnose.

Kudos to you for having such a great tank that has proven longevity without a skimmer. It helps folks learn that a great tank can be had without all the fancy equipment and that simplicity can be beautiful!