To Skim or Not to Skim

[Jim Fox]

My skimmer final went out after 7 years of use so I'm thinking about going skimmerless. I have a 150g DT with mushrooms, cauliflower, monti plates, a couple of leathers, trumpet corals, and some SPS. I have a in my opinion a heavy bioload (1 foxface, 1 yellow tang, 1 hippo tang, 3 pajamas, 2 clowns, 1 firefish, 1 chromis, 1 royal beauty, 1 leopard wrasse, 1 scooter blenny, and 1 royal gramma. I have about 200lbs of rock in the DT and another 50lbs in the 40g sump (cryptic zone, no light or macro algae). This tank is over 2 years old and everything in it transferred from my 75g that was 6 years old (minus of those fish of course). My tests result are .03 to .04 Phosphates and I don't test for Nitrates because there isn't any algae to speak of. I do a continuous water change of 2 gallons a day.

My question is, do you think it is ok to go skimmerless? Do you think by going skimmerless I should up my water changes from 2 gallons a day to maybe 2.5 or 3 gallons a day? Let me know your thoughts please, thanks!

Jim

 

[Silent]

You absolutely could go without, with the possibility of negatives though. You might need to reduce feedings for a while to balance things out so algae don't get a foot hold. With reduced feedings you might stress the fish. Have you quarantined properly?

 

[Jim Fox]

Thanks for the reply Silent. I can cut back on the feedings some for a little while for sure. I'll probably increase the water changes to 2.5g just for good measure. As far as the fish go, I haven't bought a fish in well over a year but I do appreciate the advice.

 

[eschaton]

I mean, skimmate is basically food for something. Ending skimming abruptly can cause an algae spike, because nuisance algae is the quickest thing to reproduce in a tank. However eventually the tank should stabilize, with things like small sponges, vermetid snails, and other filter feeders proliferating.

If I were you I might consider throwing a light on in your sump and sticking some chaeto in there for awhile, basically turning it into a fuge. But you might already have dark-adapted fauna down there which are thriving which could be negatively impacted.

 

[Justin Cook]

I've known quite a few folks who have gone skimmerless but a higher percentage of them have gone back. Personally I think everything was fine for them until they went of vacation or slacked off on their maintenance and blamed not using a skimmer. The percent that has continued on their reefing journey without a skimmer have been just fine with bigger and more frequent water changes. Worse case, you add a skimmer back.

I also really like the idea of adding some macro for a little while. I think it's likely there will be a transition and nutrient spike going from skimmer to skimmer-less.

 

[Earl Karl]

I don't run a skimmer and I have no algae whatsoever. I do however run a giant refugium. NO3 at >1 ppm and PO4 at 0.01. I feed 10 times a day with nori.

 

[SDK]

There are two questions here:

Can you go without a skimmer? Yes, probably...

Should YOU, go without a skimmer?

I'm a huge believer in the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" school of reefing. With a multi year old tank that is dialed in and doing well, I personally would not make the change. I would replace that skimmer asap with the same or similar model and call it a day. If your experiment goes badly, the skimmer will look like a bargain in hindsight

 

[newbie2014]

Since you've already have auto WC, I would just up the WC% and monitor PO4. I like the fact that besides exporting waste, WC also keeps trace elements stable.

I started my sumpless 40G with a skimmer (HOB-1). I did WC once in 4-6 weeks. Then I took the skimmer off line (about 2 years). I had to up my WC to 15-20% every 2 weeks. My ULR phosphorus reading was 16 (0.049ppm) this past Sunday before WC. I run carbon 24/7 and GFO when needed--not yet in the past 10 months.

My tank is a softies/LPS with about six RBTA. I also have five sm-med-lg fish (wrasse, royal gramma, tang and a pair of large breeding Clarkii. Yes, the tang is the small one.

 

[Jim Fox]

From what everyone is saying is "yes you can but there is a risk". I never really gave it a thought that there would be a nutrient spike once the skimmer is off line so that is good to know. I do like the idea of adding macro algae. Thanks much for the replies!

 

[Earl Karl]

If you're going macroalgae route, you may have to dose iron to aid in growth. I dose iron and my chaeto growth as been significant.

 

[themcnertney]

Skim. It was working just fine for you, why change?

 

[Redfoxtang]

I also have no skimmer but run a decent size refugium! I also feed pretty heavy as well and I have very little algea grow. I’m also pitching a ton of chaeto every other week!

 

[Jim Fox]

Well, I'm going to go skimmerless and see how things go until Black Friday. If things are starting to get a little ugly, then I should be able to pick up one at a descent price.

 

[robbyg]

I tried the no water changes route for two years. Everything was fine until it wasn't!
It took almost 5 years to restore the tank to where it was before. If you go without a skimmer dont expect things to slowly go bad, expect them to remain normal for months and then, your suddenly having issues. Adding a skimmer will not just suddenly fix the problems. I did 3 x 30% water changes over a 3 week period and while that seemed to help, all it did was slow down a process that was already in motion. Take my advice, don't get caught up in hype of what someone else might have done. At one point for me it was all about disproving the need for water changes and I was egged on by videos showing success. I wanted to be one of those people!

With the fish load you have you need a skimmer. Maybe you can roller mat and clean the sand and sump enough to keep things under control for awhile but why take the chance?

 

[Sailingeric]

I picked up Reef Octopus a few months ago when my original cheap skimmer died. The new skimmer does an amazing job and is really quiet.

 

[Raining_Sheep]

I ran a skimmer for 2-3 years or so. One day it unplugged itself. I think it worked itself out through WC's. It happened to be right before I was in and out of town over the course of a month and a half before I noticed. When I finally got back the tank had the most growth I had ever seen so figured hey why not keep it off? It went great for about 6+ months then everything slowed down. Started skimming again and it did the same thing. IMO it's best to skim but i just turn it off every once and a while and see what happens. This tank had a DSB. Dont know if that had anything to do with it.

When I have the skimmer off I am more conscious of how much I feed. When it's off i dont care too much. If anything its nice to just toss a bit more in and not worry about it

 

[PurpleMonsterSlayer]

I have personally converted three of my 9 tanks from to skimmer to skimmerless. With that change you have to find a different method of exporting excess nutrients or you will see a cyno, algae or both bloom in your tank. You’ll have to change your filter socks more frequently (every other day) and I would do at least a 25% water change weekly (5.3 gallons a day). And some sort of macro algae in a reactor or sump will get your tank back to the stability it was used to with your protein skimmer.

With my 90 gal. No skimmer or filter socks just ulva in the fuge 0 detectable no3 and po4 dose daily for cal alk Mag and trace elements.
My 120 the same thing except I’m experimenting with Hypnea Pannosa and Ochtodes In the fuge with good results and my 50 gallon I’m experimenting with Red Ogo and Halymenia Dilatata also with great results.
I’ve choosen these specific macro algae’s because un like chaetomorpha there are edible to my fish and snails (free food)

 

[PurpleMonsterSlayer]

If you're going macroalgae route, you may have to dose iron to aid in growth. I dose iron and my chaeto growth as been significant.

Iron for chaeto but most others commonly grown requires more iodine

 

[Rich Klein]

I use my Skimmer with along with a CO2 scrubber to keep my PH in-line (8.1 - 8.25). If not, my Calcium reactor would drive my PH much lower. Like several of our friends posting above, my chaeto refugium takes care of the nutrients.

 

[X-37B]

I do not do water changes and have no fuge so I need a skimmer.