tl;dr: If nutrients (nitrates, phosphates, alkalinity) are stable in a "good" range without a fuge and/or skimmer, OK to continue on this way while adding SPS or is a skimmer/fuge a necessity?
Full story: My 65 gallon JBJ AIO is coming up on a year old. I've got plenty of healthy LPS and a handful of happy fish in there. Over at least the past two months nutrients have remained stable, consistently testing as:
Tank was started with Aquaforest dry rock and sand and seeded with a variety of beneficial nitrifying bacteria products. A few months in I also ordered a package from IPSF including Live Sand Activator and Wondermud.
I've also heavily seeded the tank with Algaebarn pods and amphipods from IPSF in addition to a variety of snails, spaghetti worms, and bristle worms.
Fish are fed twice daily a mix of frozen food such as LRS Fish Frenzy, mini mysis, and R.O.E. fish eggs all mixed in Aquaforest fish vitamins.
Corals are spot-fed with pumps off 2-3 times a week with a combination of Benepets Benereef mixed with Brightwell Aminos.
For maintenance, I change 10% of the water once a week and add a capful of Microbacter7 every Saturday and a capful of Ecobalance every Sunday.
I've followed this feeding and maintenance schedule religiously for almost the entire time the tank has been up.
It is lit by a Kessil AP9X and one ReefDelight Nico Bar (the UV Pop, 24 inch). PAR at the center sand tests out around 70-100, corners in the sand at 50-75, mid-rocks 150-200, top of rocks in the 300-350 range.
I have a Focustronic Alkatronic and Dosetronic I'll be setting up in the next couple of weeks as I prepare to add some SPS to the top of my rock work.
My question is this - am I crazy for not running a skimmer and/or fuge when I add SPS? Given my nutrient stability (even with my bioload and feeding schedule) I kind of thought I'd just not add the skimmer.
A thought I had is this - the AIO chambers are open top and the Kessil does put some light into them.....maybe I just order some clean chaeto from Algaebarn and toss it one of the chambers?
Anyway, curious on people's thoughts....am I OK to move forward with this minimal active export setup? Or should I really add the skimmer for the SPS?
Here's a pic of my tank (circled spots are where I'm looking to put some SPS in the next few weeks/months). Please don't mind the aiptasia....I've recently added some berghia nuibranchs and am getting a few more from Reeftown soon.
Full story: My 65 gallon JBJ AIO is coming up on a year old. I've got plenty of healthy LPS and a handful of happy fish in there. Over at least the past two months nutrients have remained stable, consistently testing as:
- Alk: 7.7 - 8.0
- Calcium: 480 - 500
- Magnesium: 1250 - 1300
- Nitrates: 5 - 10
- Phosphates: 0.02 - 0.03
Tank was started with Aquaforest dry rock and sand and seeded with a variety of beneficial nitrifying bacteria products. A few months in I also ordered a package from IPSF including Live Sand Activator and Wondermud.
I've also heavily seeded the tank with Algaebarn pods and amphipods from IPSF in addition to a variety of snails, spaghetti worms, and bristle worms.
Fish are fed twice daily a mix of frozen food such as LRS Fish Frenzy, mini mysis, and R.O.E. fish eggs all mixed in Aquaforest fish vitamins.
Corals are spot-fed with pumps off 2-3 times a week with a combination of Benepets Benereef mixed with Brightwell Aminos.
For maintenance, I change 10% of the water once a week and add a capful of Microbacter7 every Saturday and a capful of Ecobalance every Sunday.
I've followed this feeding and maintenance schedule religiously for almost the entire time the tank has been up.
It is lit by a Kessil AP9X and one ReefDelight Nico Bar (the UV Pop, 24 inch). PAR at the center sand tests out around 70-100, corners in the sand at 50-75, mid-rocks 150-200, top of rocks in the 300-350 range.
I have a Focustronic Alkatronic and Dosetronic I'll be setting up in the next couple of weeks as I prepare to add some SPS to the top of my rock work.
My question is this - am I crazy for not running a skimmer and/or fuge when I add SPS? Given my nutrient stability (even with my bioload and feeding schedule) I kind of thought I'd just not add the skimmer.
A thought I had is this - the AIO chambers are open top and the Kessil does put some light into them.....maybe I just order some clean chaeto from Algaebarn and toss it one of the chambers?
Anyway, curious on people's thoughts....am I OK to move forward with this minimal active export setup? Or should I really add the skimmer for the SPS?
Here's a pic of my tank (circled spots are where I'm looking to put some SPS in the next few weeks/months). Please don't mind the aiptasia....I've recently added some berghia nuibranchs and am getting a few more from Reeftown soon.