If your goal is just two clowns and soft corals, I think you'll be better off without a skimmer. I would save on the skimmer and splurge on gulf live rock from TBS or others. All the "things" in that system will keep you from having stability problems or nuisance algae outbreaks.Yeah, the whole reason I started this thread was to see if I've forgotten something that would make me reconsider downgrading my aquarium. I've always wanted a bigger aquarium, but when I finally got one, I wished I hadn't. There are so many reasons why: the maintenance becomes a much bigger hassle, the upkeep costs more, takes a lot more coral to fill in. Personally, I don't have a lot of fish, only five fish in a 6-foot tank, so I don't have the bioload for such a huge aquarium anyway, and I don't want any more fish.
My favorite aquarium was a 120 litre. It had a sump, but I was new to the hobby then and had a noisy, poor-quality Aqua One skimmer. My current setup is in the living room with pretty high-end equipment and it's still too noisy. which is another reason I want to downgrade.
rant time I'm so sick and tired of spending money on things I've heard good things about, only to find out they're noisy, like the AI Nero 7, Red sea skimmer, ect... My cheapo wavemakers do the same thing yet are silent. It's just so frustrating to think about. I feel like smaller equipment can be less noisy too.
The best argument I can find against an AIO (All-In-One) setup is that larger systems offer better stability and more room for different equipment. Honestly, I don't know how much of a difference it makes and what the stability curve looks like in terms of water volume. But for what I specifically want—two clownfish and soft corals—a 35-gallon tank would be no different from a 100-gallon tank in terms of stablilty. In fact, with such a small bioload, I believe a larger volume of water might cause more harm with N and P bottoming out causing issues like cyano and dinos. As for equipment, I'm a simple guy. All I need is an ATO, light, skimmer, filter floss, wavemaker, and heater. I'm pretty sure that will fit just fine in an AIO aquarium unless I'm forgetting something. I'm not trying to dismiss anybody's arguments or points of view, by the way. I appreciate all your opinions.
This tank has TBS sand, a TBS rock covered in palys and a dry reef rock from Marshall Islands dating back to the 70s that seeded with the TBS rock. I barely have to do anything with this tank. Clean the glass occasionally. I don't even run floss in the AIO, just a small bag of carbon. Bit of macroalgae to help with nutrients, that does need a trim every few weeks. But other than that, autopilot.