Is it feasible to remove the skimmer? Could it solve the decades-long problem of nutrient accumulation?
- Thread starter Belgian Anthias
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I can't help with links to substantiate that number, but I do know I have read different articles that state the most you will ever be able to remove with a skimmer is around that 35% mark. I can't remember the science behind it as I'm about as far from scientific as you can get. Maybe someone here can link some articles or explain the number.
Belgian Anthias
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Food is added., producing organic and inorganic waste, directly released in the environment by the consumer. All organic waste is reduced by natural remineralization, releasing essential inorganics in the environment. All released inorganics, once part of the food, can be used up for new growth. Growth can be harvested and used to feed. A balance between producers, consumers and reducers is possible.
A skimmer will remove part of released organic waste produced with the food, , preventing it may be reminerelized, but leaves already released inorganic compounds, also once part of the same food. A balance is not possible anymore, inorganic nutrients will accumulate.
vtecintegra
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Reminds me of a comment made one time. If someone came over with a skimmer cup full of skimmate and poured it into you tank, you would probably want to punch them in the face. I'll keep running my skimmer and remove the pollution. Even if it is only 35%.
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Here are some pics. I don't have any great full shot pics atm but here I some I took to send to a friend recently. I have fraged my sps dozens of times, grew up to 100 bubble tips anemones, grew lots of euphyllia, zoas, etc. over the course of this tank's lifespan. These are some recent pics after me being away from the tank for months. There were about 40 bubbletips but I sold a decent amount before I took this. I regularly frag and sell corals and anemones out of the tank.
Kristopher Conlin
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Sounds as though you and I run somewhat similar systems, although the stock may be different not sure. Rock is about 25 years , ditched my skimmer probably a year and half ago, it wasn't really pulling much anyway. My nitrates have settled right in over that period between 10-15, so I don't dose but I am light stock Fish wise in a 90, and feed sparingly. A good dose of live phyto though. No sump here either, or fuge.
Tank has been running about 25 + years, and morphed into several different things lol. But these are fairly recent. It's no reef of the year but I like what it's become. Softie dominant, light on fish stock , a few LPS and even a couple SPS that are starting to grow ( only into them over last year or so as experiment) , heavy on inverts and CUC. No Sump, Skimmer or Fuge. Just my old rock, UV and some floss, other powerheads. I really think the live phyto and ditching the skimmer has helped me level things off that params are rock solid consistent, and sticking with some of my standard protocols of feeding light, and very small but frequent water changes. Which are about 2% every 4 days. Leather had a battle with Nem, but recovering, now splitting off two heads, Duncan same, still has about 35 heads, and likely need to frag it soon, with so many shaded. My shrooms are oft fragged. As for fish 5... Yellow Tang 'Deuce', Ocellaris, and Three Stripe Damsel all 18 yo, Coral Beauty 6 years, Eibli Angel 1 year this week! Inverts are Long Tent Nem about 14 inch across when fully inflated, Tiger Tail Sea Cucumber, black short spine and Pincushion urchins, Brittle star, Strawberry Conch, Sand Sifting Star, Coral Banded Shrimp, Feather Duster, numerous varieties of hermit and snails. Sorry for the novella, but figured I better give some background with lol.
Is this a Pocillopora I see in there? Centre left at back? If not what is it. We like lol
Those BTA'S... oh my! Nice work. Been thinking on picking one up, however I have a rather large Long Tent who hasn't wandered in about 9 months...but, potential for firestorm..... thoughts?Here are some pics. I don't have any great full shot pics atm but here I some I took to send to a friend recently. I have fraged my sps dozens of times, grew up to 100 bubble tips anemones, grew lots of euphyllia, zoas, etc. over the course of this tank's lifespan. These are some recent pics after me being away from the tank for months. There were about 40 bubbletips but I sold a decent amount before I took this. I regularly frag and sell corals and anemones out of the tank.
Another beautiful skimmerless tank.... awesome seeing all these images, keep em coming folks.Here is my 20 gallon. Been running with no skimmer since 2018.
We at at a point in the hobby where really nice tanks have been going for years or decades with about every sort, or lack of, equipment and methodology one can think of. Even reef jars that are a decade plus old.
so yeah it’s very possible to go skimmerless. However with any approach one takes it’s just important to keep in mind pros and cons and be realistic about the methodology you choose, don’t put blinders on and think one way can do everything.
imo skimmers are really fantastic for those who want a large fish biomass in their reef tank and don’t have the coral population or other means to uptake the waste. Skimmers just work so well and have so many benefits for many it’s a clear winner but doesn’t mean it’s required nor should it be the central concept of the aquarium filtration methodology imo.
so yeah it’s very possible to go skimmerless. However with any approach one takes it’s just important to keep in mind pros and cons and be realistic about the methodology you choose, don’t put blinders on and think one way can do everything.
imo skimmers are really fantastic for those who want a large fish biomass in their reef tank and don’t have the coral population or other means to uptake the waste. Skimmers just work so well and have so many benefits for many it’s a clear winner but doesn’t mean it’s required nor should it be the central concept of the aquarium filtration methodology imo.
Agreed. I do have to be careful with my own methodology, if I want to continue keeping things the way they are.... there is always that fish I see in LFS, and am tempted momentarily....'well I've got the room?!? Why not....well not if you don't want all heck to break loose you don't! ' ...ok check! The last one purchased was a year ago, and that was 3 years after a failed Anthia, and 3 years before that was my current Coral Beauty. Multiple other things to be careful about, but fairly low maintenance. I need to keep it that way for my sanity lol.
Want. Lighting huge or not so important as other SPS? I have a Monti that's gradually growing, encrusting but it's slow. I'd like a Pocillopora, but hard to find up here without big ship charges. Stylo I can get easily.OMG that is purple stylo. The weed of my tank. I have fragged that thing so many times.
The purple stylo is such a great coral and absolutely thrives in skimmerless tanks. Lighting doesn’t matter at all for keeping it alive. Under high light and high flow it is dense as the first pic here. The second one is in the corner barely getting any light and stretches out long and high. Exact same coral.
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I prefer/love fish more with there individual personalities over corals so I have alot of fish. You asked to see pics of tanks that run without a skimmer, I too would like to see those pics to just see what exactly the contents of the tank are and the looks. I have a heavy bioload in my 180g that replaced my 90g back in late July. 8 of my 17 fish are triggers, throw in a Japanese Dragon Eel, etc... so I feed around the equivalent of around a dozen cubes per day. Here's a vid of my "predator reef"
tank.
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Belgian Anthias
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We have done a lot of research concerning skimmers and skimmers have little secrets which have not been covered. But there are still question to answer.
Skimmers have been subject of several research publications and articles by Feldman en Maers ( Pensylvania university), published in The Advanced Aquarist.com . Many others have published results. We also do not use the name protein skimmer any more as very little proteins are removed, this because in most tanks they are not available for skimming. ref: MB eiwitafschuimer
Different types of skimmers have been tested using the same standards.
Results show that a simple old fashion counter current skimmer is still one of the best performing skimmers.
Skimmers remove max 35% of DOC present in the water column, but do this very selective. Only hydrophobic organic compounds and big molecules with a hydrophobic part are removed , a difference is made between polar and apolar organic compound , which leads to an accumulation of hydrophilic organic compounds, which may be reminerelized. This leads to an unbalance in the presence of inorganic elements and compounds. Because a skimmer does not remove inorganic nutrients directly released by organisms in the environment and essential compounds needed to use them for growth are partially exported, inorganic nutrients may accumulate, ready for the big moment . The better a skimmer performs, the bigger the problem I am talking about.
Is the skimmer responsible for the decades-long problem of inorganic nutrient accumulation?
And how we may solve this?
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