No Filtration System?

[samrggzy]

So I have a 32 gallon biocube and as of now only have a single clown fish, royal gramma and about a dozen snails, I plan on adding corals very soon. I have struggled with dinos in the past and just tested my water and got a .02 reading for phosphates and 0.0 reading for nitrates. Knowing that the bottoming out of my nutrients was what caused the dino outbreak in the past I know I have to get the levels up. I have began feeding once a day as opposed to once every other day. I was previously running the corralife protein skimmer which sucked and chemipure blue in an intank media basket with filter floss. I have switched to a reefglass nano skimmer which is much better and have removed the chemipure to try to boost nutrients. Do you guys think at this stage I even need the skimmer or any filtration at all or is regular water changes gonna be all I need to maintain stable parameters? I just want to avoid the return of dinos at any means necessary which is why i ditched the chemical filtration. As i stock the tank more I will probably have to up the filtration but for now does anyone think running no filtration is a good idea?

 

[T-J]

More stock & more feeding will help boost nutrients. I feed a ton and I still have to dose Nitrates. I also don't do waterchanges. Instead I just dose All For Reef and Alk.

 

[Placenta89]

I'm having the same issue. Always 0 for nitrate and phosphate. Always have to dose it. I am gonna remove my chemi pure. It's like 6 months old so I think it won't matter anyways. But it doesn't matter how much I feed my 3 fish and 12 coral in the tank. Always reads 0 after 2 days. Gotta keep cyano and dinos at bay. Live sand and live rock might be enough for my tank to just filter properly without the use of any media. If you do remove it and it balances out please let me know. The media now a days I hear are very good at removing it to 0 so I'm thinking I might go the same route as you. I don't run any skimmer either. Just the mini uv sterilizer

 

[Joe462]

you probably don't need a skimmer. i don't run a skimmer on most of my tanks, and the ones that do i don't necessarily run the skimmer all the time. you still might have to dose nitrates to have detectable levels though.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Over 23 years (2 mixed reef aquariums) with only LR, LS and WCs, so as long as you aren't overstocked and aren't grossly overfeeding, you should be fine.

Like nearly all things reef aquarium related, best to do things gradually. Cut down on the excess filtration items over time to let the system adjust.

 

[homer1475]

Like nearly all things reef aquarium related, best to do things gradually. Cut down on the excess filtration items over time to let the system adjust.

Couldn't agree with this more. I would cut off the skimmer, ditch the chemipure and use just regular rox carbon in it's place. Get a couple more small fish and feed more.

As nutrients start to rise, and WC's aren't keeping up anymore, then start the skimmer back up, run the chemipure again, etc.

Adjust your filtration to match the system.

Input should = output.