No Mechanical Filtration Tank

[Enad]

Hi all,

I'm currently in the early stages of setting up a little project tank - a UNS 60S 10 Gallon Shallow Lagoon style tank. I'll be using the AI Blade Freshwater light to achieve a clean white look and introducing a number of interesting soft corals that will look good in white lighting.

The vision for this tank is to be fairly minimalist but natural looking, with a lot of sand, one major rock 'mound' in the center and then some half-buried rubble rock in some spaces. I plan on a limited amount of macroalgae eventually to help with some nutrient uptake.

In terms of fish, it's going to be minimal. I plan on evolving the tank over time, but it will likely be no more than 4 nano fish.

Now, I'm planning on integrating this into a living room cabinet piece so there will be no external or mechanical filtration. All the rock I'll be using has been either in my sump or in a heated/aerated bucket of saltwater for 1+ year. I'm basically looking to rely on the rocks and limited macroalgae for filtration. I'd like to do minimal maintenance for this so I'm thinking a small water change once a month, otherwise..nothing else.

I can adapt any dosing needs based on the corals but in terms of filtration, I guess I wanted to get people's thoughts here and see how they think this tank may turn out with no mechanical filtration and relatively low amount of live rock.

 

[Fish Fan]

No problem at all, in my opinion. I use very little mechanical media myself. I know that @Mr. Mojo Rising runs a tank with no mechanical. And, I once heard Josh Earle from World Wide Corals say that you should take everything that your filter sock catches, and add it back to your tank

So yeah, I believe it's entirely possible to run with no mechanical, especially for a smaller tank where water changes are your friend.

Good luck!

 

[Biokabe]

Depending on your bioload, the one thing you might need to change is your "single small water change a month" idea.

Nutrients need somewhere to go in your tank. Ideally, you have a perfect balanced tank, and all of the introduced nutrients go into making bigger fish, CUC, corals and macroalgae. And that is possible. But in practice it's hard to achieve, which is why most people have to run some form of filtration - to remove the excess that doesn't go into making desirable livestock bigger. So if you don't have much in the way of filtration, your only option for removing excess nutrients before they get toxic is water changes.

Fortunately, water changes are pretty easy on a 10g tank, and if you plan for it before the tank is set up you can make them even easier. 2g/week would let you change 20% of the water every week and if you have it set up correctly, you can change that amount of water in under five minutes. With 20% every week, your tank would likely be rock-solid.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Nutrient export is the limitation. I dont use any mechanical filtration.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

4 fish is a lot of fish for a 10 gallon, if they are peaceful together it would be a huge bioload. I have a huge bioload in my 15 that has no filtration, but I do weekly 30% water changes. You will need to do a lot of water changes to control that bioload, how feasible would that be for you with the tank in a tight cabinet?

 

[exnisstech]

I've been running an 8g AIO (about 5g Total) with no filtration but am doing water changes to keep nutrients in check because I'm dosing phyto every hour 24/7 . I do 10% WC every other day or so but that's only 1/2 gallon and takes a minute to do. I only have one fish pistol shrimp combo and a couple of filter feeders. I insta cycled it with old live rock and run just enough light for viewing since I have nothing photosynthetic. Its a new project and hasn't been running very long.

 

[Fish Fan]

I've been running an 8g AIO (about 5g Total) with no filtration but am doing water changes to keep nutrients in check because I'm dosing phyto every hour 24/7 . I do 10% WC every other day or so but that's only 1/2 gallon and takes a minute to do. I only have one fish pistol shrimp combo and a couple of filter feeders. I insta cycled it with old live rock and run just enough light for viewing since I have nothing photosynthetic. Its a new project and hasn't been running very long.

I quite like this little 8 gallon from IOAOI, any negatives to this tank?

How are you dosing phyto 24/7? Do you have an automated system for this? Doesn't it have to stay refrigerated, or are you pulling it from a small fridge like Jojo and others have tried?

Sorry for so many questions

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Enad]

The once-a-month water change was an eventual goal - for starting out, I was going to do weekly changes with my other tanks.

If the once-a-month water change never comes to fruition then so be it. I already do water changes on my other tanks; this one is small and easy so there's no issues there.


@Mr. Mojo Rising - It would be ~4 very small fish. I was thinking a Panda Goby, perhaps a pair of nano pipe fish. Very small fish like that.

 

[UNS_Parker]

Do it! We have a 60S that sounds very similar set up in our office. No Mechanical or chemical filtration, just a 25% water change once a month. Macros and mangroves to uptake a little bit more nutrients. Stocking is a clown and a pistol shrimp. The tank has been running for a little over a year with no major issues.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

@Mr. Mojo Rising - It would be ~4 very small fish. I was thinking a Panda Goby, perhaps a pair of nano pipe fish. Very small fish like that.

panda goby is so beautiful. I have 3 clown gobies in my 15 gallon, a green, a yellow and a black. I've been looking for others to add but they are rare where I am.

 

[Enad]

Do it! We have a 60S that sounds very similar set up in our office. No Mechanical or chemical filtration, just a 25% water change once a month. Macros and mangroves to uptake a little bit more nutrients. Stocking is a clown and a pistol shrimp. The tank has been running for a little over a year with no major issues.

Oh that's awesome! I wouldn't be running as much Macro but it's great to hear you're getting by with a monthly water change. Maybe eventually as the rock truly comes to life, I can achieve enough filtration to do monthly water changes.

Thanks for this!

 

[UNS_Parker]

Oh that's awesome! I wouldn't be running as much Macro but it's great to hear you're getting by with a monthly water change. Maybe eventually as the rock truly comes to life, I can achieve enough filtration to do monthly water changes.

Thanks for this!

Yeah! Keep us updated as you set this up

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Oh that's awesome! I wouldn't be running as much Macro but it's great to hear you're getting by with a monthly water change. Maybe eventually as the rock truly comes to life, I can achieve enough filtration to do monthly water changes.

Thanks for this!

But how will you limit the rise of nutrients? Just water changes? That will potentially take more than you contemplate.

 

[Enad]

But how will you limit the rise of nutrients? Just water changes? That will potentially take more than you contemplate.

Weekly water changes to begin - that's the plan. I have another nano where I truly do absolutely nothing except a weekly water change and it grows softies better than any other tank I've ever ran.

It's going to be a high nutrient system by design. If I need to do a larger water change periodically, that's fine too. I'll just monitor it as I go.

 

[exnisstech]

I quite like this little 8 gallon from IOAOI, any negatives to this tank?

How are you dosing phyto 24/7? Do you have an automated system for this? Doesn't it have to stay refrigerated, or are you pulling it from a small fridge like Jojo and others have tried?

Sorry for so many questions

Thanks in advance!!

The only negative I had was the weir teeth didn't allow as much flow as I wanted so I cut a few teeth out.
As far as dosing I'm using one head of my reefdose 2. Info I read from sellers of phyto is that its ok at room temp for a few days. I just drilled a hole in a specimen container and shake it once or twice a day and refill it every other day. I smell it and it doesn't stink so I'm assuming it's good if it doesn't stink. Again more info I read. The Sea Apple and porcelain crab in the tank appear to be feeding regularly so time will tell. I've only been dosing hourly for 2 weeks so there plenty of time for things to go south.

 

[Fish Fan]

The only negative I had was the weir teeth didn't allow as much flow as I wanted so I cut a few teeth out.
As far as dosing I'm using one head of my reefdose 2. Info I read from sellers of phyto is that its ok at room temp for a few days. I just drilled a hole in a specimen container and shake it once or twice a day and refill it every other day. I smell it and it doesn't stink so I'm assuming it's good if it doesn't stink. Again more info I read. The Sea Apple and porcelain crab in the tank appear to be feeding regularly so time will tell. I've only been dosing hourly for 2 weeks so there plenty of time for things to go south.

Thanks for your help! I've recently started to culture phyto, so I'm going to look into this.

 

[cloak]

Like mentioned above there should be no problem at all running a tank with no mechanical filtration at all. If any of the micro organisms in your tank are reproducing it should be a plus.
Don't overfeed, don't overstock etc.
On a side note; not sure how often you do water changes, but stirring things up right before a water change can be a valuable tool as well. Maybe some mechanical filtration for a few hours to polish the water or so. Getting all that muck/detritus out of there IS a good thing, especially in the LONG term. Sort of a give and take... GL.

 

[Enad]

Oh - there's a question I had that's vaguely in line with this original thread. Is there any truth to algae growth being slower in lower temperature water? ie running the tank at 74-75 vs 78-79.

I was thinking of running this tank at a slightly lower temp in general because of its proximity to a doorway I keep open often and the small heater, I figured it'd be easier on the heater to keep it in the 74-75 range.

 

[Enad]

@Mr. Mojo Rising - Just thought of another question as I filled the tank today - how do you deal with oils/general gunk building up on the water surface without any filtration?

I just bought a cheapo HOB filter to use temporarily to get rid of all the gunk from the new sand and was wondering how this would pan out with oils from the frozen food etc without using any filter.

I've also picked up a UNS Delta Mini surface skimmer, which depending on it's size may be something I can use and conceal in the tank. The concept of this tank was to be free of too many wires and equipment so we'll see how that works out.

 

[atoll]

I haven't used any form of mechanical filtration for many years. Personally In think it's overall detrimental to the the wellbeing of the corals and system as a whole. I do use a skimmer which will take out some floating particles but zi only run it at night after lights out. I also use an Oxydator which isn't anything much to do with mechanical filtration.
I would describe the look.of my tank water as clear with some micro bits floating in it. I belive much of this detritus is coral food as reported some years ago by Eric Borneman in his very good book on corals. Well with buying and are often available on eBay.