Reef Aquarium Facts #39 You can keep a reef tank without a skimmer!

[revhtree]

We are going to continue discussing the reef aquarium facts submitted by our members. Do you agree or disagree? What are your thoughts?

Fact #39

You can keep a reef tank without a skimmer. But it's one of the best pieces of equipement you can buy for your tank. It helps to remove waste build up.


Truth or False? What else might we need to learn on this subject? Please also share any pictures that may pertain to the subject.

 

[Captain Nemo]

True. I have never been brave enough to try this though........

 

[spspirate]

I have kept a couple of nanos like this...no skimmer but frequent small water changes and the use of carbon and a reasonable sandbed. I kept clams lps and softies this way...I also made sure that my top off water was highly oxygenated.. At the end of the day the bottom line is nutrient export. (among other things of course)
I do beleive it's a staple for more advanced reefs including reefs that are bacterial driving (vodka dosing or carbon source dosing) Not only does it remove wast but also stabilizes ph and injects oxygen in to the water which is vital for our marine life.

 

[Murfman]

Run a turf algae scrubber and do lots of water changes.

 

[coralkiller]

Or run an algae scrubber and do no water changes. Ran a 75gl mixed reef for over a year without doing one water change. Had absolutely no issues whatsoever.

 

[Reefer831]

once upon a time there were not very many tanks that ran skimmers....and there was no such things as LED's LOL....:nerd:

 

[Speg]

I have one tank with a skimmer and one without. The one with is a 46 bowfront and the one without is a 12 nano. The 12 nano is doing wonderful without a skimmer...so yes, true.

 

[johnanddawn]

i ran my first tanks for like 10 years without skimmers - mostly softies and shrooms - very nice tanks too, no algae and great growth

 

[srusso]

Or run an algae scrubber and do no water changes. Ran a 75gl mixed reef for over a year without doing one water change. Had absolutely no issues whatsoever.

+1 here, I do the same... setup my reef almost a year ago and only have an algae scrubber. never had any problems and I feed like crazy... the power of algae is far better then any other filter system IMHO

 

[beaslbob]

We are going to continue discussing the reef aquarium facts submitted by our members. Do you agree or disagree? What are your thoughts?

Fact #39

You can keep a reef tank without a skimmer. But it's one of the best pieces of equipement you can buy for your tank. It helps to remove waste build up.


Truth or False? What else might we need to learn on this subject? Please also share any pictures that may pertain to the subject.

false.

yes you can keep a tank without a skimmer but IMHO it is not the best thing for a tank. To me money is much better spent to grow thriving macros and other algaes.

 

[Jeepguy242]

i am too lazy to keep up with the water changes needed to sucessfully keep a tank without a skimmer, so for me, the answer is false.

 

[Raggamuffin]

true as can be, I have a 28g nano and took off the skimmer about a year and a half ago. Softies are doing great, LPS are doing AMAZING, and SPS are fully colored and growing well. As a matter of fact some of the SPS went from brown sticks in other peoples tanks to bright green and red in mine. Very soon (like within a week or so) you will see a build thread from me with all my pics for my new tank. I will not have a skimmer on it either, will be running a remote fuge and DSB with an algae scrubber spray bar feeding the fuge. I am going all natural filtering

 

[beaslbob]

relooked at me previous response.

there are two parts to the question

First can you keep a reef tank with no skimmer

secondly But it's one of the best pieces of equipment you can buy.


it is possible you can run a reef tank with no skimmer. so answer YES.

Second it is also possible it is not one of the best pieces of equipment. So answer no.

So I get confused. :wink:

 

[pickupman66]

yes, you can keep a successful reef tank with no skimmer. at least I was able to for several years. I run one on my tanks now as I am trying new things like Bio pellets which use a skimmer.