Skimmerless since 1997

[Timfish]

WOOHOO! Found another baby turkey wing clam! :D

 

[Timfish]

More pics of the baby clam that showed up last fall.

 

[Timfish]

Got a Pajama Cardinal showing it's age. Guessing it's around 16-18 years old now, rehomed around 10 years ago to this system. It's showing the loss of color and a "ratty" look I've seen with other fish and my old cats. It's bobbing swimming motion indicates a swim bladder issue. It's still eating and scooting behind the rocks when I clean so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[Freenow54]

So cool! I go back to the days before skimmers and all this new equipment that new reefers think they need to enter the hobby. More biology, less technology. That sounds like I’m against all the progress the hobby has made in technology, I’m not. I’m just making a point that I often find new reefers have spent more time on trying to figure out equipment than understanding the biology of the ocean in a water box. How often are you doing water changes on this tank?

Technology is an extension of the sciences. Personally I am jealous because I want it all

 

[Timfish]

Technology is an extension of the sciences. Personally I am jealous because I want it all

And like the sciences, technology can fail because of an incomplete understanding of how nature works.

 

[Freenow54]

And like the sciences, technology can fail because of an incomplete understanding of how nature works.

Yes its not nice to fool Mother Nature but I don't Care what else do I have to Do

 

[Timfish]

Yes its not nice to fool Mother Nature but I don't Care what else do I have to Do

I'd say keep in mind we are a long, long way from understanding what all goes on in reef ecosystems. Prior to testing techniques for microbial stuff developed in the 2000s our understanding of the microbial processes was based largely on what could be cultured in a lab. Those testing techniques showed only about 2% of the microbial stuff could be cultured so the vast majority, ~98%, of the microbial stuff was being overlooked.

Corals have been shown to promote microbial processes that benefit them and what seems the obvious take away to me is anything we do that skews microbial processes should be avoided. Skimmers skew microbial processes by just removing what has hydrophobic qualities leaving what has hydrophillic characteristics. Adding labile DOC, aka carbon dosing, promotes excessive microbial growth and pathogenic shifts in coral microbiomes. Water changes on the other hand reduce everything equally, hopefully letting corals promote what's beneficial for them.