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It's all about tailoring the environment you make to the animals you want to keep. In this hobby their aren't a lot of rules that apply 100% of the time.
This is very accurate!
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It's all about tailoring the environment you make to the animals you want to keep. In this hobby their aren't a lot of rules that apply 100% of the time.
Oxygenation When Going Skimmerless
There is a thread where someone actually bought a dissolved oxygen meter and measured DO under various conditions. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/disolved-oxygen-in-our-reeftanks-who-else-measures-it.460332/ Sometimes the skimmer seemed to increase DO slightly, sometimes it seemed to depress...www.reef2reef.com
I’m thinking of hooking up a macroalgae reactor hmmmmNo definitely not. Nutrient export can be done by other methods and oxygenation can be done by a bubbler or lots of macro
The tank looks awesome! I honestly don’t do water changes either. I’m about to hook up a macroalgae reactor which I think will helpNope. As long as you have great filtration or time to do weekly water changes. I quit running one on my 20g and do weekly water changes and it looks way better than before with the skimmer.
That was as excellent and detailed response. I see where you’re coming from and I feel as if the surface is being broke by a return nozzle 24/7 then there is good enough oxygenation. Just my thoughts anyway. Although, I will be installing a DIY algae reactor soon and I’m sure that will help with some oxygen release as wellSo I'm seeing two arguments in favor of skimming (which doesn't establish their necessity, BTW):
1. Nutrient export
2. Oxygenation
I wanted to address #2.
Unless one has a small system (eg. 10 gallons), I fail to see how a skimmer oxygenates significantly.
I had a large air bubble trapped under my overflow tank for over 2 months when it was a newly filled tank. The bubble didn't shrink or dissolve in the water, it simply sat there until one day it went to the surface and broke. I've read that an airstone or an air driven sponge filter oxygenates not because it is somehow injecting air into the water (what some people seem to think), but because they agitate the water surface, thus breaking surface tension at the water-atmosphere interface and thus allowing gas exchange there.
My skimmer would therefore be allowing oxygenation in a very small area- the diameter of the skimmer chamber. Furthermore, the volume of water where this happens will depend on how much water is passing through my skimmer.
Wish there were more data on #2.
Follow the link in post #17:Wish there were more data on #2.
Look me up on instagram or YouTube- same name - I have a lot of content and pictures thereI'm seeing a lot of people saying that it's fine to go skimmerless, but not a lot of those folks posting pics of their tanks...
AbsolutelyIt is important to mange nutrient import/export ..... how you do that is really up to you. Skimmer is a useful tool, but not the only tool.
Look me up on instagram or YouTube- same name - I have a lot of content and pictures there
I agree. I too have run several tanks with a skimmer including the tank I have now. In fact the only reason I bought a skimmer was when I kept seahorses. That would be a specie specific tank that I would strongly recommend a skimmer, (in fact an oversized skimmer) due to seahorses vulnerability to bacterial infections. However, most tanks can run well without a skimmer if there is a diversity of bio life flourishing in the system.Are skimmers really that necessary on all reef tanks?
I personally don’t think they are. I never run skimmers and I can keep any type of coral you can imagine, to include SPS corals.
I think that as long as you have a strong enough and diverse biological filtration (bacteria) your reef tank is set! I always stress it is key to a successful reef tank.
what are your thoughts on this matter of if skimmers are an absolute necessity or not?
LOL not the whole intent Devaji, but why show one when I have hundreds to scroll through for an actual representation of what I am saying?oh so this thread is just a ploy to get more IG and YT followers eh? J/K but not really if its that easy why not post em here?
Skulll island is dope af , also jealous of the coralline lol I just bought an aqua max hob skimmer for my 40b and now I’m thinking I shouldn’t - also fighting Dino’sLOL not the whole intent Devaji, but why show one when I have hundreds to scroll through for an actual representation of what I am saying?
BUT here ya go:
Thank you! Only had this tank up and running for almost 1.5 years now. It’s also the build in my bio thing if you wanted to check it out.Skulll island is dope af , also jealous of the coralline lol I just bought an aqua max hob skimmer for my 40b and now I’m thinking I shouldn’t - also fighting Dino’s
Wow that’s nice ! Yea I beat them earlier in the year and had nice back wall of coraline but then I moved / cleaned all glass and they are back now.. hopefully for not too much longer I’ll probly remove the collection cup when I’m home , thanks for the tip !Thank you! Only had this tank up and running for almost 1.5 years now. It’s also the build in my bio thing if you wanted to check it out.
I wouldn’t use a skimmer with dinos, from my experience it fueled them even more and made the situation worse! Dinos usually come from the lack of nutrients in the tank so I would up those and keep testing for them.