Tanks with no sumps

dvgyfresh

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Hi all ,
So recently with a power outage in so cal , my HOB overflow box failed to maintain a syphon and when the power was restored all my sump water was on the floor. I’ve had to get rid of the sump / overflow now. I had to get rid of refugium as well (in sump). Any recommendations for filtration moving forward? I installed a n aqua clear hob filter and an aquamax 1.5 skimmer. I was running the moonshine method of no water changes and dosing but now without the sump and refugium I feel I should switch to weekly 20% water changes (40b), would this be the most simple effective method? And anyone willing to share their tanks without any sump and what the care is like?
Thank you all

E7BB3930-D017-4F0C-9F44-59918475DB8D.jpeg
 

Timfish

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Lee Chin Eng observed back in the 50s corals are filtration. Cryptic sponges are also essential. Sumps, skimmers, reactor and refugiums are not. I'll argue water changes are always essential, best way to get rid of hte hydrophilic DOC that can promote pathogenic shifts in coral microbiomes.

There have been times when I've had tanks that don't seem to be "happy" whe I'll do large water changes but for the most part small weekly changes totallying roughly 20% - 30% monthly seems to work fine over the decades.


Lost the 27+ year old sailfin and 16+ year old naso and linkia in the recent freeze but this systems been running fine with just some power heads for quite a few years now.





13+ year old Blue Linkia
 

sunken3

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sorry to hear about your issues.. i've always worried about the HOB overflows.. though I know people that use them w/o issue. I always have internal overflows which eliminate that concern (you may consider switching out your tank)
 

sunken3

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Lee Chin Eng observed back in the 50s corals are filtration. Cryptic sponges are also essential. Sumps, skimmers, reactor and refugiums are not. I'll argue water changes are always essential, best way to get rid of hte hydrophilic DOC that can promote pathogenic shifts in coral microbiomes.

There have been times when I've had tanks that don't seem to be "happy" whe I'll do large water changes but for the most part small weekly changes totallying roughly 20% - 30% monthly seems to work fine over the decades.


Lost the sailfin and naso and linkia in the recent freeze but this systems been running fine with just some power heads for quite a few years now.





13+ year old Blue Linkia

true.. sumps just allow for more water volume, aeration, and adding more equipment... they definitely make it way easier, but not essential. cleaning canister filters weekly is no fun though
 

Timfish

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true.. sumps just allow for more water volume, aeration, and adding more equipment... they definitely make it way easier, but not essential. cleaning canister filters weekly is no fun though

Yes, they certainly do make some aspects of keeping tanks easier. I won't use canister filters, they all fall into 2 catagories, those that have leaked and those that will leak.
 
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dvgyfresh

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Lee Chin Eng observed back in the 50s corals are filtration. Cryptic sponges are also essential. Sumps, skimmers, reactor and refugiums are not. I'll argue water changes are always essential, best way to get rid of hte hydrophilic DOC that can promote pathogenic shifts in coral microbiomes.

There have been times when I've had tanks that don't seem to be "happy" whe I'll do large water changes but for the most part small weekly changes totallying roughly 20% - 30% monthly seems to work fine over the decades.


Lost the 27+ year old sailfin and 16+ year old naso and linkia in the recent freeze but this systems been running fine with just some power heads for quite a few years now.





13+ year old Blue Linkia

That’s awesome and quite a feat! I was thinking of 10g of water changes weekly but maybe 5G would be all that is needed? And the skimmer is driving me nuts currently , micro bubbles everywhere! I guess it needs to break in
 
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dvgyfresh

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sorry to hear about your issues.. i've always worried about the HOB overflows.. though I know people that use them w/o issue. I always have internal overflows which eliminate that concern (you may consider switching out your tank)
When I move I will probly upgrade to a water box or Red Sea because I do like sumps but for now I think I need to find my equilibrium
 

jgirardnrg

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If you can find one of these it works well. I use it in a 40b for a frag tank:
 
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dvgyfresh

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Lee Chin Eng observed back in the 50s corals are filtration. Cryptic sponges are also essential. Sumps, skimmers, reactor and refugiums are not. I'll argue water changes are always essential, best way to get rid of hte hydrophilic DOC that can promote pathogenic shifts in coral microbiomes.

There have been times when I've had tanks that don't seem to be "happy" whe I'll do large water changes but for the most part small weekly changes totallying roughly 20% - 30% monthly seems to work fine over the decades.


Lost the 27+ year old sailfin and 16+ year old naso and linkia in the recent freeze but this systems been running fine with just some power heads for quite a few years now.





13+ year old Blue Linkia

I keep hearing about the DOC and got me thinking that maybe a refugium is actually bad for the reef? Because macro algae releases a lot of DOC and with no water changes it could have been building up in my tank
 

Lost in the Sauce

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Hi all ,
So recently with a power outage in so cal , my HOB overflow box failed to maintain a syphon and when the power was restored all my sump water was on the floor. I’ve had to get rid of the sump / overflow now. I had to get rid of refugium as well (in sump). Any recommendations for filtration moving forward? I installed a n aqua clear hob filter and an aquamax 1.5 skimmer. I was running the moonshine method of no water changes and dosing but now without the sump and refugium I feel I should switch to weekly 20% water changes (40b), would this be the most simple effective method? And anyone willing to share their tanks without any sump and what the care is like?
Thank you all

E7BB3930-D017-4F0C-9F44-59918475DB8D.jpeg
I'm running a fluval FX4 on a 50 g water volume hospital tank. Had 10 fish in there for over two months. No rock, no sand, no ammonia, no sky hight nitrates
 

Timfish

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I keep hearing about the DOC and got me thinking that maybe a refugium is actually bad for the reef? Because macro algae releases a lot of DOC and with no water changes it could have been building up in my tank

Keep in mind unlit refugiums are an excellent place to have cryptic sponges. DOC comes in a lot of flavors, some beneficial for corals some detrimental. Forest ROhwer's "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" (kindle ~$10, paperback ~$16) is an excellent introduction to this complicated subject. de Goeij (2008) demonstrated cryptic sponges process the refractory component of DOC about 1000X faster than bacterioplankton. So to a certain extend they will reduce the impact the hydrophilic DOC from algae has on corals. Unfortunately there is research showing cryptic sponges process DOC from algae differently than DOC from corals and potentially a feedback loop promoting algae or sponges is a possible result. Without water changes refractory DOC will build and the hydrophilic DOC from algae will remain to be messed with by cryptic sponges. I just don't see how reef systems with their assemblage of corals can be kept for the decades or centuries they should live without water changes.
 

Spieg

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40 breeders are pretty inexpensive. Why not buy another a drill it for internal overflow (make sure the pain you drill is not tempered glass)? Save the old one for QT/hospital.
 
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dvgyfresh

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40 breeders are pretty inexpensive. Why not buy another a drill it for internal overflow (make sure the pain you drill is not tempered glass)? Save the old one for QT/hospital.
Still out of budget for me currently on top of not having / knowing how to drill
 
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