Skimmer essential?

[Poseidon]

i have a qu.

is it possible to run a tank without a skimmer if the bio load is extremely low, ie, no fish, just a few snails and lots of corals??

not trying to sound cheap as i have the skimmer i just wondering if its essential.

 

[Jewel]

Sure thing, No fish, no bio-load, lots of people dont have skimmers, they do water changes. Infact i think a 75 or less you don't need one if the bio-load is minimal

 

[harleymike]

I dont have one on either of my 60 gallons. Water change every week on one tank and every other week on the other tank.
all seems well.
I dont even have a sump system. Canister filter and hob filter on the other one.
But i hope too upgrad too one larger tank and combine them. I will do a sump and skimmer in the sump.
mike

 

[davesolo29]

most people dont put a skimmer on their QT tanks.
im still debating if i will or not.  same thing.. tank is already drilled, have a small tank that would work as a sump, and i have no shortage of skimmers.

 

[Salty Cracker]

as a qt I don't think I would, but if there's corals... I guess it depends on the kind of coral.  softies can live in toilet water, sps seem to prefer perrier.

 

[Poseidon]

lol with 'qu' in my first post i meant question, not QT...
its for my frag tank, i ran it without a skimmer for the longest time, and the only real side affect was algae, but even after awhile that cleared up...and there was 1 or 2 fish in there, a clam, lots of hermits... thats about it

 

[Salty Cracker]

I suppose then it's a question of how much/often you feed your frags

 

[Poseidon]

I suppose then it's a question of how much/often you feed your frags

i typically dont... not unless there really showing signs of unhealthiness...
i rarely feed any of my corals, other than the occasional mysis shrimp to a mushroom just to watch it curl up

 

[harleymike]

I feed both my tanks, kent marine essential elements, fuel for corals, and zooplex.  everyweek.
Some might think this is too much. But it seems too work. no skimmers. But i am using a gfo reactor for phosphates.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I find that any plankton based foods (green stuff) ends up almost entirely in the skimmer, even if I turn it off for 8 hours.  So it def does something. 

I've tried both starving the corals (light only) and feeding heavily (spot/broadcast) 3-4 times per week.  I can definitely say corals do MUCH better when fed.  I would think a frag rack would benefit from heavy feedings, since the bigger the more $$$.  So I would say that a skimmer, even if run just a little while each day, would be a benefit to a frag tank. 

Put it this way, if I had a frag tank, I'd have a skimmer. 

 

[Jewel]

Iknow some Reefers who will put a hang on the back on their Bio-cubes for a day or so just to get any toxins out of the water. Listen Brandon if you're worried about your Corals being skimmerless, You can always bring the lot over here and I'll give them a good home.

 

[Poseidon]

Iknow some Reefers who will put a hang on the back on their Bio-cubes for a day or so just to get any toxins out of the water. Listen Brandon if you're worried about your Corals being skimmerless, You can always bring the lot over here and I'll give them a good home.

haha nice try
i have the skimmer, i just wondering if i need bother using it

 

[jroovers]

If this is the tank you are having issues with phosphates/algae, then yes I would use the skimmer unless until you get things under control.  As for going skimmerless long term, going to depend on how much rock you have, what type of coral you want to grow (i.e. how tight your water params have to be), if you are running BB or not and can clean-up detritus, and how frequently you do water changes, as well as if you are running any other filtration (e.g. BP's or rowaphos).

 

[spyd]

It's not essential on a low stocked aquarium as long as you keep up on water changes. Definitely depends on the type of corals you are keeping as well. If you have SPS then I would say you would want a skimmer running to keep it clean as a hint of PO4 and some higher nitrates can cause some serious issues. For an LPS / softie tank, then no, a skimmer is not necessary as water changes will keep your nitrates at a reasonable level. If I had one though, I would run it regardless.

 

[Duke]

keep in mind also.. coral is alive.. it is part of your bio load.. i saw a post above saying no fish = no bio load.. well thats totally not the case. why even attempt to run skimmerless if you have a skimmer..

 

[Poseidon]

Interesting answers, I'm closely monitoring things, I want to link all the frag systems together and buy a big skimmer to handle it all eventually, just wondering for now.

And it's fully stocked now watch the classified in the very near future

 

[pulpfiction1]

found this at wikipedia,if it was me i would run a skimmer,if even a smaller one

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bio-load