50 gallon skimmerless & sumpless

[Carrera75]

Hi everyone,

I'll be shutting down my tank soon and I thought that before I do this I would share some pics of my tank. This is a very low maintatance, simple set up but it has worked amazingly for the last several years. I have never battled any type of algae and corals multiply like there is no tomorrow :biggrin:. These corals have been fragged a thousand times and all the corals that are in there started from a single head or a small polyp. Anyway, here are the pics....


Pictures don't do it justice. This is one of the reasons why I never posted pictures before. Somehow, shots never turned out great and didn't really captured how nice this set up really looks in person.

FTS
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/IMG_3197.jpg

Left side view
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/10.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/02.jpg

Right side view
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/11.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/01.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/IMG_3130.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/IMG_3131.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/IMG_2972-1.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/GreenCandy-1-1.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/4-4.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/2-6.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/1-6.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/IMG_3068.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/IMG_3067.jpg

[lastlight]

That looks stunning. The variety and brightness of the colors is incredible =)

What's the shaggy purple thing on the right?

[Carrera75]

That looks stunning. The variety and brightness of the colors is incredible =)

What's the shaggy purple thing on the right?

To the right of the Green Sinularia? Those are Purple Death palys.

The tank really looks a lot better in person. I have an SLR digital camera but for some reason the colors don't show that well in pics :sad:

[lastlight]

Sorry purple thing...far right...FTS...

[Carrera75]

Sorry purple thing...far right...FTS...

That's a huge (6"x5") Duncan colony. Corals are a lot bigger then they appear in pics. For example that monti cap in the center is around 12" x 9"".

[ScubaSteve]

I think that's his duncan.

Ya dude, pics seriously don't do your tank justice. Find someone with some picture taking skillz before you shut 'er down =P.

Props to an epic tank. Sad to see it go. I think you're crazy for this....

[lastlight]

ok what? duncans come in purple?!

[lorenz0]

yep, the ones I had were purple with green accent

btw love the tank, especially the florida ric's

[Carrera75]

Yeah, the Duncans are light purple/green.

@Lorenzo, The Rics are one of my fav corals. I think that's obvious :-)

[christyf5]

Great looking tank. The ricordea garden is gorgeous and those anemones are just wild!! Love it! :)

[Carrera75]

Yeah, the Rics and Anemones are my favorite too :-)

[whatcaneyedo]

Do you have any secrets on how you've got your hammer coral looking so happy? Mine used to look like that but hasn't for the past year. I think I ****ed it off by moving it into a spot (for a few months) that it didn't like and it hasn't recovered yet.

[brianlow]

Great tank! Any tips for others running sumpless and skimmerless? How often and how large are your water changes? Dosing? Lighting?

[DisneyCoralReef]

Outstanding! why are you shutting the tank down?!

[Carrera75]

Do you have any secrets on how you've got your hammer coral looking so happy? Mine used to look like that but hasn't for the past year. I think I ****ed it off by moving it into a spot (for a few months) that it didn't like and it hasn't recovered yet.

I have had it for over a year and it has doubled in size. Right now it's about 8" x 5" when fully extended. It seems that the Hammer coral likes medium flow. I wish I could help you more but all I did was to move it around the tank to find the best spot for it.

[Carrera75]

Great tank! Any tips for others running sumpless and skimmerless? How often and how large are your water changes? Dosing? Lighting?


Hi there,

Going skimmerless and sumpless is not for everyone. You have to be patient and go slow and a lot of people don't know how to do this:mrgreen:. All the corals you see in the tank started from one single head or polyp. I took my time and planned this set up well. The goal was to create a low maintenance reef. If you want to go skimmerless and sumpless I would say go slow, take your time. Don't add 5 fish or lots of corals at the same time. Allow the tank to mature and achieve a good balance.

At the beginning I used to do 10% weekly water changes but as the tank matured that changed. At one point I was doing only a couple water changes a year but this is NOT something I recommend you to do. When this happened, my tank had already been set up for 4 years and it was pretty mature. I know do 10% monthly water changes and I don't add any additives.

There is also an AC110 that was turned into a refugium and I run another HOB filter with some filter pad in there to keep the water clear. The lighting is 2x150w MH + 4x39 T5's.

I feed the fish twice a day and feed the corals once in a while. One thing that I would recommend you to do is to rinse the frozen food before you feed your fish. If you don't do this you will adding a lot of extra nutrients into your set up. I should mention that I have always kept around 5 to 6 small fish and perhaps this has also helped to keep the bio-load in check.

I hope this helps.


Outstanding! why are you shutting the tank down?!


Thanks for your comments. why am I shutting down this? I have been told that I have to downsize :sad:

[Carrera75]

This FTS is from 2009. I was out of the country for almost the whole year and a friend of mine took care of the tank. He didn't have any experience in saltwater tanks. All he did was to stop by my place once a day to feed the fish and did monthly water changes.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/2-10.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/4-5.jpg

These are shots that were taken within the last few months.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/Coco2-1.jpg



http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/5-3.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/Coco2-1.jpg

[BitShifter]

Hey man, I know a photographer who lives downtown who could take some pics for you.

[reefermadness]

Very nice work....props for success with an unconventional method!

[toytech]

WOW, you tank is epic ! Love the ricks and nems . Wish my 50 sumpless and skimmerless looked this good.

[brianlow]

Thanks for the advice. Amazing, amazing tank. Hope you find a good home for it.

[Carrera75]

Hey man, I know a photographer who lives downtown who could take some pics for you.


How much does he charge :mrgreen:


Very nice work....props for success with an unconventional method!

Thanks, I know it's "unconventional" but it has worked amazingly so far.


WOW, you tank is epic ! Love the ricks and nems . Wish my 50 sumpless and skimmerless looked this good.

Thanks man, I thought you had a smaller tank.



Thanks for the advice. Amazing, amazing tank. Hope you find a good home for it.


I am actually just downsizing tanks and I'll keep most of the corals you see in there.

[BitShifter]

How much does he charge :mrgreen:


It's my girlfriend. She does mostly wedding and event photography. She hasn't done aquarium photos before but interested in adding to her portfolio.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellykaye/

For some frags maybe?

[toytech]

Ive got a 15 and a 50 and combined they don't even come close to looking that good . Sucks you have to downgrade , but you should be able to whip up something really spectacular with that kind of selection of corals .

[Carrera75]

The new tank is a Solana. I'll do my best to create a better set up with most of the corals from the 50 gallon. This time the lighting is going to be T5's instead of MH. Hopefully the growth will be the same as it is now.

[rusty]

Nice tank, corals lok awesome!

[Doug's fish]

I've seen many aquariums in my time. And that aquarium is a work of art from the heart. Just a couple of questions. Are you using any chemicals / additives,
each week , how often are your water chances and what filter system are you using ? All I say is WOW.

Great work !!!

Doug

[Carrera75]

Nice tank, corals lok awesome!

Thanks :biggrin:



I've seen many aquariums in my time. And that aquarium is a work of art from the heart. Just a couple of questions. Are you using any chemicals / additives,
each week , how often are your water chances and what filter system are you using ? All I say is WOW.

Great work !!!

Doug

No, I don't use any chemicals or additives and water changes are done every couple of months. I guess the main filter system for this set up is the live rock and I also use an AC100 that's turned into a refugium.

I should mention that when this tank was first set up water changes were done weekly. However, as the tank got more established the frequency of water changes decreased. This is a very low maintenance system and I really don't do much other than cleaning the glass and feeding the fish.

Cheers

[Skimmerking]

the tank looks very good well done

[pscott99]

Really beautifull. How about a fuge shot ? No phosphate issues ? Did you have the normal cleanup crew ?

[Carrera75]

the tank looks very good well done

Thanks, it's my little aquatic garden and I really enjoy doing the maintenance required to keep it looking great. This tank never gets neglected and I do my best to provide the best home possible for the corals and fish.



Really beautifull. How about a fuge shot ? No phosphate issues ? Did you have the normal cleanup crew ?

The refugium is nothing special. It's just an AquaClear 110 filter turned into a refugium. All I have in there is some cheato that gets pruned when needed and believe or not it does not even grow that fast. I'll try to take a pic when I get a chance.

[Triggz]

Awesome looking tank! I have actually met quite a few people over the years that have had similar success with a skimerless/sumpless setup. But I think this one takes the cake!

Do you use tap water or RODI? Also, are you using a higher end mix of salt? Or just good old IO?

Thanks.

[Carrera75]

Awesome looking tank! I have actually met quite a few people over the years that have had similar success with a skimerless/sumpless setup. But I think this one takes the cake!

Do you use tap water or RODI? Also, are you using a higher end mix of salt? Or just good old IO?

Thanks.

I used tap water for a couple of years but I have been getting water from Safeway for the last 4 years. No high end salt just the good old IO.

[Maverick00]

Amazing.. so i know its been over 4 years, but how long since the tank was first cycled out of curiosity?

[Carrera75]

This tank didn't go through a cycle or if it did it was a small one. I bought liverock and sand from a guy that had just shut down his tank and this greatly helped to minimize the cycle period. This tank never had any algae problems and ran skimmerless & sumpless very successfully for 7 years. Coral growth and polyp extension was awesome.

This reef tank was shut down this past weekend.

[msjboy]

Can we have some picts of the new transfer to the small tank... would be interesting to see if the smaller environment can still be skimmerless and sumpless....

msjboy

[Carrera75]

New system is skimmerless and sumpless just like this one. I'll post a pic later.

[lorenz0]

just saw the pictures from your 2009 FTS, wow it was nice

btw i still want to raid your florida ric collection

[Carrera75]

U into Rics :-) I have about 200 Rics. They grow very well in my tank but then any coral that I put in there grew like weed.

[Skimmerking]

I love Ric's my god what I would do to get some from you.

[Carrera75]

Can we have some picts of the new transfer to the small tank... would be interesting to see if the smaller environment can still be skimmerless and sumpless....

msjboy

Here are some pics of the new set up. These pics was taken just before I set it up.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/IMG_3297.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/IMG_3296.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/IMG_3298.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/IMG_3295.jpg

and the 50g all empty :sad::sad::sad:

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/yvr_75/caa89504.jpg

[Cade]

Update? lol