Water Purification

[Funky_Fish14]

Originally Posted by Beverly

Anyone care to comment on how our reefs are doing without skimmers?

I'll jump.

Beverly's reefs are probably three of the best looking reefs I've seen. Zero clutter in the tanks, they are VERY clean, all the corals are very healthy, and the fish didnt looked stressed at all. Also, I remember the tanks, and water looking VERY clear, which, not to say its a bad thing, but doesnt seem to be the case in every tank.

Chris

[fortheloveofcrabs]

I will second that, Bev's reefs are fantastic! Mind you Harvy's 33 gal cube (now no longer, sob sob sob) was the #1 reef I've seen and I believe he is a gadget geek. That said what really makes a good looking reef, is the the aquascaping. You can have a tank full of mushrooms, xenia, polyps, some shrimp and few damsels or clowns - if properly aquascaped it will look like a million bucks (whatever that means). Having said all this, I think a skimmer can be good and can be bad. I have an alveopora, it was not doing well until I removed my skimmer. That said, when I first started the tank, I had an algae growth in the water column problem (like not see you hand in the tank unless it was touching the glass 'algae growth in the water column problem') and I could not, for the life of me, change enough water to get it out. My trusty skimmer and 9 hours, BAM! Clean as a whistle!

So, everything in moderation...

-Pauli