Running a Skimmerless tank

[Coralgurl]

I've been running my 55gl tank skimmerless since March this year. I have a canister filter with GFO and carbon, plus fluval prefilters & foam pads which I clean every 2 weeks and change media every month. No sump.

I also have an MP10 and 2 Koralias for powerheads, running t5ho lights (2 bulb) and a vertex illuminix LED as supplemental lighting. There are currently 7 fish (2 clowns, 2 chromis, 1 flameback angel, midas blenny and flame hawkfish).

Have a mix of corals, mostly zoas, hammer, torch, frogspawn, brain and a large nem. mixed CUC, snails, hermits.

In the past few weeks I've had a really good cyano outbreak. I know I overfeed as my bristle worms are quite large. Corals are growing well and seem happy.

I have not tested my parameters in months, but obvioulsy have something going on. I did run a skimmer on the tank for almost a year, but it never really did much. Its a Tunze 9011 in tank, since I removed it, I love the additional space I have.

Is there a good way to continue to run this tank skimmerless or would throwing one on make that much of a difference, considering the cyano? There is no other pest algae in the tank otherwise.

[Proteus]

Why not use a hang on refugium and stop feeding so much. What you save In food would pay for the fuge in a year lol

[Nano]

Think about this...
My tank ran well for 8 months till my skimmer crapped out, it took me nearly three months to get it working again, in that time I've lost probably a dozen sps, tons of zoos, and battled cyano and gha/bubble algae, cloudy water. I had to take my rock out and cook it cause nothing or not enough was being removed by weekly water changes. Imo adding to the build up of nutrients in my system.

It's finally skimming as of yesterday, and already my water is 100x more clear, so I can only imagine the long term benefits.

[FitoPharmer]

Cyano is a mysterious algae at times. And you are right to think a skimmer will not necessarily solve your problem. Since many people including myself can attest to having cyano in tanks with proper sized skimmers. When I had it the first time a few new power heads solved the problem. It can back again, I cheated and used chemi-clean.

[Coralgurl]

Originally Posted by Titus99

Why not use a hang on refugium and stop feeding so much. What you save In food would pay for the fuge in a year lol

Cuz my fish like to eat and always look like they are starving... I tried a HOB fuge but it was loud and splashed coming back into the tank, took it off to clean and well the bf broke it.

The tank has run fine until recently, maybe this is just catching up with me now....

[Coralgurl]

Originally Posted by FitoPharmer

Cyano is a mysterious algae at times. And you are right to think a skimmer will not necessarily solve your problem. Since many people including myself can attest to having cyano in tanks with proper sized skimmers. When I had it the first time a few new power heads solved the problem. It can back again, I cheated and used chemi-clean.

I just cleaned my powerheads, thought they were looking a little clogged up.

I'm thinking the skimmer would help to remove a lot of waste which may be building in the tank. I have no plans to add any additional fish, just fill with corals now.

There is a bit of scummy stuff that sits on the water surface, I moved a ph to aggitate one side a bit better, but its not getting removed from the tank or water. The water itself is quite clear and crisp looking though, not cloudy or "dirty" looking. I may throw the skimmer back in and see what happens.

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

Cuz my fish like to eat and always look like they are starving... I tried a HOB fuge but it was loud and splashed coming back into the tank, took it off to clean and well the bf broke it.

The tank has run fine until recently, maybe this is just catching up with me now....

You could always build one with a full siphon to quite the noise.

Haha. You fishies given you puppy dog eyes.
I feed sparingly but I'm a hard ass. Haha

[Reef Pilot]

Have you tried MB7? It competes with cyano, and is very effective with preventing it when using bio-pellets. But can't see why it wouldn't work at anytime in your tank.

My QT/frag tank does not have a skimmer. But I make large water changes using my DT water when I change it. My DT has a skimmer, of course, and N03 and P04 are both zero now, so that water is still pretty clean when it goes into my QT.

[kien]

There are a crap load of opinions on the use of the skimmer, and here's yet another one :-)

I don't think that a skimmer is absolutely necessary for your size of tank but it definitely would be beneficial. Skimmers were invented for a reason, they do what mother nature does with sea foam and that is remove dissolved organics. In the absence of this contraption that removes dissolved organics from the water you have to decide for yourself if you and your tank are OK with what's in your tank water in terms of nutrients. Some tanks will run fine with higher nutrients some don't. If you're not OK with the higher nutrients then you have to figure out a way to export them, either by way of more frequent or larger water changes or add a skimmer. A canister filter does not do the job of a skimmer. It will mechanically remove larger particles from your display tank but will not skim out the dissolved organics like a skimmer will.

As for the cyano issue, I had a cyano outbreak in my tank last week. In tracking down the problem I noticed that one of my powerheads was acting funny and would periodically stop working. I also noticed a lot of build up on the intake grills of my powerheads. Over the year I just got used to the flow so never really noticed that it got reduced considerably over time. I planned to clean up the powerheads as I normally do once a year but instead just bought new ones. Immediately I could tell that the flow from the older powerheads was indeed drastically reduced compared to the brand new powerheads. A week with the new powerheads and the cyano has mostly gone now. For me cyano ALWAYS creeps up in areas of lowest flow.

If that did not work I had a Plan B which also has worked for me in the past and that is to use Coral Snow. I recall reading somewhere that someone used it and it got rid of their cyano. I tried it myself last year and sure enough, it worked. Your mileage may vary of course.

[Palmer]

In my personal experience Cyano if introduced to the tank on a coral or piece of rock can thrive in a well balanced and mature reef tank. Yes yes I know algae needs light and nutrients but I have seen several cases where the stuff needs to be eradicated in order to get rid of it and then said tanks are fine afterwards. So I have used Chemi clean and find it works very well. If your nitrates are low/undetectable and you have good flow new bulbs and are not overfeeding I would recommend it and given the above it should not come back. Be careful to follow the directions though I always add an air pump line for oxygenation turn the skimmer off (if you decide to turn it on!) and follow the directions on the water change.

On the skimmer note I must admit I dont have a lot of faith in skimming. I dont disagree that it has a purpose and becuase it is used in industrial applications that to me gives more creedence to it. But the articles I have read on the amount of organics removed by typical aquarium skimmers makes me doubt their overall utility as a must have. With that said I have a couple and use them just like everyone else I think they are a component to a healthy reef tank but not the be all end all in my opinion (thats why I will never own a Bubble King lol....)