Not running a skimmer or any mechanical filtration and looks as good as ever

[JLAudio]

I have an establised (1.5 years in current place and some rock for over 5 years) 125 and the skimmer (oct extreme 160) pump broke 6-21-10 and I never replaced it. initially I was frantically looking, but after a week everything seemed good (anemones, fish, asthetic appearence, et) so I didnt rush and get a pump. Now its been almost 2 mos. and im thinking that the fuge and established bacteria is taking care of excess nutrients.

I guess i am just noting that I have been running thi tank with minimal work and I barely do water changes. Every cpl months or so and all rodi top off. I am not promoting neglecting aquariums, but rather assessing what is necessary and what is just necessary in initial phases.

 

[h2o]

Lets see some before and after pics this cant be any good at least not for long

 

[fcamargo6thave]

hey i havent ran a skimmer in 4 months and all is good it seems that your tank is well established

 

[PeterD]

well whats your bioload and how messy do your fish eat cuss if they eat everything and leave nothing and a little bioload than you MAY be ok for awhile

 

[motortrendz]

there are alot of skimmerless systems out there.. and they are beautiful.. depends on the amount of LR type of sandbed, bio filtration(macro algea) and how well the system is matured... good luck and id love to see some pics as well!!

 

[tosiek]

Its very necessary. You will eventually find out in the long run that the tank can't handle everything itself. The tank starts to go sour at the 5-6 month mark and after a year you will be doing major fixes the tank. It really depends on your bioload. And your fuge, unless oversized, its helping. But im sure its not doing all the work.

You don't need mechanical filtration but you do need to be doing water changes. Your not replenishing the tank with nutrients or removing trates. There are plenty of low bioload tanks run just on circulation and water changes.

 

[tynman]

If its a fish only tank or fish live rock and some coral you might be alright for a little while. But if you have sps or lps that wont be good at all. I learned the hard way with the water changes in the begging I only did wc once every 1 to 2 months and it bit me in the behind...LOL but good luck with it and keep us updated...

 

[aznt1217]

Seen the tank, know the tank, and helped set up lol. He doesn't have many fish/coral for a tank his size and way more liverock than he needs. Also theres a substantial amount of chaeto.

I'd still probably replace the skimmer pump but if you want to wait for a deal thats cool. That or do a nice water change every month or so.

 

[straightjiggy10]

also depends on the coral

 

[jackson6745]

Pics

 

[prattreef]

While it is certainly possible to run a 1st class system without a skimmer ( heck we don't even know for sure what they pull out--see Ken Feldman's work on the subject), there must be some form of nutrient export via water changes or macroalgae absorption/removal. The latter needs to be quite a large volume to be of any use as the primary export means.

 

[AlohaTropics]

Personal experience, things will go sour. I'm guessing you don't have many SPS, those are the first to go brown and then bleach. LPS, Polyps, softies, all might look a little better because of the higher nutrients but you will start having other problems like Cyanobacteria, etc...

I hope it doesn't happen but history has shown us that before Skimmers came to the hobby, people had lots of difficulty keeping a reef for an extended period of time. Good Luck!

 

[PeterD]

Makes sense than

 

[nanchil]

Pic ?