Filterless Tanks?

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mihkaail

New Member
Hi guys

As some of you may read, i juat met a guy who has a 3'x1.5'x1.5 and his params are great, NO2, NO3 all zip. His secret is NO FILTER, but two super powerful skimmers. His bioload involves lotsa corals, a flame hawk, a pair of percs and a scopas tang.

He suggested i do the same filterlessness in my upcoming 35cm cube. Do you guys think it will work? Significantly higher bioload though cos i intend to keep a pair of clowns too. Has anyonw else seen/run skimmer only tanks? pros and cons?

Thanks in advance for all replies :)
 
djconn

djconn

New Member
I only run a skimmer in my 20 gallon and its worked out just fine for me for over 2.5 yrs. I figure it just one less thing to worry about.

Simple is sometimes better. :smile:
 
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Iceburg98

New Member
I just took the HOB off my 6gal and went skimmer-only and the tank seems to be better off for it.

I'm also planning on possibly moving everything into a 20 gal, and just running the skimmer on that. The guy at my LFS even told me that's all you really need. I might throw a small aquaclear on the back for a refugium/extra filtration if i do the 20, but even then, i'm not sure how much benefit that will have since the skimmer i have can run filters/carbon...

I think the reason why most people use filters on their nanos is because it's hard to find a skimmer that will fit on them, and they're significantly more expensive. (But since when is cost an issue in this hobby :roll: )

I only upgraded to a skimmer because i was fortunate enough to get a good deal on one that fits my tank perfectly, and so far i'm glad that i did...
 
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mihkaail

New Member
Hi guys, thanks for the replies

Didnt realise you guys are running skimmer only tanks! Thats great!! So what are your parameters like? esp trates trites phosphates if possible. And what skimmers are you all using? normal air driven or countercurrent?

Any disadvantages using skimmers only? Thanks again guys, can always rely on people on this website :)
 
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incysor

New Member
If I were very anal about doing my water changes like clockwork, I could see doing this, but there are times when I miss for a week or two. I prefer to have the filter for that situation. I think it works fine if you are really regular about water changes and you're very lightly stocked when it comes to fish. This really wouldn't work on my home tanks cause I have way more fish in my system than is recommended. :lol:

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Iceburg98

New Member
I am pretty religious with the water changes - about a gallon a week, and i only have 1 fish in there so far (had 2 for a while, but one got ich :cry: ).

I'm using a Red Sea Prizm Deluxe, and it works great, and is small enough to hang on the back of a nano.

And like i said, in the deluxe model, it has a little basket after the aeration chamber where you can add filter pads/carbon/whatever - so i don't see the need for another filter to do the same thing... but that's just me.
 
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shaggydoo541

New Member
I don't run a skimmer or a filter. I have a HOB filter but removed all the media and just have some chaeto, a heater and some LR in there. I guess some might consider this a filter of some sort but its really only natural filtration as all the normal filtration media is removed. I am able to do this because I do biweekly large water changes religiously.

Overall I have seen many combinations of tanks running skimmer, filters, ozone, or none of the above, and all can be very successful if you know what you are doing. Thats what I think is great about this hobby is its very adaptable and there is room for many type of setups depending on you opinions and budget.
 
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mihkaail

New Member
Okay, thanks for the replies.

Firstly, its gonna be a 12g, how much water change should i do fortnightly? I could add a fuge in the back with sand and some caulerpa, cant get chaeto here. Again, how are your nitrates doing?
 
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shaggydoo541

New Member
I have never had any measurable nitrates. I only have 2 small clowns and will be adding a couple more small fish in the future so maybe then I will see some nitrates, but as is I have never been able to measure any.

With a 12 gallon you could change out 2 gallons a week and you would be more than fine especially if you start a fuge w/ some macro algae.
 
djconn

djconn

New Member
I'm running the Red Sea Prizm as well. Cheap little skimmer that works pretty good for the most part. All my readings are a zero but that is also without any fish.
 
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mihkaail

New Member
Shaggydoo, how big a tank are ya running?

Is the red sea prizm just the standard air driven type? whoa, if it can keep your readings at 0... maybe i wont need a supercharged skimmer after all
 
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incysor

New Member
mihkaail said:
Okay, thanks for the replies.

Firstly, its gonna be a 12g, how much water change should i do fortnightly? I could add a fuge in the back with sand and some caulerpa, cant get chaeto here. Again, how are your nitrates doing?
Click to expand...
Since a fortnight is two weeks you should change 4g.

If possible it'd be better to do 2g weekly.

FWIW, I'm also running a red sea prizm on my 25g small predator tank. It's not the best I've see by far, but it does a fair job and they're pretty cheap. They're also relatively small which is nice.

My boss has one of these in the fuge area on the back of his 18g tank.
He was skeptical that it would be worth a darn, but has been pleasantly surprised by how well it's done. They're also pretty cheap, but they're a bit bigger than the prizms.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 02749&rd=1

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mihkaail

New Member
Okay, should be okay with the fortnightly 4g waterchange

Incysor, the red sea prizm youre running, is that the only form of filtration? What is your bioload? And params?

The guy i met had a skimmer comprising a 18" tube connected to a eheim pump (100g per hour type) and an airpump with the wood airstone. Worked really well though :smile:
 
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mihkaail

New Member
One more thing, the tank might be a little delayed. I need $600 to go to gold coast :D but i might cancel the holiday, pending parental consent.
 
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incysor

New Member
mihkaail said:
Okay, should be okay with the fortnightly 4g waterchange

Incysor, the red sea prizm youre running, is that the only form of filtration? What is your bioload? And params?

The guy i met had a skimmer comprising a 18" tube connected to a eheim pump (100g per hour type) and an airpump with the wood airstone. Worked really well though :smile:
Click to expand...
I'm also running a penguin HOB filter. Which is basically running carbon and phosban in it.

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shaggydoo541

New Member
I'm running a 18G tank. It's small but I have had success w/ running such a small tank so far. I am experimenting w/ the natural filtration and I have had a lot of success so far. I just got 5 more species of zoas today and hope they all make it (my local reef club rocks as I got all 5 types of zoas for 20 bucks w/ a free blue shroom).

I hope all goes well with my tank and I think that my large water changes will allow me to keep this nano alive and well. I stand by my natural filtration system as I have had no casualties. Anyways I will post some new pics of the zoas I picked up today. They are frickin awesome!!!!
 
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mihkaail

New Member
incysor, do you think the carbon and phosban are really necessary; since you have a skimmer and all. Might try to use the AC300 as a fuge and put some C racemosa or C taxifolia in. I know theyre not the best choices and risk of going sexual is high,but i really cant get much more than those species here. I could get nori, but somehow, i doubt its capabilities in the fuge :smile:

Shaggydoo, would love to see some pics :D and what fish load do you have in there?
 
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incysor

New Member
For the tank that I have it on yes I think the carbon and phosban are necessary...But this is a small predator tank. Predators are messy, messy, eaters. And a prizm skimmer is sort of the lowest rung of useable skimmers. They're cheap, and they do work, but it's not the best by any stretch of the imagination. If I had a $300 beckett skimmer on that tank, I'd probably remove the filter, but I can't afford that even for my large system, so the filter stays. :smile:

For a smaller tank with less of a bioload I don't really think that skimmers are necessary. Still useful, but not necessary.

The risk of your macro alge is greatly reduced if you leave the fuge light on 24/7. I'd just stock up on a couple extra bulbs and use what's available and not worry too much about it.

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