Skimmerless method

[swishyfishies]

I have heard of this, what does it take to do this & would you ever recommend it? How is it any different than waiting a few months to even add a skimmer to your tank if you don't have the money when you start the tank?

 

[fishfreek]

What does it take?

Nothing more really than going with a skimmer. Would I recommend it? I would be less likly to recommend it to a beginner but to someone fimular with how much and how often to feed and how to not overstock a tank yes i would. BTW I run skimmerless.

One of the keys to not running a skimmer is to keep your tank understocked, feed sparingly and perform regular water changes. Or atleast thats my view of it.

Skimmers help remove yoru tank of disolved solids like fish waste and such. If you have a well balanced tank that is not overly stocked and is not fed on a heavy schedule then you can go skimmerless as the amount of disolved solids in the tank will be lower than if you had a heavly stocked and heavily feed tank.

 

[swishyfishies]

What to you is being fed on a heavy schedule? How often is too often in your book?

 

[swishyfishies]

Another thing, which is better if it's one or the other.......filter & no skimmer or skimmer & no filter? And yes this is only as long as you lave lots of LR & a DSB.

 

[fishfreek]

LR and the DSB is your filter.

Maybe people would be shocked at my systems when they see nothing attached to them other than lights and a heater and a pump.

So on my systems I run no external power filter and no skimmer. Now I have to admit I did put my prizm back on my 80 just this week after about 7 months of running it with no skimmer. But thats going to be a short lived event.

As far as your first question.

I feed the tank once every 2-3 days. I feed my tang daily with 1/4th of a nori sheet. THe sheets I have ar basicly 8"X10" in size so I go thru 1 1/2 of them a week on average. I have to admit also I have gone almost a week with out feeding my tanks (other than the nori). That nori is a daily ritual since the tang needs to graze almost all the time.

The less often you feed the less waste is produced.

IMO our aquairum fish lead less active lives than their wild counterparts. Thus they need less to eat to maintain body weight and size. Our fish will also eat what they find on the bottom of the tank or in and round the rocks.

 

[swishyfishies]

thanks