Refugium with no skimmer ?

[Garf]

You do daily water changes ?

Yes. It’s only a 60 gallon. 3 litres out, 3 litres + evaporation dripped back in.

 

[Auquanut]

Just going to throw in my 2 cents.

I rely on my skimmer as much for gas exchange as for nutrient export. In my opinion, you can't have too much gas exchange. It helps with PH management and overall health of the tank.

When you get the skimmer adjusted for an acceptable level of skimmate, it is absolutely a useful tool for nutrient export. I conform to the "heavy in - heavy-out" theory of nutrient management, so my skimmer is a vital part of this approach.

If your skimmer functions well and then suddenly doesn't, I would equate that to a significant change in the nutrient level of the tank or a new skimmer that needs to be "broken in". That's just me.

You can absolutely run a tank with alternative methods of nutrient export. There are quite a few members that do. For me though, a skimmer will always be a part of the life support systems of my tanks.

 

[salty_dawg]

Just going to throw in my 2 cents.

I rely on my skimmer as much for gas exchange as for nutrient export. In my opinion, you can't have too much gas exchange. It helps with PH management and overall health of the tank.

When you get the skimmer adjusted for an acceptable level of skimmate, it is absolutely a useful tool for nutrient export. I conform to the "heavy in - heavy-out" theory of nutrient management, so my skimmer is a vital part of this approach.

If your skimmer functions well and then suddenly doesn't, I would equate that to a significant change in the nutrient level of the tank or a new skimmer that needs to be "broken in". That's just me.

You can absolutely run a tank with alternative methods of nutrient export. There are quite a few members that do. For me though, a skimmer will always be a part of the life support systems of my tanks.

Skimmer is a year old I might just start running it a few hours a day . I watched a brs video where algae scrubbers out perform skimmers by almost 10x . I wanted to try and save some money by going with a fuge first though

 

[FreshSaltyGuy]

I have a reefer 250 v1 with a Red Sea reefer 300 protein skimmer that in my opinion sucks .. I was debating on removing it for an algae scrubber then I was wondering about removing it and just throwing a light and some macro algae there instead.it would save me some cash but would it be proficient enough ? I have a pair of clowns and a chromis and I’m looking to add a tomini and a leopard wrasse and maybe a sand sifter .

For what it's worth I came from 20+ years of fresh water planted tanks. I now have added a 40 gallons reef tank for about 3 months now. It has 40 lbs or so of Fiji and Australian live rock and live sand. Because the live rock was so healthy and probably tons of bacteria I never have gone through the ugly phase. I have now added about 20 corals, 2 damsels, 2 clowns, a Sand sifting star, 3 nasarius snails, 10 or so turbos, and about 6 other snails.
Here is the crazy part and I will get called out but that's ok we are all here to learn and what works for me may not work for you. So I have a tiny sump that camp with my 40 gal tall tank. My sump is only 5 gallons. I modified it the best I could to have a tiny 3 gal refugium area where I put more live sand, live rock and a ton of Macro Algae and so of course no room for a algae scrubber or even skimmer....sure I could always get a job skimmer but no need. I also added some hermits, turbos and nasarius snails to my sump. It then goes through the glass maze, through a good filter floss and pumped back in. Ok hang on to your seat belts....I haven't done a water change in 2 months......why you ask?.....because ALL my #'s have been stable since the first month. I only have fresh rodi water when needed. My sand bed it immaculate as well as my rock work. Everything from my fish to my coral look happy and healthy with coral all extended out and bright and vivid.
So as long as my #'s stay solid I see no ready to do a water change.
Is my tank still to young and may I possibly run into an issue in the future...yep maybe, but for now I'm good. I added to the tank in phases to balance everything. As I added more fish I would add more CUC and more macro algaes to balance it out here is the latest tank pic.

 

[salty_dawg]

For what it's worth I came from 20+ years of fresh water planted tanks. I now have added a 40 gallons reef tank for about 3 months now. It has 40 lbs or so of Fiji and Australian live rock and live sand. Because the live rock was so healthy and probably tons of bacteria I never have gone through the ugly phase. I have now added about 20 corals, 2 damsels, 2 clowns, a Sand sifting star, 3 nasarius snails, 10 or so turbos, and about 6 other snails.
Here is the crazy part and I will get called out but that's ok we are all here to learn and what works for me may not work for you. So I have a tiny sump that camp with my 40 gal tall tank. My sump is only 5 gallons. I modified it the best I could to have a tiny 3 gal refugium area where I put more live sand, live rock and a ton of Macro Algae and so of course no room for a algae scrubber or even skimmer....sure I could always get a job skimmer but no need. I also added some hermits, turbos and nasarius snails to my sump. It then goes through the glass maze, through a good filter floss and pumped back in. Ok hang on to your seat belts....I haven't done a water change in 2 months......why you ask?.....because ALL my #'s have been stable since the first month. I only have fresh rodi water when needed. My sand bed it immaculate as well as my rock work. Everything from my fish to my coral look happy and healthy with coral all extended out and bright and vivid.
So as long as my #'s stay solid I see no ready to do a water change.
Is my tank still to young and may I possibly run into an issue in the future...yep maybe, but for now I'm good. I added to the tank in phases to balance everything. As I added more fish I would add more CUC and more macro algaes to balance it out here is the latest tank pic.

Appreciate the info reefing is a little different from Fw tanks they go through many stages your just getting passed the cycling stage . My tank has been running for 3 years but the way your doing it I have seen it done successfully and ran for years using a refugium and the triton method only no skimmer . But skimmers help with ph so many ways to skin a cat in reefing it’s crazy

 

[FreshSaltyGuy]

Appreciate the info reefing is a little different from Fw tanks they go through many stages your just getting passed the cycling stage . My tank has been running for 3 years but the way your doing it I have seen it done successfully and ran for years using a refugium and the triton method only no skimmer . But skimmers help with ph so many ways to skin a cat in reefing it’s crazy

Agree....I will certainly post updates as time goes on.

 

[exnisstech]

I have a few tanks but my reefer 170 has never had a skimmer in the 3+ years it has been running. I have chaeto in the skimmer chamber and nutrients are so low I have to dose phosphates daily to keep levels detectable. Nitrates stay single digit and also need dosed but not everyday. I have 6 fish and feed a minimum of twice a day and flood the tank when I do with return pump off. I do 1g water changes daily but miss one every so often. So no a skimmer is not a requirment but each tank is different. I have a skimmer on my 180g but it doesn't pull a whole lot. I also have a fuge with chaeto. If I had to pick between a skimmer or a fuge it would be fuge for the added bio diversity. I have way too many cool critters in my refugiums. At times its more interesting than my display.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I’d be happy if I didn’t have to constantly mess with it

As started earlier, you have a light boi load. Your skimmer with only skim when there is enough fuel to skim. There's no need to mess with the skimmer set and forget.

 

[FreshSaltyGuy]

I have a few tanks but my reefer 170 has never had a skimmer in the 3+ years it has been running. I have chaeto in the skimmer chamber and nutrients are so low I have to dose phosphates daily to keep levels detectable. Nitrates stay single digit and also need dosed but not everyday. I have 6 fish and feed a minimum of twice a day and flood the tank when I do with return pump off. I do 1g water changes daily but miss one every so often. So no a skimmer is not a requirment but each tank is different. I have a skimmer on my 180g but it doesn't pull a whole lot. I also have a fuge with chaeto. If I had to pick between a skimmer or a fuge it would be fuge for the added bio diversity. I have way too many cool critters in my refugiums. At times its more interesting than my display.

Same I have to dose nitrates lol and my phosphates hold steady at acceptable level

 

[TokenReefer]

Aren't we over-filtering if we're adding nutrients back in? I'm in the same boat with low numbers and I'm just trying to wrap my head around the whole picture. Im trying to not have to dose and just adjust filtering... Well see how it works out I guess. Just thinking out loud a little..

 

[TokenReefer]

I went to my lfs a few weeks ago and asked about N and P supplements because I was gonna pick them up. Guy looked at me like I was crazy; they don't carry any. Now maybe he's out of touch with the latest and not on the message boards but they've got huge beautiful (old) tanks so surely he knows what he's doing. This got me thinking. This adding back nutrients is a new thing I think and idk yet if it's necessary; although it's surely a method... Sorry was still thinking about it

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

most old school reefers would just add more food than pay for N or P to purposely add to the tank.

i think it always depends on your tank and your corals and fish load.. my 300 gallon predator reef gets fed 6-16 oz of protein a day and its got a huge old mrc quad beckett skimmer on it and lots of ozone... my other reef tank barely gets fed so it doesnt need the same filtration.