Confused on sump ideas

[Guest]

so i was watching a bunch of videos today on youtube about people building and setting up their sumps. I noticed in a majority of the videos that i watched people were not running protein skimmers?!

I was really suprised because I am in the process of building my sump and everyone that i have talked to has told me to get a really nice skimmer. However in these videos, one for example the guy had his overflow line coming down through a spray bar onto a trickle platform which then falls on the live rock in his fuge. he then has one baffle seperating the fuge with live rock and the return pump..

http://www.youtube.com/v/7UzWifKNeB0&hl=en&fs=1


I've never seen anything like this. i guess one advantage would be it's a cheaper set up. what other pros and cons are there with a setup like this?

I'm planning on my tank build to have a significant mount of live rock in my tank as well as live sand. Could i get by with a sump with live rock, micro algae and some mud?

 

[DaveJ]

They may not have them in the sump, but if they are reef tanks they probably have one external. Skimmers are almost always required in our systems, though there are systems that don't use them. Systems with high capacity sand beds, algae scrubbers and other forms of nutrient control/export.