Is it just a pipedream?

[Heath]

I had wanted to have no mechanical filtration on my 75, and no skimmer. All I wanted was a planted fuge and a DSB with a clean up crew to help with any leftover food/waste.

I have little to no algae growth so far, and my caulerpa is growing at a steady rate, almost to the point that it is going to fill the whole volume that I dedicated to a fuge in my sump (~10 gallons of volume). My nitrates are always at zero, my nitrites stay at zero, and my ammonia would sit around .25. I recently added another 30lbs of mature LR to the tank to help get the ammonia broken down faster.

But I do seem to have an issue with cyano. I believe it is stemming from phosphates and not my nitrates since they were at zero well before the issue sprung up. I dont have a phosphate test to confirm this, so no real way for me to give you a solid number on what it is. Does it seem pheasable that once my DSB becomes fully active, and my fuge is running at full tilt, that I will be able to pull this off? I have a skimmer sitting the garage that I could add if I have to, but I would like to pull this off.

Tank stats:
75 gallon
mixed corals
50/50 mix 4 bulb t5 current fixture
~85lbs of LR, 4 inch aragonite sand bed
miscellanous clean up crew, lawnmower blenny, 2 tomato clowns, and 3 yellow damsels.
(2) korallia 2 pumps, 30 gallon sump with about 15 gallons of volume that is being used at any point in time, with a mag 5 and 7 return pumps.

 

[DFW]

I don't have a natural tank like that, and had no issues with cyano for 14 months. Then I added a rock that had a good patch of cyano - it had some coral that I liked - thinking my "very healthy tank" would defeat that patch of cyano. Instead it spread violently. Coincedence? Maybe, but very careful use of "Chemiclean" got rid of it, anyway! Just food for thought.

David

 

[Heath]

I will have to read up on chemiclean. Thanks...

 

[Saltpro]

@Heathd wrote:

How long has your tank been setup

 

[Heath]

2.5 months.

THe LR is from my last tank which was a mature setup. I assumed there was a certain amount of die off for the LR, regardless of how careful I was when moving it. The sandbed is new.

 

[TCUguy]

Why don't you add a photsban reactor? Its technically not mechanical since the little pellets will grow "good" bacteria and then reduce nitrates and phosphates?

 

[Heath]

I looked at them, but was a little turned away by the cost of the media for the phosban reactors, unless you know of a cheap generic media for it.

I would honestly like to just spend 10 bucks to mod the skimmer and use what I have if it came down to having to do something else. I, ugh, am very much staring lay offs square in the face, as our contract may not get renewed and the prospect of new work is uncertain at this point. So, dropping any kind of real money is sort of out of the question.

I to some extent think the sand bed may not be fully colonized, but I could be wrong

 

[TCUguy]

Well yes the media is quite a bit initially but you know you don't have to replace it ever right? you just add more as it dissolves and ive heard it could take months for that to happen so you wouldn't be replacing every other week or even once a month...

 

[Heath]

@TCUguy wrote:

I will have to look into it once my future is much more certain, but thanks for the recommendation.

 

[DFW]

Just yesterday I was looking at a tank with large quantities of coral - packed with soft coral and sps. The operator of that tank told me he had been running that tank for 20 years using tap water top offs and water changes, no additives, no test kits, a swing arm hydrometer was the only thing he was using to test anything. He had 3 powerheads in the tank, no sump, all filtration had long since stopped operating, a very small skimmer that was barely running, 4 VHO bulbs - 3 white & 1 blue. The sand bed appeared to be 1 or 2 inches deep, lots of live rock, and coral skeletons. Apparently simplicity can be accomplished.

Maybe you are just going through the normal, initial cyano that many go through briefly when first setting up?

David

 

[TCUguy]

@DFW wrote:

Very true. However, new technology makes it easier to be in this hobby thanks to big a## sized skimmers among other things (temperature controller, ato, auto doser) my tank is almost care free (besides water changes). Btw I use tap water as well and I have every type of coral as well as clams and anemones and what not. I also use a swingarm hydrometer for everyday testing but I DO have a refractometer that I use to check the accuracy of the hydrometer every other month or so.

 

[dwittster]

It is indeed possible to run a tank with no mechanical filtration. Stop by True Perc some time. They have a gorgeous one. I believe that there are even a few posts on here about that tank. It is not easy. I requires more time and care, but it can be done.

 

[DFW]

Very true. However, new technology makes it easier to be in this hobby thanks to big a## sized skimmers among other things (temperature controller, ato, auto doser) my tank is almost care free (besides water changes). Btw I use tap water as well and I have every type of coral as well as clams and anemones and what not. I also use a swingarm hydrometer for everyday testing but I DO have a refractometer that I use to check the accuracy of the hydrometer every other month or so.[/quote]

You know that Ft. Worth puts chlorine and ammonia in the water, right? I guess you put prime in the tap water? I make RO (no DI yet), but still add Prime. About ammonia in Ft. Worth water, I cycled my tank with tap water - no need to add ammonia to get cycle going since it is already there!

"It is indeed possible to run a tank with no mechanical filtration. Stop by True Perc some time. They have a gorgeous one. I believe that there are even a few posts on here about that tank. It is not easy. I requires more time and care, but it can be done."

That is a good tank, but mostly macro and fish.

 

[Guest]

with no mechancical filtration i would think softies would be ok. i would not try sps as they will prob lose their coloring and die. No matter what you do I would at the minimum do biweekly water changes to keep the levels of nitrates and phos at a minimum. I would also reccomend a light bioload.

I guess why would you not want to run a skimmer besides filtration it helps removed co2 from the tank which in turn aerates the tank and also keep ph at normal levels. their are too many benifits too running a skimmer than to not have one at all. I would even run a seaclear skimmer over none at all.

if you are not running a skimmer why are you keeping a sump you really dont need it just run your tank with the power heads and just top off the water in the tank

 

[Heath]

@kuyatwo wrote:

The sump is what is housing my macros. My caulerpa does a good job at keeping my nitrates at zero, and I bought a phosphate test last week and it didnt detect any. That last part could be rather nebulous, because it could be the cyano that is consuming the phosphates and in turn giving me the zero reading.

I dont want to run a skimmer just because I dont feel like messing with one, or buying a different one. The one I have now is an aqua c remora, which when I used it on my last tank, didnt develop very good skimmate. I recently started looking at mods for it and I may do those and stick it back on the tank. Maybe I can get it to perform better.

I really just wanted to try something different. The sofites I have right now are growing pretty well.

 

[Guest]

aqua c remora is a good skimmer for almost a year i ran min with a mag pump not the maxijet. i personally feel that the maxijet is under powered for that skimmer. also you might need to clean the spray nut thingy it might be clogged.

phoshates are tough to tell especially if you have cyano or gha growing as they consume the phosphates so you are getting a false negative when you test for them.

i forgot to put on my first post i would run carbon, purigen or chemi-pure. All of them can be run in a filter sock. i run carbon in a filter sock every other week for 24 hrs i just leave carbon in the filter sock and just reuse it 3-4 times then replace it. i do not run mine 24x7

 

[Heath]

I will end up replacing the maxijet then, and also take a look at the injector. I got it used, and come to think of it, doubt that they did any maintenance on it.

Oddly enough, I dont have a GHA issue, its just little patches of cyano across my substrate.

 

[Saltpro]

@Heathd wrote:

You dont need a phosban or carbon or none of that high priced crap if you just keep up with regular water changes. I dont use it anymore but used to and its a ripoff. Just change your water often...simple [smilie=wink.gif About skimmer . dont waste your money on a aqua C skimmer...they suck to the third degree. Not worth the box they come in imo. Change water...then just remember to change your water, then none of the high priced worthless crap are needed. People that are saying get a aqua c remora are no longer using it..why becuase they realized they dont work. If you see people selling low end skimmers ask yourself why?/// Well becuase they dont work worth a darn....yep its not bargain, its a lessoned learned. Been there done that.

 

[Heath]

I did a 20 gal water change on sunday and cleaned the substrate thoroughly. I still have a little cyano, but it hasnt come back with full force like it has in the past in other tanks.

I also had a small handfull of caulerpa decide to die off? Not real sure why, just little bits and pieces here and there that were in bad shape.

 

[TCUguy]

@Heathd wrote:

Maybe not enough light reaching it or the cyano took all of the nutrients out of the tank so the caulerpa starved.

BTW I would change your macro to something like chaeto since caulerpa can go asexual and nuke your tank...