LPS Lovers, do you run a skimmer?

[heuerfan]

I am running a skimmer 24/7 and also a fuge. I been wondering if my LPS would be happier if i stop running the skimmer. My skimmer does not produce a lot of skimmate.

What are your thoughts?

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

i would think that since it seems you aren't over skimming that they do appreciate the small amount of crud that it pulls out of water.(they like pretty clean water-not SPS clean-but definitely cleaner than a softy tank)
--JMO

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by heuerfan
My skimmer does not produce a lot of skimmate.

What are your thoughts?
get a better skimmer and run it 24/7

[MiddletonMark]

I agree.

Whether a L or S, stony corals all do much better in the general absence of P + N. Actual food is quite good for either, but I can't think of a reason why you'd want elevated nutrients in the water for either - given both are calcifying.

Direct feeding may be more needed with more flesh ... but IMO, skim like a banshee for either.

[heuerfan]

Thanks guys, guess i'll leave it on! :)

[Gundo5000]

I run mine every night. My lps are healthy and growing.

[KRP]

I run my skimmer 24/7.

[justincognito]

I don't use skimmers in my tanks. I perfer refugiums. WIth proper flow and proportions refugiums will process all your nutrients and turn it into plankton to feed your corals:) MAny corals that are only now being able to be kept in captivity were dying because they were starving. Skimmers take out plankton and other minute organic nutrients your coral or inverts could use.

[Amphiprionocellaris]

Originally posted by justincognito
I don't use skimmers in my tanks. I perfer refugiums. WIth proper flow and proportions refugiums will process all your nutrients and turn it into plankton to feed your corals:) MAny corals that are only now being able to be kept in captivity were dying because they were starving. Skimmers take out plankton and other minute organic nutrients your coral or inverts could use.
Purely out of curiosity, does your filtration system make your water seem yellow. That's one of the "negatives" of refugia-only filtration that I've heard, but I've never actually seen a tank that appeared yellow. I also prefer refugia (to me there is nothing more fascinating than the thought of having an almost totally natural system), but I also run a skimmer because it came with the tank:).

[Gary Majchrzak]

Amphiprionocellaris-
do a search on

algae scrubber
adey
smithsonian reef aquarium
pittsburgh zoo reef aquarium

Over the years, I've seen many reef aquariums (public and private) employing algae scrubbers with no skimming. Over time, these systems have a very poor track record for keeping corals (of all types) alive and thriving.
"Yellow" water can be easily corrected by using GAC (granular activated carbon).

[chrisc615]

Are there any articles on reguim only vs skiimed systems out there? It would be nice to convert my whole sump to a refugium but it would make my nervous to pull the skimmer. Of cource my skimmer was down for a few weeks at one time and the wife thought the tank looked better.

[Amphiprionocellaris]

Originally posted by Gary Majchrzak
Amphiprionocellaris-
do a search on

algae scrubber
adey
smithsonian reef aquarium
pittsburgh zoo reef aquarium

Over the years, I've seen many reef aquariums (public and private) employing algae scrubbers with no skimming. Over time, these systems have a very poor track record for keeping corals (of all types) alive and thriving.
"Yellow" water can be easily corrected by using GAC (granular activated carbon).

I am actually pretty familiar with algal turf scrubbers; I have and cherish my Reef Aquarium Volumes 1 and 2 (Volume 3 coming out next month; YES!). However, I took it (using only that book) that the main problem was in maintaining SPS. Softies and LPS from comparitavely nutrient rich areas did well in such situations (given that the leachates were removed by carbon rather than allowing to accumulate).

[Gary Majchrzak]

It's my experience that softies and LPS (as well as SPS, fishes and anemones) all do much better in a (relatively) cleaner, well oxygenated environment.
It's also my experience that good skimming can export nutrients much better/faster than any algae in a turf scrubber.

Feed your LPS good foods and skim the system like mad.

Here's a related thread:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=525697

[justincognito]

As far as yellow water, the water is crystal clear. I may run carbon for a week or two a couple times a year but thats it.
I think proper proportions and flow are critical if refugium are the only filter. I know a gentleman who has a 110 gallon tank heavily stocked with big fish he feeds a lot. He took off his skimmer because his tank was nitrogen limited. He also has 4,000 pgh going through the refugium.
I do very well with Goniopora and i have SPS in all these tanks with zero nitrate and little or no nuisance algae. I think i do so well with them because there is more of the proper food available to them. And the water is clean

[justincognito]

There is more than one way to skin a cat. I work a lot with Goniopora so i need lots of plankton. Most SPS eat similar foods so they end up doing well.

If you like skimming and it works for you use it. I and many other people perfer refugiums and they work for us. I crappy skimmer will get you crappy results, as will a crappy refugium.
I find many people who have problems with refugiums have two problems, not enough light and/or not enough flow.

[justincognito]

Put low flow through a skimmer with big bubbles and you will get a tank that looks like hell. Nothing beats goods design.

[R33f3r]

I actually stopped skimming 6 months ago and have noticed a total explosion in LPS growth, not to mention coralline. I don't have any detectable phophates nor do I have any nasty algae outbreaks. I switched salts as well. So far, the skimmer is sitting empty.

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7284619#post7284619 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by R33f3r
I actually stopped skimming 6 months ago and have noticed a total explosion in LPS growth, not to mention coralline. I don't have any detectable phophates nor do I have any nasty algae outbreaks. I switched salts as well. So far, the skimmer is sitting empty.
IME coralline grows much quicker in areas of well oxygenated water that's moving briskly- like the water found around powerheads and skimmer discharges. Coralline always encrusts most heavily around the area of skimmer discharges! Coralline will even grow inside a skimmer if the unit receives a little bit of light.
Running a skimmer can prevent nuisance algae from receiving the nutrients it requires to outcompete coralline algae.
I can feed LPS more (high quality) foods if I'm runnning a skimmer.
The same can be said of my anemones and most everything else in the aquarium.
Maybe your switch in salts is interfering with the conclusions you've reached on skimmers, R33f3r.

[Dan Thrash]

i just put my first LPS in my nanocube w/o skimmer...a red open brain. so we'll see how it does. i just have to do water changes every week and change out the filter floss i put in there. i have no nussiance algae (i think the chaeto in back helps with that). i was told too, that LPS will tolerate less than perfectly clean water...unlike SPS.

[RandyO]

I run a skimmer 24/7, and I keep mostly LPS corals. I do think some LPS corals can do poorly is a super clean system, like a cooked rock, starboard, ozone, giant skimmer, filterbagged, heavy carbon use tank. But most people with this kind of sterile tank are keeping sps.
Having some oraganics in the tank can be beneficial, but as Gary said, it's best to feed your corals high quality foods often, and keep that skimmer running full time to reduce nuisance algae outbreaks.

[Crusty Old Shellback]

I've run a skimmer 24/7 on my tank for the last 7 years and my bubble is about the size of a basketball with my toadstool even bigger. I don't target feed them either. :D

My bubble has more than trippled in size since getting him and has even spawned once in my tank as well as repaired tears in his flesh a few times. Just and FYI. ;)

I use NSW and have seen an increase in my corals size and "happiness" over the years since I switched.

[Thurge]

No skimmer, just a fuge. It got the boot when I lost my Thorny Oystuers to overskimming, and replaced with half a dozen steamer clams

[ACBlinky]

I think LPS can do well with just a skimmer, just a fuge, or both. As justincognito said, there's more than one way to keep these guys happy.
I keep LPS in three tanks - one has a skimmer (65g), one has a skimmer and a refugium (30g), one has neither (fishless 5.5g). LPS are doing well in all three, despite different conditions. I spot feed the 5.5g corals more than those in the other tanks (it's a hospital tank for rescued corals) and add zooplankton and phyto to all three tanks a few times a week. I'm also keeping softies and want to encourage pod growth, so I try and keep the tanks nutrient-rich without being polluted, if that makes sense... in other words, I like to feed heavily but aim to keep NO3 and PO4 as close to 0 as possible. I think LPS are quite forgiving, and if you have a system that works for you I wouldn't change it :)