Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Tyree
Karim,
The problem is not the dissolved organics in particular, but the main issue is bacterial densities that occur due to the presence of the dissolved organics. There are direct correlations with poor coral health and high pelagic bacterial densities. Some dissolved organics will always be present within a closed system. The issue is density. That is why skimmers were needed to become successful with Acropora initially.
|
I see. So skimmers we're really bacterial export. I knew that was the case with carbon dosing, but never stopped to consider that they would serve the same function in a non C-dosing setup.
I stopped skimming a year ago and have continued SPS growth by keeping my inorganics below measurement levels using a settling filter and algae scrubber hybrid. This is my algae and pod/worm farm and I feed the extract back to the tank to maintain the cycle.
It may be that my filtration is dominated by algae, vs bacteria, but removing the skimmer did nothing. It could also be that I've cultivated sponges inside my pvc that are sucking down the bacteria. Probably both.
I have a shallow sand bed 3" that is crawling with worms too as well as a dozen starfish and cucumbers. My sand bed is completely exposed since the rocks are suspended from the overflow glass. This means that it's a large open sand bed with constant slow water flow over it. My mid and top flow is also intensely intermittent (surge, pulses) with little chance for food to stay in any one place. So everything in the tank in constantly eating and growing.