growing sps without a skimmer.

So what I get from this is that you don't have to have a skimmer, but there is absolutely no harm in it. It gives a little cushion for error/bad luck in a tank if/when something goes awry. Sps can be much more demanding of stable parameters in water chemistry, can be very expensive, and need much higher flow than other corals. Higher flow means more pumps, wavemakers, etc,= more money. Why would you not want to have one? You can always take it off line later and see how your system reacts, and sell it if it's truly not needed. And you can pick up a decent one for around $100 used. If/when I get all the little bugs worked out of my system, that is when I would think about trying it without a skimmer. I read a book once and on the topic of skimmers it said something along the lines of "if you don't think you need a skimmer, try drinking the stuff it pulls out of your tank"

I find it interesting that most everyone touts the benefit of going slow and allowing your tank to cycle for 4 to 8 weeks and then slap on a great big skimmer and stock the he** out of your tank. Is it any wonder that so many tanks have problems between 4 months and 1 year.

Perhaps in a larger system you might need a skimmer. The largest tank I have had experience with is a 55 Gallon but it seems to me that the same principles should hold true no matter the water volume. In my tanks simplicity is extremely important to me because the more complexity I add the more chance of failure while I am away. Since I travel weekly and sometimes for up to 10 days the less that can go wrong the better. I was willing to be content with softies and LPS just to have a reef tank but I am excited to find out that the way I have set up my tank it is both simple and capable of supporting some SPS. I stay away from some of the more difficult LPS simply because I can't be there to give them the care they would require and I am sure there are SPS I won't be able to keep for the same reason.

I completely agree. The goals of hobbyist have to dictate what equipment is used and many wouldn't want a reef with my combination of fish and coral and simplicity. Who knows at some point I may want to incorporate a skimmer especially if I ever get that large show tank I dream about, but for now less is more to me.

My biggest problem with "natural systems" is that people often only feed their fish every couple days or once a week or even less.  I've seen some ridiculously emaciated fish in these systems where people are afraid to feed b/c of nitrates.
If you don't want to feed your fish don't get them, just keep corals.
It's directly akin to not feeding your dog because you don't want to pick up the waste.

Protein skimmers allow for more than just a cushion, IMO, they allow you to responsibly keep a reef and its inhabitants.

Skilled hobbyists can keep a completely natural system with well fed fish, but they know when the system starts to suffer.  Beginning hobbyists normally don't have this luxury and overstock their tank thinking they can get away with it.  A mature system with only a few fish can most likely sustain itself with little additional feeding but very very few of us have these types of systems.

For tanks under 55 gallons i really think its 100% feasible to get away without a skimmer, and perform water changes, but with my bioload there is no way i could personally do it because i have huge fish and feed them well.  I enjoy seeing them thrive not just live in a glass box.  In the ocean a tang has thousands of square meters for his home range, i'm pretty sure as hobbyists we owe him a sheet of nori a day......

I agree.

Edited by Mark Peterson - January 18 2010 at 3:05pm