Skimmers not required for cycling?

[Wei]

Hi Tanzy,

thks for correct the error i made. it should be PO4.

It should be adding kalk that will reduce the PO4 in water, in turn starving the cyano.

Can you include the formula/ chenical equation?

I dun really like chemistry, so reading Randy articles often make me fall asleep halfway.

I will start a thread on sulphur denitrator. need yr expertise.

Thks.

Wei

[Achilles Tang]

Please elaborate. I don't understand how adding calcium hydroxide solution will remove oxygen and how it's related to nitrates.

AT,

Adding alk will increase pH over time but not in a 1:1 ratio. Alk is measured in meq/L and pH is a log scale. pH is the measurement for the concentration of hydrogen ion in water. Their relationship is a bit more complicated and can be express as an equation but will not be accurate in the case of saltwater with so many other ions present.

Oops! Did I say PH and alk? It should be calc and alk!

Must be the 2 glasses of wine at 3am in the morning... heh!

[onghm]

Onghm,

IMO, dosing kalkwasser in conjuction with a calcium reactor is the best way of introducing balanced levels of calcium in a reef tank.

Kalk also has the added benefit of precipating out phosphate as well as raising alk and ph in a 1:1 proportion. This feature alone will contribute to creating bad conditions for cyano/nuisance algae.

Using B-ionic is good but may be not as cheap to use for the long term as compared to using kalkwasser.

Hi AT,

Thanks a lot for pointing out the benefits of using kalk in the long run.

Initially I thot using those 2 part solution is more hassle-free.

Will try to get Seachem kalk when petmart opens.

Thanks everyone!

[Tanzy]

Wei,

Randy's article on Alk and pH

Let the expert explain it. If I tried to explain the equation it will leave you confused and still make you fall asleep.

[rrrobt]

Ahh... but I think this trend is beginning to lose ground over time as even advanced hobbyists in the US who used to advocated skimmerless tanks are not realising that the long-term condition of their tanks cannot be ensured. They have begun to understand how skimmers are an important component of keeping their water quality at a high level. The Germans never seemed to advocate going skimmerless as much as some radical US hobbyists.... maybe they did in the beginning... but now look at how advanced their skimmers are.

I doubt if a newbie would take up the challenge of going skimmerless, especially for big tanks... for nano tanks.. they have no choice. Frequent water changes has to be part of their maintenance schedule. But then again, I would never encourage newbies to start off with nano tanks. It would be too much work, too much livestock at risk.

yup ,i agreed with the above mention.

wei, can you show us pic of your tank with or without skimmer. ,bet it must be big and very nice .

i will post my when i hv. but my is small 42x24x30 =130 gallon only.crowded with coral ,and 5 fishes.

robert.

[rrrobt]

wei ,

been waiting to see pic of your tank but you never post, anyway i came across it ,and here is your tank

maybe for this tank you dont need skimmer but you are using a remora skimmer which you have bought it from US for $500 on this tank

and now you going for Beckett Skimmer !! wow $$$$

p/s saw your tank in this link here

[rrrobt]

why are u still saying I not using skimmer for this tank?

did i ? read again.

if you have mention earlier that this is a 2 months old tank i or everyone would understand,if this tank is a 5 to 6 year old tank than i think is better than this right .i believe alot of pepole thought is a 5 to 6 year old tank as you did not mention restarting one.

so can i say, you have 2.5ft tank for 4 to 5 years and your 2nd tank 3ft is 2 months old ? and now you upgrading to bigger tank ,wow,good, keep it up man.

I do not have any digi cam, so anyone can buy me one. haha

maybe you can try taking up 2 jobs and work harder .

U sound interested. You want an alvyfoamer too, can pm me/alvy. 

well, skimmer is not a must have in order to have a successful setup .

anyway, always want to ask u. Where u d/l the smilies with machine gun, cute. I might need to use it one day too. haha 

machine gun ? you mean thiswei ____________hahahaha.

[Wei]

rrrobt,

U trying to turn this thread into a flame fest all the while. No matter how much water yr A** can shot out, its not going to put the flame out!Throughout this thread, u haven't been contributing any info or pt abt reefkeeping beside some of yr attack? I see no reason why u still need to post any reply when u are not contributing. GROW UP!

Wei

[Achilles Tang]

Ok, cool it down guys...

No sense fighting over opinions, there's enough war in this world already!

Rrrobt, pls back off from Wei... thank you.

Wei,

I think why Rrrobt is just kinda jabbing at you coz you seem to contradict yourself over advocating going skimmerless for newbies and you upgrading your skimmers.

I think you have good intentions for newbies to not worry abt getting a skimmer during the cycling period and to save money to get a better skimmer in the mean time.

But knowing how a lot of newbies can't wait to stock up the tank, they will compromise and get the cheapest skimmer they can get and upgrade later.

Then you went on abt advocating going skimmerless coz a successful tank can go without one. That is of course possible but with a lot of stocking and feeding constraints (esp. for newbies).

This topic on skimming led to how a DSB would help reduce nitrates (a little off-topic coz we want to talk abt the effects of skimming in reducing bioload). Which you then offered an alternative view on sandbed depth. But still not really relevant.

I think we are going around in circles here.... so I would like to draw the topic back to skimmers and how it helps the marine tank.

I am opening up a new thread on DSB here... so we can talk sandbed stuff there.

Are we clear about this now, people?