Skimmerless Barebottom?

[Esper]

I know this is almost an oxymoron, but is it possible to run a skimmerless barebottom tank? What are the best ways to do it?

I'm looking to keep lots of macroalgae, corals that love "dirty" water like xenia and mushrooms, and only 3 small fish (in a 40g breeder). I can get NSW in about 15 minutes, so I figured daily or weekly waterchanges & regular siphoning should be more than enough for filtration. I'm not going to cut back on flow at all, but I'm still worried about oxygenation of the water. without a sump, it'll also be trickier to get detritus out of the water column. I have one or two tricks for this, though.

I know this is not the "best" or "ideal" way to set up a barebottom tank; it is not the way I have set them up in the past, and it is not the way I would suggest for someone new to BB tanks. I'm not looking for advice on "the BEST way to run a BB tank!", I am just looking for ideas on the best way to run a BB tank without a sump or skimmer. (sorry, I just had to get that off my chest...) Thanks! this should be interesting!

[REEF-DADDY]

Without a skimmer, you'll need to keep up on you other areas of export. Waterchanges being the most critical. Oxygen should be fine as long as you keep your water moving

[Leonardo's Reef]

I think you have to use micron bags if you don't skim. Change them every day. That way you get most of the floating detritus out of the tank...
Like Reef-Daddy said, MANY water changes. And maybe add a refugium.

Leonardo

[panic]

I know you want it bb, but wouldn't this be better suited for a dsb? The monster skimmers that most of us bb folks use makes the substrate-free method somewhat of a modified-berlin method, using the skimmer to process the detritus and the rockwork to buffer and help sustain helpful bacteria. The dsb would pick up where the skimmer is left off.

I am interested to see how it works, keep us posted for sure. If you can get the refugium to pull the nitrates out and have an A-team clean up crew, you might be able to curb the algae. A UV might help too.

[Esper]

Thanks for the replys!

I'm planning on having lots of macro algae in the tank to help with nitrates in between water changes. I'm planning on running sponges on the powerheads and changing/cleaning them as necessary (hopefully weekly)...this should help with suspended detritus. I want to set up an overflow chamber to help with this, but I'm still working on a design that won't take up a lot of tank space.

I tend to keep my tanks waaaay too clean, so this is an experiment in cutting back and running a more natural system (while retaining the benefits of BB...I hate sand).

Any other suggestions for corals that will help uptake nutrients? I'm planning on GSP, xenia, and mushrooms of all kinds...what else? any further help & suggestions will be much appreciated.

[Esper]

Just to make everyone feel better, if all else fails, I have an ETSS 1400 skimmer & iwaki 70 pump sitting dormant in a closet 3 feet away from the tank. i think it is overkill to run full time on a 40 gallon tank, which is why its in the closet, but it can be hooked up in an emergency.

the UV is a darn good idea though. I should research that area a little more.

[icebear]

i like the idea of a fallout sump