MB7 with no skimmer

gmoney243 · Jun 28, 2012

So I'm curious if there's a downside to using mb7 with out a skimmer. And what exactly would happen. I always hear don't do any bacteria without a skimmer but why not? Wouldn't any bacterial waste just eventually break down into phos/nit and be removed other means such as algae scrubber?

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laskopyre · Jun 28, 2012

I know that if no skimmer is used, mb7 will make the tank cloudy with a bacterial bloom. It goes away, but does happen. Skimmer keeps it in check.

gmoney243 · Jun 30, 2012

Anyone?

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wysiwyg · Jun 30, 2012

skimmers remove fish waste if your not using a skimmer you need to do alot more water changes than you would with a skimmer if you have a heavy bio load and no skimmer your gonna need to do alot more water changes on a weekly basis

gmoney243 · Jun 30, 2012

The question is really about carbon/bacteria dosing without a skimmer. I use algae scrubber my fish waste is handled fine I'm wanting to know about bacteria bio mass without a mechanical filter to remove it. If anyone really knows what effects are. Will the bacteria just break down and be consumed by algae as other nutrients are or will something else happen.

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Paul_N · Jun 30, 2012

gmoney243 said:
The question is really about carbon/bacteria dosing without a skimmer. I use algae scrubber my fish waste is handled fine I'm wanting to know about bacteria bio mass without a mechanical filter to remove it. If anyone really knows what effects are. Will the bacteria just break down and be consumed by algae as other nutrients are or will something else happen.

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I have never used an algae scrubber but I can tell you that when I dosed mb7 and ran EcoBak pellets on my system I tried it with an undersized skimmer and within a week I had algae issues. I never had a bacterial bloom or a tank crash but the difference within a week was noticeable. My skimmer broke so I put a smaller one laying around until I picked up a replacement and I had twice the algae growth inside a week. My phosphates rose and coral started to brown (no bleaching issues) Once a got a good replacement skimmer on it, it literally took about a week to see a reversal of what happened.

gmoney243 · Jun 30, 2012

Paul how long had you been running ecobak?

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Blake11rebel · Jun 30, 2012

Ive just started using Bioptim and Biodigest on my 30g without a skimmer. I just started it a couple weeks ago to get rid of some nuisance algae. No negatives so far but no real positives yet either. I plan on getting a skimmer soon. I have a sump with some macro and red mangroves. I also do water changes fairly often, about every week and a half.