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Softies with no skimmer.

Hello all.

I have been out of this for a couple of years and am now just starting to ease my way back in. My question here is, can I do softies with no skimmer? Mainly this is a FO tank with a canister filter but I was thinking of maybe putting some gsp, mushrooms, and xenia in there just to have something more than rocks. Tank is still fairly new and has a couple of fish. Just want to see if I can get away with this and not have to add more equipment.

Thanks.
 

Mark_C

Staff member
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Yep. I have a 30g softies only atm with no skimmer, as well as an overgrown 40g cube that's been running brilliantly for 7 years sans skimmer.
Your weekly 10% water changes do the work, and even that can be mildly neglected as softies tend to like slightly 'dirtier' water.
 

DEL

Vice President
Staff member
Board of Directors
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softies loveeeee that dirty water!!
 

ericrodriguez

NJRC Member
First picture it’s from months ago the other 2 from A few days ago.. I have a canister filter no skimmer with no problem.. the trick is go slow
 

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DangerDave

NJRC Member
Hi and welcome. Where ya from? I can help you out with gsp if you’re in south Jersey. I’m in Little Egg Harbor. I agree that you don’t need a skimmer, there are plenty of other ways to remove nutrients.
 
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DYIguy

NJRC Member
A skimmer is a plus, not a necessity- your tank will let you know when you're getting close to max- then you can decide- skimmer, scrubber or love it as is
 
A skimmer is a plus, not a necessity- your tank will let you know when you're getting close to max- then you can decide- skimmer, scrubber or love it as is
Yeah, I don't want to get to the point I need a skimmer. The main part of this tank is a eel for my kid and I figured I would dabble in corals again but not to the extent my previous tank was. Dont want to have to dose on top of water changes. It can spiral fast.
Yes, you can. If you want to drive to Bridgewater, I have some GSP, and anthelia you could try out.
Hi and welcome. Where ya from? I can help you out with gsp if you’re in south Jersey. I’m in Little Egg Harbor. I agree that you don’t need a skimmer, there are plenty of other ways to remove nutrients.

I appreciate it, but will pass for now. I did pick up a good size chunk of gsp from my LFS. It didn't look so hot (half closed up) and looks worse now. If it fails, I will let the tank mature a little more before I try again.
 
Here's the thread to my tank before I broke it all down.

 

DangerDave

NJRC Member
Yeah, I don't want to get to the point I need a skimmer. The main part of this tank is a eel for my kid and I figured I would dabble in corals again but not to the extent my previous tank was. Dont want to have to dose on top of water changes. It can spiral fast.



I appreciate it, but will pass for now. I did pick up a good size chunk of gsp from my LFS. It didn't look so hot (half closed up) and looks worse now. If it fails, I will let the tank mature a little more before I try again.

Give it time, gsp tends to take a while to open when moved to a new system.
 
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