Filters and skimmers ss

exactly, my system is different then alota people, but my 29g looks really good, i even have an anemone. thats doing good. i have great growth to.
But i mean, i just love how all of you guys get mad at me for just running my system the way it likes to be ran, i mean, i just think im giving him info that is pretty good. i have even ran my entire system with no filtration at ALL!! i mean no HOB filter, No skimmer, and 2 koralias, i ran it like that for a month or two.

 

AZDesertRat - sums it up perfectly for me here
it may not give you a short term problem
but it may give you some parameter issues over time and possibly account for unexplained fish losses in the future


Steve

 

Reef aquariums are all about stability and consistancy, shuting off forms of filtration is not going to achieve that imo. I'm curious what the reason is for shutting things off... if it is for power conservation I would second guess getting into this pricey hobby. Although IME I haven't noticed much of any differance of power usage with the exception of my metal halide light... and if its the noise factor I absolutely love the ambient sound a fish tank makes, if you don't at first, trust me it will get to the point where you don't want to sleep without it.

 

as i said before you can turn your things off or not have them at all if your system is set up to cope without them in the first place. and as you said you only use the HOB filter for carbon which is temporary hence it not actually achieving any form of bacterial filtration. and the skimmer doesnt have a bacterial function it is simply a way to remove organic proteins within the water column. many people dont even have a protein skimmer. your system is set up to run without a filter and thats fine because your system is biologically prepared for that situation. other people who use a filter or sump etc their system is dependent on that biological media and supplemented with the live rock it is shared between the filtration methods. if a person with a sump dependent system turned it off at night then the sump would not funtion and hold beneficial bacteria hence being useless, and the tank would need to become live rock dependent but doing this is risky especially with a heavy bio load. with a light bioload you can run a system on an air stone. filtration is only large on heavy bio loads. a system needs to reach an equilibrium between waste produced/introduced to waste released/taken out. think about where you systems wastes are being converted and that is your main filtration method.

 

^^^ Exactly...what he said.

There are too many times where someone says "well I do it with no problems"... so that MUST mean everybody can do the same in every system and get the same results. Not true at all. Understanding the process behind it is key to evaluating the benfits of doing something and what the impact will be on YOUR system.

 

thats wh you try it dude, you have to try things to fugure out what your tank like.

 

Well I can TRY anything.... I prefer to know what I am doing and research what will hapen before I make a change to my tank. Understanding the processes involved is key to sucsess instead of just some blind shot in the dark cause someone said he did it so I should too. YMMV

 

+1 on why you want to turn the equipment off

 

i just wanted to kno wont runiinng them 24/7 burn the motor

 

Motors on (most of) the pumps in aquariums are meant to be run 24/7, not turned on and off. By turning them on and off, you'll typically end up lowering their lifespan.

I say "most of" because there are peristaltic pumps used for dosing that aren't supposed to be run 24/7, but they're the exception.

You really are risking instability in your parameters by turning off pumps, too. You may as well leave them on, since there's no real reason to turn them off.