FOWLR without skimmer

does anyone here run a FOWLR without a skimmer? I have a 75 Gallon tank that is running without overflow or sump, but I do have a descent size HOB refugium doing some filteration with live sand, live rock rubble and chaeto. This tank currently has 4 chromis and 1 clown after 3 weeks of cycling and nitrate, nitrite and ammonia testing 0.. 65 pounds of live rock and 60 pounds of live sand. I have 2 aquaclear 110s just running for the water flow, and I have 1 koralia 4 creating more flow. I will eventually get a skimmer, but I was thinking just a skimmer that will do some skimming(better than nothing) and doing consistent water changes once a week.

my live stock will be:
4 green chromis
1 yellow tang
1 blue tang
1 emperor angel
3 heniochus
2 saddleback clowns

is minimal skimming okay for this tank? like maybe get a skimmer that is rated ofr 75 gallons?

 

first off, I wouldn't be cycling with two chromis and a clown. If you cycle with fish, you should use 1 yellow tail damsel. The chromis and clown are not as hardy and may not survive the ammonia and nitrites. You also shouldn't have a refugium while cycling, it can give false readings and distort your cycle.
With a FOWLR, you don't need as pristine water quality. The tank will benefit from a skimmer, I would rather have a skimmer than no skimmer, but if you spend the money, you mine as well get something that is rated for your tank size at least. It shouldn't be much more than for a smaller tank and your fish will live longer, healthier lives.

 

The aquaclear filters are ok as long as you change the media on a regular basis.

Test the parameters. I don't hink you need to add so many fish to start the cycle. Your live sand and live rock will cycle the tank.

The cycle will stress your fish. You can be proactive and feed some antiparisitc food. Like soak the food in selcon or garlic gaurd.

So you will have a total of 12 fish. Lets say the average size of the fish in your tank is 2.5 inches.

You need 5 gallons per 1 inch of fish. I give my fish 15.

2.5 x 12 = 30
30 x 5 = 150gallons Minus the space thats taken up by equipment, live rock and live sand.

 

infamous does make a good point. The two tangs produce a lot of waste and needs lots of room to swim. If you get them while small you should be ok, but as they grow they will need a bigger tank. Also, chromis are best kept in odd groups, so a group of 3 is better then a group of 4. Now, you could keep that many fish if they are relatively small, but you will need a good skimmer to maintain water quality, so you will need to consider that as well.
While there are no set equations to determine how many fish you can have in your tank, it depends on a lot of factors such as skimmer, sump, refugium, total live rock, clean up crew, water changes etc, but that is a lot of fish for a 75, particularly if they are all full grown or larger.

 

your tank will need to be heavily planted(a hob refug prolly isn't big enough). and frequent water changes may be required. that alone may be enough to warrant you investing in a good skimmer. saltwater is expensive espiecially with big tanks.

if its just the price of the skimmer putting you off you should reconsider, it will require alot more work with out a skimmer.(a coralife 125 is a good one, can get used for cheap on ebay).

p.s. your tangs will be crap machines, equivalent to plecos in fresh water

 

sorry i failed to mention a few things
1) my tank is almost 3 weeks old after adding sand and liverock so i actually tested for ammonia nitrite and nitrate and the readings were undectable at 0 and that was when i added the chromis and the lone clown
2) the fish that I will add in the 75G will definitely not be adults (i actually enjoy watching my fish grow to adulthood and I have already been considering trade-ins once they do reach a size that i feel they are too big for my tank)
3) the yellow tang is not a SURE thing yet but we will see

and i guess i will be saving up for a good skimmer then, i was looking into aquac remora or a deltec

 

I personally hate the equations for inches of fish per gallon, as an inch of dwarf angel has far more impact that an inch of clown goby. I would strongly recommend running a skimmer.

 

i will stop running the refugium for the time being then, but i have a 40G reef tank already so i do have some experience with what i'm doing, in terms of aquascaping i'm doing island on one side of the tank and the other whole half of tank is room for fish to swim.. very experienced with aquascaping actually as i have been doing it all my freshwater tanks the past 5 years with cichlid tanks.. in terms of inch per gallon, i think it really depends on the type of fish.. in terms of my bioload, i didn't think there would be too much since it's mainly the tangs that will be producing more bioload and i could live without the yellow tang

 

Having a tank without a skimmer is like having a car without power steering. You can still drive the car and it "goes", but it's a lot harder. I highly highly recommend a skimmer. I would get rid of live rock before I got rid of a skimmer when concerned with filtration.

And, clowns and chromis are actually really tough fish. I don't recommend anyone cycling with a fish they don't plan on keeping (aggressive damsels for example). That's just my opinion...I just hate it when people cycle with damsels only to get rid of them. Why buy it in the first place?

I highly recommend a protein skimmer. A tank with fish only is going to produce alot more waste than a tank with corals only.

My $0.02

 

hrm thanks for the advice, but i know a tank is always better with a skimmer, but actually you have it the other way around, a tank with corals actually need a skimmer more than a tank with fish because fish are lot more hardier than corals, and also corals canot accept too big of a bioload in its current system. A fish only tank with live rock is in less need of a skimmer because fish can actually withstand their own bioload with frequent water changes. I just wanted an opinion basically to see what people think, thanks for all the advice though although i didn't really get anywhere p