tuberider said:
rygh said:
gimmito said:
On a side note, I had a reef hobbist recommend ditching the skimmer and go with the ATS system....he claims he feeds 3 times a day and hasn't done a water change in 7 months. Of course I thought of you, but you are upfront with the pro's and con's of the ATS system.
Yes, beware of over-hyping on ATS systems. What he says can be done, but is very tricky.
Everything has its use, and I actually think you should think about a turf scrubber as well.
They are GREAT at naturally removing Phosphate, and Nitrate!
Skimmers do NOT remove those. Not a bit. Only chemicals and anaerobic bacteria do.
I think an ATS is much better than complex denitrators/phosban/etc.
But my advice is to only do it once things are up and running, and you feel like tinkering.
I still run a skimmer (small), and do water changes (but less).
And yes, I have algae problems.
Another option is to put one on the QT tank. They eat ammonia/nitrite as well, and a QT tank
never has the time to properly cycle.
Skimmers do not remove No3 or PO4 true, however (and this is a big however), they remove the precursors. Two tanks run with the exact same equipment except one has a skimmer one doesn't; the tank with the skimmer is going to have significantly lower NO3 and PO4 levels.
Also, running an ATS system can have some serious adverse affects when you are keeping more sensitive stony corals. Micro algae like many organisms produce aleopathic compounds that can not only inhibit growth, they can grind your tank to a halt. At that point you need to compensate by running a ton of carbon. I've run ATS systems in the past (15-20 years ago) and have no urge to go back, not only did I not get the results I do using a skimmer, the skimmer actually requires much less servicing.
Well, skimmers remove some of the precursors. Not the fish pee ones.
My personal preference is to use both ATS + Skimmer.
Skimmer gets a lot, then bacteria + ATS get the rest.
If you needed carbon, that probably means you were not cleaning the ATS often enough, or it was too small.
Since the scrubber is a fairly flat plate, the underlying algae can get grown over quickly, then die.
This is especially bad if your system has a lot of Nitrates, and a small ATS.
As it dies, it releases a mess of chemicals. Plus, it often starts to grow Cyano, which also dies.
A cascade of problem.
That is what causes a lot of the failures. Did for me at first as well.
If you clean them every 7 days religiously, and have a decent sized one, not an issue.
Properly running ATS generally grow hair algae, which are macro, and we have plenty of that in our tanks anyway.
Not sure why ATS servicing is an issue. Scrape off the algae every Sunday. Done.
I usually clean my skimmer twice a week, and it takes longer.
Depends on the design I guess.
