protein skimmerless.....

by **fihsboy** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:01 pm

Okay so I have modded my sump a little from whats in my profile. I completly got rid of the chamber on the far left becuase I felt it was useless........why not just add more biological filtration. So I got rid of three of the five dividers in my tank and this one is going to get you.......I am going protein skimmerless. I have been reading up on mangroves and the role they play in nature and I have done a few experiments in my smaller 15 gallon tank. I got my nitrates up to around 400 ppm in my experiment tank and after I added the mangrove three days later they were down to around 20 just from the mangrove. IN THREE DAYS. no water change or anything. So here comes the big experiment. I pulled my skimmer off my tank today and put in three mangroves from Jacksonville beach. I went out to a state park and pulled three small ones from a HUGE collony of them. After they sprout new ones im going to take some back and plant them obviously so I dont hurt anything. Just wanted to know what you guys think and what you think off my possibility of being succesful is. Im going to monitor it close and take tests daily.I also just installed 40watts of grow lights above the mangroves, my sump is a nice blood red now. hopefully it will help the algae growth as well. :) I will keep everyone updated. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

by **gumbii** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:11 pm

¿wat?...

by **fihsboy** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:15 pm

Basically I added a few mangroves to my tank to see if they will take in enough nutrients to completly replace my protein skimmer...........little bit of a risk.......but could be worth it in the long run. :)

by **gumbii** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:19 pm

¿wat?... ¿wat?... ¿WAT?...

so you're saying that mangroves will eliminate the need of a protein skimmer... right...? but what about the skimate and stuff...?

by **fihsboy** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:25 pm

Well skimate is just proteins and fats........but they become dissolved organics eventually.........thats how they get in the cup to begin with. Soo im trying to see if the mangrove will pull it out of the water at a fast enough rate to keep the tank stable. I will take pictures tomorrow. I have to be at work in 30 minutes and kinda need to get ready. I will update you guys on levels tonight. Right now everything is at 0, in 8 hours I will update. :)

by **fihsboy** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:54 pm

First 24 hours went pretty well. I did change my filter sock this morning but besides that I havent touched my tank. (pretty rare for me) I measure my levels about 10 minutes ago and my nitrates have risen about 10ppm and my phosphates are .5ppm. I think I will have to do a 5 or 10 gallon water change every other day or so to see if I can get the mangrove and algae thick enough to pull in all the nutrients. Ohh yeah....and part of the reason my levels are up, Im sure of it, is I had a damsel dissapear......about three days ago. I dont think he has totally go out of the system yet.

by **fihsboy** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 5:08 pm

Another note.......Significant algae blooms have occured in the last 24 hours as well. I fed 3 large portions yesterday of mysis shrimp which i have never fed to my little guys before, could be a factor as well as the protein skimmer being gone, water remains clear nitrates have stayed constant and so have phosphates.

by **Snowboss4492** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:50 pm

i admire you for thinking outside the box for sure.................but as a rule new ideas and inventions are simply a reformation of an exsisting thing, and i can't get around a salt system without a protien skimmer, now i do agree that a system could run without a skimmer with a very carefully selected and specific bioload, but nature itself uses a protien skimmer to maitain her salt systems {the worlds oceans} we call it the beach ...........ever see some of the gunky, crappy, sh*t that comes up on a beach? .......................skimate???? and then the waves reoxygenate and facilitate gas transfer...................lol and mother nature has even incorperated an auto top off system .....................rain

love the idea though, keep posting results..................i love new thinking

Boss

by **angus4481** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 10:47 pm

fishboy.... what kind of grow bulb you using? that grow bulb is the reason your gettin algea blooms. you dont need a grow light for mangroves. the only light that touches the mangrove in my tank is my basement light when i turn it on, and mine is doin great. just an idea

by **Peterkarig3210** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 8:46 am

I've been wanting to have a fresh, brackish, or salt tank with a mangrove in it for a while now. I saw a nice salt live coral set up with a 4 foot high mangrove growing out of the middle of a tank where the water constantly pours over and down the sides creating an awsome look.

I don't know how a mangrove would reduce the need for a skimmer, but it would look great.

I've heard that mangroves don't tolerate pruning of the mainstem very well, so it may be hard to keep it small. This was just one person's opinion, not my experience or research. I also thought about having a willow (black willow I think?) as I remember swimming in the creek in pools or swimming holes created by water washing around the extesive root system. This would be fresh water obviously, but maybe willows would be easier to keep small than a mangrove.

Angus: I think I'll disagree with you on the light requirements. I'd say the more the better, and a hanging halide like the way they had for their mangrove/coral set up would be nice.

protein skimmerless.....

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