Maintenance Schedule

[Winks]

How often does every one clean their filtration system on their sumpless systems? What other maintenance things do you do? How often do you do water testing and which is the most important to you?

I'll start:

Water changes are done weekly
Canister filter cleaning weekly
Change carbon weekly
Clean Hob skimmer bi-weekly
Water testing done weekly or if I'm seeing problems they are the first thing that is done no matter what else is going on. This gives me a base to start corrective action.


I feed this tank heavily and have never had a problem with nitrates or phosphates. It will grow LPS and Softies without issue. I haven't really tried SPS in it because of the lighting I have on it but the water, in my opinion, would be ok for SPS.

 

[Matt1997]

I did water change weekly, canister weekly, carbon bi weekly, hob skimmer monthly

Tank was fed twice daily

 

[Jason Bell]

I do 10% water changes twice a week on both tanks, filter floss every other day, skimmer cups every other day, rinse Chemi Pure and Purigen weekly and replace those around 3 weeks. Works for me.

 

[Kjmsmith]

My gaps between regular maintenance schedules are longer.
Water change 10% biweekly
Canister cleaning biweekly rinsing foam filters and matrix in discharged water to remove detritus
Carbon I only use occasionally if the water has a yellowish tint
HOB skimmer clean collection chamber every other day but only clean the whole unit every 3 months
Water testing weekly
Ive tried doing weekly cleaning and more frequent water changes but I didn't really see a change in water parameters.

 

[Tiredguy]

I've been running with out a sump for a few years now... Basically do a 10% water change weekly,,, Run a good skimmer and that's it,, lots of flow... No Canister,,, I've never ran Carbon... I ran A canister years back and found it not as beneficial as I thought,,, Or I'd Get busy and only have time to clean it ever few weeks which then worried me that it was doing more bad than good. Perimeters are perfect... Big thing is keeping feeding in check...

 

[Shooter000]

15% waterchange weekly.
Carbon/Phos pad changed bi-weekly in outtake of reef Octo Hob skimmer.
Skimmer cup cleaned weekly.
Never test.
No canister.
Daily doses of acropower, Kent's coralvite, phyto.
Power heads and skimmer cleaned every 2 months.

 

[Luke.]

^ still don’t get how he does it @Shooter000

 

[Winks]

^ still don’t get how he does it @Shooter000

I know what you mean. The gorgeous corals he has and grows is beyond me. I believe he must have the green thumb of reefing

 

[Kjmsmith]

Wow, you guys r blowing my mind...sumpless AND canisterless???? I love it!!!! Assuming from other posts you’ve had on TFT, these tanks are successful as mixed reef with LPS and SPS?
@Shooter000 you mention you have media in your Octo HOB skimmer - what model and where/how/what do you place in it? I had thought of putting my bag of PhosBond in my BH1000 instead of the FX6 canister but was afraid it might cause an overflow/flood.

 

[Shooter000]

^ still don’t get how he does it @Shooter000

I know what you mean. The gorgeous corals he has and grows is beyond me. I believe he must have the green thumb of reefing

Thx guys,

 

[Shooter000]

Wow, you guys r blowing my mind...sumpless AND canisterless???? I love it!!!! Assuming from other posts you’ve had on TFT, these tanks are successful as mixed reef with LPS and SPS?
@Shooter000 you mention you have media in your Octo HOB skimmer - what model and where/how/what do you place in it? I had thought of putting my bag of PhosBond in my BH1000 instead of the FX6 canister but was afraid it might cause an overflow/flood.

It is the bh-1000 hob, I use Seapora filter pads and cut them to size and slide them into the outtake of the skimmer, still leaving plenty of room for water flow, and still kinda passive flow aswell, I also use the polyp pad from them as well, pic to come shortly, and yes very successfull so far..

 

[Shooter000]

 

[Kjmsmith]

So that I’m sure Im seeing this right, it looks like you have 2 pieces of pad - one carbon and one phos - and they are inserted vertically behind and beside the return tube. Correct? While I can tell they are as wide as the chamber box, how long are they? All the way down to the plastic piece that the supplied foam (which I never used) sits on? It also looks like the top of the pads sit above the water line so water passes through them, not over them- also correct? Apologies for all the questions, never seen this setup before

 

[Jason Bell]

Are the carbon and phos pads both by Seapora? If so where do you purchase them and perhaps which product number? I know plenty of questions, I currently use a floss that is a pain in one tank and a filter media I cut for the other, just looking for something better. Thanks

 

[Shooter000]

So that I’m sure Im seeing this right, it looks like you have 2 pieces of pad - one carbon and one phos - and they are inserted vertically behind and beside the return tube. Correct? While I can tell they are as wide as the chamber box, how long are they? All the way down to the plastic piece that the supplied foam (which I never used) sits on? It also looks like the top of the pads sit above the water line so water passes through them, not over them- also correct? Apologies for all the questions, never seen this setup before

Yes correct, beside and behind, I cut them from the 18x10 inch sheet you get, so they would be 9inches long, about half way down the outtake chamber, and I try to make them just even with the water's surface

Are the carbon and phos pads both by Seapora? If so where do you purchase them and perhaps which product number? I know plenty of questions, I currently use a floss that is a pain in one tank and a filter media I cut for the other, just looking for something better. Thanks

Yes both are from seapora, and the filter floss is actually filter pad by them as well, I purchase them from "pets life" in Corunna

 

[Kjmsmith]

@Shooter000 I just read through your build thread...awesome stuff! You’ve tempted me to dc my canister and try going skimmer only with pads and increase H2O changes. I think I will wait until I get my PO4 issues under control before I start to slow the flow of the canister to wean it offline. Any other advice? I haven't been feeding my corals as it only compounds the NO3 and PO4 issues but may look to copy your feeding regime. Also, sine you don’t do water tests I assume you don't dose anything to keep Ca, Alk or other levels in check?
Thx, Kevin