Beginners Question

[skynet]

i am planning to start a 40 gallon Tank Reef/Fish Mix with just an ATS for filtration, would it work?, Sumpless Tank w/ATS, nothing more, no skimmer/refugium or gfo/carbon Reactor, if it will not work, please let me know what other basic will be needed, thanks

[itzrulez]

We have a thread here, about the discussion of ATS replacing skimmer... you can start only with ATS, and if you see that its necessary, place a skimmer.
ATS its an nutrient exporter better than refugium...(if you consider refugium only macro algae)
If you consider refugium the sand bed and stock of live rock, that its necessary! ATS will remove principally NO3, and you need nitrobacter to convert NH4(ammonia) in NO2, and NO2 to NO3, so basically you need place for this bacterias stay.
The GFO i think could be replaced by iron nails in the sump...(please correct me if wrong)
The Carbon i think its necessary! it makes the water transparent, removing organic residues.


I recommend also the sump, because you will need some things to keep your tank, and some of them you can hide in the sump
lightning
temperature - sump
ATS - sump
skimmer if necessary - sump
gfo or iron nails - sump
carbon - sump

that way you dont pollute your visual.

someone correct me if wrong...

[itzrulez]

sorry but i forgot.
a nice way for dont have a sump, its a AIO tank( All in One).
then, you have a "sump", and can hide somethings :D
http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac232/jessemarone/Snapbucket/428EF23E-orig_zpsb9132f1b.jpg

[kaskiles]

...
The GFO i think could be replaced by iron nails in the sump...(please correct me if wrong)

Forget the iron nail. Use GFO if you need to absorb phosphate, use seachem flourish iron or similar if your algae is iron limited.

[skynet]

thank, i'll do that, it make sense that i was trying to tax to much work on just the ATS to do everything....