I finally got through reading the 111 page thread on the Reef Sanctuary forum, whew!
Quite fascinating indeed, and not surprising either seeing all the naysayers here, there and everywhere.
I am still a newbie in the reefing hobby, but am a seasoned horticultural veteran. The plant world is full of old wives tales, myths and fallacies, not unlike the aquarium world. It is human nature to resist change, and to not readily admit mistakes. I see the same things going on with regards to algae filters, for better or worse.
It's amazingly similar to the deep sand bed "debate". Close minded folks fail to understand the essence of all these different methodologies, which is that not everything is as it seems and you need to develop a true understanding of your particular system before you can manipulate the environment to get the results you want. A skimmer quite possibly is a good thing in a FOWLR tank, but can be detrimental in a system where you desire filter feeders. It depends what you want.
I first setup my 39 gal + 15g sump last spring, but have just begun re-doing it thanks to Hurricane Sandy and loss of power for 2 weeks. Oh well, could be much worse so I can't complain. But my initial set up included the development of a functional deep sand bed to help with natural filtration, and also a skimmerless tank because I do not want to pull goodies from the water. The plan was to keep all the food and detritus in the water column to feed all the microfauna that is developing in the sandbed.
Pro-skimmer people need go no further than here, http://http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/2/aafeature, to try and explain to everyone else - why exactly are they using a skimmer? I really fail to grasp the concept of constant skimmer use. Foam fractionation is just not that good at removing DOCs, and is potentially good at removing larvae and other microscopic life. Maybe skimmers help remove metals that are bound to organic molecules? I am not convinced.
In any event, I went a good 18 months skimmerless and my tank did nicely, worms and sponges everywhere, random bivalves, even tunicates out of the blue, etc. I fed heavily with planktonic foods to keep the occupants happy, as well as non-photo coral like dendros that needed the extra food. I of course battled some algae here and there but ran phosban to keep things under somewhat control. The worst was bubble algae. Treatment entailed draining out the tank water and spraying the Valonia with peroxide to kill it. I removed as much as possible manually but it was a constant losing battle, although all the animals in my tank still seemed to thrive, especially some Aiptasia, lol!
A hurricane later, and the only remaining life are some coral that I removed after about a week of no power and sent to a LFS hotel where they are staying until ready. My new setup will once again feature DSB, and also an algae scrubber. I already ordered 2 ufo style 50w LED lamps with 660nm diodes of 1W each. I may cover them with a diffuser to protect from water spray. If LED are good enough for growing marijuana, they must be fine for algae!
I look forward to sharing my progress with others. I have some dry rock that has already been through a hydrochloric acid bath and some time in a lanthanum tub to strip it of as much phosphate as possible prior to cycling. I will be adding some uncured manado rock probably in a week or so, and hope to get the scrubber up and running shortly thereafter. My tank will feature the usual suspects, mostly LPS and some zoas, some LPS, rock anemones, giant tube worms, Dendros and Tubastrea, maybe a crocea clam and a few fish. If the pod growth is as advertised, then a mandarin goby will find a home too. Incidentally, I kept a millepora in my tank's first incarnation, as a test subject. After all, everyone says the reef has to be pristine and devoid of nutrients if you are to keep colorful SPS. My one experience was enough to see through the nonsense. That coral always had superb PE, looked like a shaggy little tree, and had nice coloration under my LED array. Clearly, it liked the constant feeding.
A DSB and algae filter seem like a great partnership.
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