The name of the guy you are thinking of is Leng Sy. A skimmer is just a method for exporting nutrients from your system. If you have a large enough refugium (like really, really large) with a deep sand bed and lots of macroalgae that is harvested regularly to export nutrients, you could get by without a skimmer. You would need to run carbon on occasion to remove yellowing compounds that are produced by the macroalgae.
The name of the game is to export nutrients from your tank before they have a chance to decompose (if possible). The same nutrients that would fuel the nasty nuisance algae (if you did nothing) can be utilized by the nice macroalgae. Regular pruning and removal of the macroalgae from the system exports nutrients. Only trial and error will tell you if your efforts are sufficient to balance things. Some folks who do this sort of thing successfully have a refugium that is equal in size to their display tank.
Ninong



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Luke at Preuss swears that I won't need a skimmer if I go with the proper sized Leng system for my tank. He quoted me a price of $300 for the Leng, and about $200 for a "quiet one" return pump. Plus I'll need a spill box which costs around $100. There's no doubt it will be an expensive upgrade, I just don't want to do it and then be sorry I didn't set up a sump with a skimmer. Thoughts?


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