Ace - That is a totally different situation though. As long as you meet the four requirements of the Hiatt method you just don't need a skimmer. Actually it should work better without a skimmer since you get a better population of the RN bacteria by not having a skimmer competing with them. Although as you saw they are pretty good about outcompeting the skimmer.

Mark actually had to add organics to get his system working better. He used water from his cichlid tank (N ~100) as top off water LOL. His tank was too clean when he switched over to the torpedos so he had to add more N to get his P down to undetectable. The RN bacteria reduce N & P at a 4:1 ratio.