OK, well, what I have determined, in my extremely unofficial experimenting is that I am getting better results WITH a skimmer than without. I believe that my bioload is WAY too big to ever go skimmerless again. I have some green stardust palys that were doing horrible, and after a significant water change from a skimmerless cycle, they have started to open and color up again. I remembered this post, and figured that I would update....