What to buy: skimmer or controller?

[reefinnewb]

I'm finalizing my equipment and have about 150 to spend. I'm trying to figure out what would be more beneficial. A skimmer of controller.

 

Current equipment:

25 cube

Ai nano led light

Jaebo we 10 power head

 

I'm currently looking at either the RKl or the Tunze 9004. The light has a timer already and my pump will produce wave like motion. As of right now I'm not sure the controller is needed. The skimmer may hold more value at this point. Thoughts?

[Tamberav]

Skimmer.

 

To use all the features on a controller you will have to spend a lot more than $150. Controller will have less impact on the health of your tank as many of the features of a controller are fun toys or just to make maintenance easier.

 

A single wp10 seems like a stretch, I would go with two RW-4's.

[masterbuilder]

The skimmer may hold more value at this point. Thoughts?

You are correct sir....except...I might look at a different skimmer than the Tunze. They make great stuff but their low end skimmers seem to be just that...low end and not a great value

[smiz]

I would agree that since most of your equipment is already controlled a skimmer might be a more useful piece of equipment of the two. However in a tank that small a skimmer really is not a crucial piece of equipment to maintain your tank. If you keep up on water changes a skimmer is basically giving you a buffer on how long you can go without a water change. I ran a 30g full reef, more on the sps side with just biological filtration and water changes for a year and a half before i upgraded, so it's do able. might be a better investment to do power heads like tamberav mentioned!

[reefinnewb]

Good point. I will be running an AC 70 with a few different types of media. I'll look into the power head route.

[NanoBiscuit]

Save the $150 for a sweet coral centerpiece or frag pack once you cycle. Maintain a good weekly or larger bi-weekly water change schedule and forget about running a skimmer. If you stock your tank correctly and avoid over feeding, a skimmer isn't going to be very effective. Like others said above, it will provide a buffer but I think water changes are more effective in small tanks. Plus with weekly changes, you'll probably be able to avoid having to dose two-part as well. My 30 gallon tank has been running great since February without a skimmer, just 25 lbs of live rock, Purigen, Chemipure elite, and 4.5 gallon water changes every week sometimes every two weeks if I'm lazy. I do have an RKL and again, like others said, its more of a toy since I don't use it to control much.

[reefinnewb]

Awesome thanks. I'm an equipment whore so my attempt to keep it simple is hard. My last tank was 65 gallon. 40 breeder sump. Skimmer, reactors, and a controller... hard to keep it simple lol.

 

 

Looks like the rw4 is hard to find. Would one rw8 work?