20 gallon nano reef filtration

[Androctonus]

Hi i am new to this forum and 2 year of pico reef never had bigger than 5 gallon

 

I have some question i have a 3 month old nano reef 20 pound of live rock 30 + mushroom a zoanthid green star polyp kenya tree fish occelaris pair and small talbot damsel

 

I was running a tetra filter for 20 gallon aquarium with filter floss activated carbon,purigen

And a oceanic protein skimmer but the skimmer never really change something before i add purigen i get some yeloow stuff but not anymore

 

2 day ago the pump of the skimmer broke so i get rid of the skimmer

 

I make 3 gallon water change 2 time week or more so the question here do i realy need a protein skimmer because i see a lot of people in nano reef hobby who dont realy use skimmer or filtration and this skimmer is realy ugly in the tank do you think my filtration is good or not ? Thanks you and sorry for my english i am french

And i change filter floss every 3 day and activated carbon 3 week

[HarryPotter]

Hi i am new to this forum and 2 year of pico reef never had bigger than 5 gallon

I have some question i have a 3 month old nano reef 20 pound of live rock 30 + mushroom a zoanthid green star polyp kenya tree fish occelaris pair and small talbot damsel

I was running a tetra filter for 20 gallon aquarium with filter floss activated carbon,purigen

And a oceanic protein skimmer but the skimmer never really change something before i add purigen i get some yeloow stuff but not anymore

2 day ago the pump of the skimmer broke so i get rid of the skimmer

I make 3 gallon water change 2 time week or more so the question here do i realy need a protein skimmer because i see a lot of people in nano reef hobby who dont realy use skimmer or filtration and this skimmer is realy ugly in the tank do you think my filtration is good or not ? Thanks you and sorry for my english i am french And i change filter floss every 3 day and activated carbon 3 week

I think you will be fine without a skimmer. 6g weekly is about 30%, which is a LOT!

[piano15]

Anything under 20g doesn't need a skimmer.

 

10-15% weekly water change is good and running the filter as you are is a bonus

[Androctonus]

Thanks you for the answer

 

And my filter is not under what i need ?

[Exodus]

Less than 20G in all reality does not need a filter as long there is a sufficient CUC, a good amount of live rock, and weekly water changes are performed consistently. Any additional filtration including chemi-pure, purigen, filter floss etc. are just an additional perk, though with such things they do need to be changed when expired or can cause issues. This setup is only sustainable for so long though before issues will arise. Take a tip from someone who has done this method with a tank for 4 1/2 years; After the 2nd year remove your substrate, completely vacuum your tank clean blowing off every rock getting any bit of detritus possible out and replace with brand new substrate and a 50-70% water change, Something I learned the hard way and wish I would have done.