Do you use a protein skimmer?

[reefout]

no way in hell i'd run a nano without a skimmer, you couldnt pay me to do it!!!!!!

my motto: get a skimmer or get bent!!

[ezramore]

i use a skimmer 24/7 on my 15 Gal sump due to me alway being on the road. if my business trip gets extended for some reason it buys me a few extra days without the need for a water change. Its just added insurance for me. I have my system mostley automated and i can be on the road almost 3 and a half weeks before problems begin to occure.

[Fishguy]

blind addition to the thread.

 

I have a 20gal Long nano without a skimmer.

I just feed very sparsely, I've yet to see my tank even register any ammonia.

[NorthStar]

Skimming is done by waves in nature crashing against the coast forming the same foam you get in a skimmer, if nature skims then it must be worth doing!

[SCUBA BUZZ]

went real cheep on a counter current skimmer its not super but in my 15 it seams to work quite well i have a constant level side sump so the water level is easy and I have a micro compressor for air drive (i think this is why it works so well its a 1/2 gal compressor in the other room ) ran the tank without for the first 2 months but noticed a decent improvment in stability after installing will probably in time upgrade and will then look for sugestions

[kpm]

Where do I vote on the poll ?

[angela318]

Yes, I'm using Prizm Deluxe Skimmer. Althought it pulls out good and bad stuff in the water, I rather stick with it better than leaving bad stuff in the tank.

[Reeftank_addict]

So,

Some people use them and some don't. What do we have then? No real clear answer to the question. In the rawest form this is what I gather.

 

The thing here is that we want to remove "waste" from the water.

 

Skimmer remove everything that it can from the water. It dosn't discriminate between good and bad stuff in the water.

 

Just doing water changes doesn't get all the bad out of water because you have to leave some of the water behind.

 

So neither work perfect. So, what it comes down to is:

 

Run a Skimmer and you'll have the extra cost of the skimmer and running it plus, you have to buy chems and trace elements to keep the water quality up.

 

Don't run the skimmer and you have to more water changes and put more out for salt and purified waters(if you buy or run a purifier).

 

I'm missing some stuff here and we can split hairs all day but, it seems you do what works for you. I guess....

 

 

-Brian

[zachtos]

skimmers arent needed on lightly stocked tanks I dont believe. clams/SPS may be too demanding w/o one though. you need some method of keeping nitrates down either by macroalgae export, remote deep sand bed, coil denitrator or large water changes.

[minireefkeeper26]

I personally did a lot of research before I spent my hard earned money on something I did not need. I found these little pad things that you put in your filter that take out the organic compounds, however they turn into little nitrate pads I would imagine. I decided to use a skimmer. I have a 10 gallon nano, I have a Red Sea Prism Deluxe. It's rated for use up to 90 gallon tanks, I turn mine down to half of the max flow, they always over rate the skimmers anyway. I haven't had any stunted growth or coral death yet and my skimmers been on there 6 months. I suppose that the corals are getting all the beneficial trace elements. I add a few supplements every other week or so, but not too much. I was told that as long as you were getting the dark green brown color out of your skimmer, that was a good indication you were taking only the crap out, if it is light in color, there was too much water being taken out, and that was doing nothing but increasing the amount of top off water you needed to add. I am always learning which is a good thing, so if I am wrong I expect to be told so, especially here on this forum

[Mini_GBR]

i guess my question is this: I have a NanoCube 24g, and there really isnt a good option in skimmer for me, would the fuge I have set up suffice for the nutrient export in order to keep SPS happy, or is SPS out of the question. Thanks,

 

-Mike

[non-photosynt]

Yes, in tank with messy eaters. Posting questions to successful skimmerless, filterless keepers about how did they do that, mostly receiving no full replies. I guess, it's a best guarded secret in the hobby.

[FishFreak77]

No skimmer for me! I prefer doing water changes every now and then and not having to dose my tank with trace elements and other items.

[travisurfer]

I had a BakPak pulling out watery skimmate so i finally ditched it and now have a super quiet tank. I am considering a fuge though.

[reefkidsclownfish]

.... nope, nota.

[Izzue]

venturia 24 7

except when feeding

 

Izzue

[srikamaraja]

No, not yet. I keep alot of filter-feeding organisms that I have allowed to proliferate on my LR, and i couldn't bear to part with any of the inhabitants of my little reef city. (Social Feather Dusters RULE!) I do 10-20% water changes weekly, run chemi-pure in the otherwise empty power filter, and weekly trim the cheato in my display (to each his own, but i think it looks cool framing the rockwork). Leaving out a skimmer can work for my zoo/star polyp garden, but if I ever branch out into SPS i'll at least run a low-end (read: cheap as hell) skimmer for half of the day. Currently, i rely on cryptic organisms for most of my mechanical/biological filtration. The assortment of sponges and tubeworms inhabiting the lowflow and darker areas never ceases to fascinate me. LOVE YOUR NON-PHOTOSYNTHETIC FRIENDS, TOO!

[Helfrichs Chick]

You cannot over skim.

 

Ok this bring me to a question of something I have been trying to learn/read more about. I have heard of skimmer causing a supersaturation of oxygen in the water . Now I dont quite get this... in the natural reef, there ARE levels of supersaturated oxygen, even in lagoons and areas with little surface movement. the reason I am having such a hard time with this is that I have been told by a Marine Biologist who owns a LFS...whom I respect and listen to (has a coral named after him) that this supersaturation can actually harm, even kill your marine life. This really doesnt make any sense to me. I found an article from Eric Borneman talking about the levels of oxygen in our home reef, and the levels in the ocean. Needless to say our home reefs have much less of a concentration. So while I do NOT run a skimmer I would think that the addition of one could only help not harm. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Can we supersaturate our home reefs with Oxygen... is there any negative effect to this? So go through your books or Google it for me, and help me figure out why a person who is so knowledgeable in this hobby, is giving this advice.

Edited February 13, 2007 by Helfrich’s Chick

[Helfrichs Chick]

No one?

[Helfrichs Chick]

Bump, sorry but still looking for some light on thsi subject. ANYONE?

[debdp]

Prizm skimmer (soon to be replaced with Tunze DOC) in 20 gal pupfish

Tunze DOC in 10 gal reef

[lil'wrasse cool]

For the people that say a nano is to small for a skimmer. What size would you start skimming?

[JGoslee]

Deltec AP600 and ATI Bubble Master 200

[Uhuru]

I use a tunze nano, got it so I could keep SPS in my 5 gal. So far it's been working great for most inhabitants, but I do think my largest and oldest zoa colony might be going a little hungry lately. Not sure though, I'm going to give it a little more time. I may need to start adding plankton more often to replenish the tank.

[cosmic1981]

Bump, sorry but still looking for some light on thsi subject. ANYONE?

 

 

i have the same question as well.

 

but yea..i love my skimmer. it keeps my water super clean and pulls out a lot of floating algaes.