Need for a skimmer?

[insipid]

I currnetly run a all glass desginer 15 tall tank, have a millemium 2000 HOB wet./dry filter. I have added some pylops and have heard that for more coral I would need to add a protein skimmer. However I only have room to hang 1 peice of equipment off the back so I was looking at equiopment that would do both biological and skimming such as the cpr bakpak and prizm deluxe skimmer. But do I really need to have a skimmer on a tank of this size and if so what would be recommended for an all in 1 unit?

[40oz casualtie]

i have an inside-of tank skimmer for my 25g tank but its an eclipse with a full hood and i cant use it but as soon as i get a retrofit moon beam lighting kit on and take off the eclipse top i'll put the skimmer in,

for a while i could fit the skimmer in and it worked extreemely well. the skimmer takes out the unnessisary proteins and harmfull chemials in the tank. it is a form of chemical filtration and you take off a cap containing all of the tanks chemicals and empty it twicw a day. the skimmer also helps with cutting down alge growth.

 

 

in a reef tank with many corals it is a very good idea to have a protein skimmer. if you already have good filtration in your tank you dont have to get it but i highly sugest you get one

in a tank your size i would get a medium size skimmer

[dyazdani]

The other school of thought is that you can decrease the need for a skimmer with more frequent water changes. That said, I always like to have one unless there is some major reason why I can't, e.g. space.

[Aiptasia]

If you set up the tank with a dentrification sand bed or plenum, you can probably just get away with water changes. Skimmers remove organics before they have a chance to break down in the nitrogen cycle, and are an excellent tool for cutting down on the bioload of a reef tank.

 

Unfortunately, they also remove useful trace elements, such as iodide, that corals need. Therefore, you will need to start supplimenting your tank with a good mineral/vitamin suppliment, such as coral vital.

 

As dayzdani points out, the other school of thought is to increase your water changes to cope with nitrate. Depending on the biomass, this can be a daily occurance and a tank without a skimmer would benefit greatly from other natural nitrate reduction methods (NNR), such as a plenum or deep sandbed substrate, to convert nitrates to nitrogen gas. These natural tanks are a balancing act, that require a lot of patience and very slow, gradual additions of corals to the tank.

 

Another helpful tool to remove those nitrates is to employ fast growing algae species, either in the main tank or in a refugium. The idea is, encourage rapid growth of green algaes (macro or micro) so that they pull nitrates out of solution as they grow. They will also pull out phosphates, some silicate, metals and other nutrients, so supplimenting them is also a good idea. There's a few ways you can use algaes, you can add them to the main display tank or you can add them to a sump or refugium.

 

Micro algae (generic unicellular green algae) actually works the best for NNR, but an overgrowth of it in the main display tank is unsightly, difficult to harvest and your janitor crew will eat it, thus re-introducing it to the nitrogen cycle as snail poo. You can, however, add a sheet of white mesh (bridal netting) or white plastic screen to a sump and put a small 20-40 watt full spectrum bulb over it and run the light 24/7 to encourage a healthy fast growth of the green stuff. Most sumps are under the tank, inside an enclosed stand, and won't disturb the main tank's lighting cycle by being on 24/7. The high light cycle also encourages rapid oxygen production and CO2 reduction, stabilizing your pH, especially at night. It's best to use two screens, exposing the maximum amount of surface area to the light. When the tops of the screens are covered with micro-algae, simply remove them and scrape them clean with a credit card, discarding the algae in your trash (never flush algaes, keeps them from adapting to local waters, see Caulerpa taxifolia).

 

You can also use a really fast growing macro-algae, such as Caulerpa prolifera, in a lit sump or refugium in this matter. This type of algae reproduces through rhyzomes (side shoots) and you can pinch them off. Be very careful with Caulerpa species, if allowed to grow unchecked, they will revert to reproducing sexually, then die off very quickly. If the algae does reach this stage, it turns toxic as it dies and will kill a reef. Use emergency multi-step water changes and lots of GAC if this ever happens.

Add a 12" length of Caulerpa to the lit sump/refugium or main tank and pinch off new growth once a week.

 

Other algaes to consider are:

 

Ulva species (sea lettuce)

Paintbrush algae (paintbrush)

Mangroves (lots of them, slower growing)