NC 28 Skimmer

[OneTrickPony]

I am thinking of adding the tunze 9002 skimmer to my NC 28, as I understand it you take off the magnet and put the skimmer into the center chamber, where do you put the filter media that was in the center chamber is there a better way or skimmer?

[urbaneks]

The other option if you want a skimmer is to run a HOB skimmer and keep your media basket in place. Just curious why you want a skimmer? If you keep up with water changes, you should not need a skimmer on a tank this size. I've had the same tank running for 1+ years now. I keep SPS, Clams, etc, without a skimmer. IMO they add work to your maintenance, they are loud and again, if you are keeping up with water changes, you are exporting waste with the changes.

 

Save the $ and buy some coral!

[OneTrickPony]

The other option if you want a skimmer is to run a HOB skimmer and keep your media basket in place. Just curious why you want a skimmer? If you keep up with water changes, you should not need a skimmer on a tank this size. I've had the same tank running for 1+ years now. I keep SPS, Clams, etc, without a skimmer. IMO they add work to your maintenance, they are loud and again, if you are keeping up with water changes, you are exporting waste with the changes.

 

Save the $ and buy some coral!

 

Thanks for the reply

On your setup what media ard you runnig.

How often and how much water are you changing

[nortac]

another option for you is to buy the AquaC Remora skimmer and put it in the far left chamber, right above the Accela return pump. this worked well for me after i bought a slightly longer hose to extend the distance between the MaxiJet1200 and the skimmer so that it stayed well below the water level. this way i am still able to run the Urbanek's media basket with floss, refugium, ChemiPure,and Purigen. i started without a skimmer, but even with weekly water changes of 15-17% couldn't quite reduce the phosphates enough to prevent a hair algae bloom. the skimmer eliminated that problem for me completely, and i now have no detectable phosphates or nitrates. this is not to detract from Urbanek's system or his advice--he clearly has a beautifully maintained tank. everyone's tank is a bit different though depending on amounts of rock, coral, fish, etc, and maybe at some point i'll be able to remove the skimmer--maybe once the corals have matured and covered all the rocks. but for right now, the skimmer helps me tilt the balance in my favor. good luck.

[urbaneks]

Thanks for the reply

On your setup what media ard you runnig.

How often and how much water are you changing

 

I run filter floss in the top of my basket, chemipure in the middle and phoslock in the bottom. I do a weekly 5g water change.

[Jotun]

Instead of running media that you have to constantly restock(actually adds to your tank maintenance) and IMO it strips some trace elements, I run the Tunze skimmer in my middle chamber and love it.

 

I keep my tank virtually hands off with just the skimmer and organic filtration in the form of my live rock. I do 4 gallon changes weekly and my water conditions are excellent. Clams and LPS in my 28 JBJ, all happy and growing.

[rossruffino]

I know that when originally purchased the Oceanic BioCube Protein Skimmer is crap, but If you do a few upgrades it works pretty damn well. I personally modified mine by replacing the stock tube with a 14 inch replacement tube, replaced the original air pump with a dual output pump ( Aqua Gardens 750 ), and a better valve. I also modified the cup with a drain hose, Cup is uber-small. I get nasty looking dark tea, almost coffee consistently. The trick is getting your water level right. But this can be an inexpensive alternative that requires no modification to the tank. I dont know if you have the original JBJ skimmer that came with some of the 28's, but that would be modifiable also. I know that you get what you pay for with Protein Skimmers, but if the thing is pulling NASTY water daily, it's doing it's job. I belive it's all about quality foam fraction however you do it!