dilemma, hob filter, skimmer, refug?

[static69static]

I have a 20 gallon tank, that is completely cycled. It currently has 40 lbs of live rock, 2.5" live sand, 60 watts of lighting but in next week or two adding either 2x55 or 2x65 or 150 watt mh, haven't decided, but looking for deals at the moment. I also have a emperor 400 on it right now for filter which just has foam pads and bio wheels, so pretty much circulation with also one powerhead, should be getting two 180 gph powerheads in soon so those will be added too. Is this too much circulation? Also back to my dilemma, I don't know if I should keep the emperor, or ditch it and get a skimmer or refugium? I read somewhere that with nano tanks not good idea to hav ea skimmer. So i'm turning the the experienced people for some advice. Please help me out.

 

Justin

static69static@yahoo.com

[flaunt]

w/an hob and those two powerheads you ought to have adequate circulation for many corals i would think. i've never kept sps myself though, which are corals that typically need *a lot* of circulation (not to mention light). there are several things you could do... one would be to just take the filter pads out of the emporer and keep it for circulation. OR (i'm not familiar with the design or size of the emporer) you might be able to convert the hob into a refugium. people have done this in the past with hob filters, but i'm not sure about yours in particular. basically you need to take a look at the size of the filter compartment to see how much room there is. typical things you might want in there would be sand, a bit of live rock, maybe some macro algae, and a small light on top. this would be a small but easy refugium since you wouldn't have to mess with pumping water out of the tank and back in. i'd maybe test it out with a bit of sand at first just to make sure it doesn't get pushed into the impeller or pulled out into the aquarium. some people use skimmers on their nanos, but i do not. i think using one is helpful, especially if you're not planning on doing partial water changes on a regular basis. there are some hangon models that are used a lot for nanos, but i haven't had any experience with any of them.

[anthony812]

Regarding to your skimmer question, you have a 20 gallon tank with 40 lbs of LR, you NEED a skimmer. I would suggest not to ditch your HOB filter cuz you can use that as a source of water moement and occasional carbon treatment with your water where you can just slip it in the HOB filter, and the skimmer, get the CPR bacpak II?? i am not sure..but its one of those with a built in refugium area. If you have enough space, i would suggest you built yourself a 10 gallon refugium on the side, over the top or below the tank. With a refugium, its likely that you don't need a skimmer.

 

With your powerheads, you can place your powerheads around the tank so that there will be flows to every corner of your tanks viz no dead spots..what i find useful is 3 powerheads, 2 on top at each corner pointing to the center of the tank and one at the bottom pointing behind your rock works..that way, there will be flow in all areas.

 

i think there are other people that can give you better ideas...hope my helps

[static69static]

Yea I wasn't sure about a skimmer, because I read on this site that since it is such a small tank that a skimmer would remove all the elements in the water that the corals and such use. If I didn't have a skimmer, they would be in the water and when I did water changes that would take care of excess nutrients and replenish the ones the corals uses. If I had a skimmer then I would have to dose with nutrients or something like that? You agree. I think it would be easier just to do water changes instead of dosing all the stuff.

[anthony812]

not really, cuz i have talked to many reefers and they all said, its better to skim out bad stuffs with good stuffs and to leave it in your water! As of dosing...the skimmer WILL NOT skim out THAT MUCH! my skimmer is always on except for the feeding times..then i turn it off for an hour or so. With water changes weekly, you don't ever have to worry about dosing trace elements. But again, its your tank and your decision... ^_^ good luck

[static69static]

I'm glad I accounted money for a skimmer when I said up what I would need and how much I have to spend. So what skimmer do you suggest for a 20 gallon (24" long, 12 " wide, 16" tall)

[flaunt]

static, there's a lot of disagreement over whether a skimmer is needed on a nano... i have also read things like what you were saying about the skimmer skimming out the "good stuff" in the water as well as the "bad stuff," and there are some food/supplements that say to turn off your skimmer for awhile after adding them to your tank so there is probably some truth to it... but as i've never really used one on mine i can't relate any personal experiences about the difference between using and not using a skimmer. you're right that if you do partial water changes you'll not only dillute the bad stuff but also replenish some of the nutrients that were used up, so that's a plus for sure. one thing to think about if you decide to use a skimmer is that you'll probably need to utilize an overflow of some type in order to get the part of the water where most of the gunk is (i.e. the top of the water) into the skimmer chamber... anyway, weigh the pros and cons and decide for yourself!

[cal3v]

If you want a suggestion for a good skimmer for the value I'd suggest a prizm. I have one on my 20 and it works great. btw, mine has the 18-blade impeller, and not the old 12-blade that I believe the older ones had.

[spectre]

Use a cpr bakpak, alot more reliable than a prizm(If the collection cup o-ring fails, you've got one helluva mess!) and easier to maintain.

With the use of your Emperor, you shouldn't need an overflow. The turbulence generated by the Emperor return is more than enough to keep the water's surface churned up. HTH

[printerdown01]

I agree with Faunt with the fact that skimming in nanos is a major debate... Personally most of the time I do not see any reason that one should skim in a small system. This is because of the fact that most smaller systems need regular water changes in order to keep ballanced. Your system is larger and should be much more stable than most peoples systems around here. Thus, I agree with Anthony on the need to skim! Your LR is going to be producing a TON of ditritus!! This stuff will need to be removed... Skimming is the most effective way to do this! Also IMO you should KEEP running your Emperor 400... Continue running the biowheel filtration. I have never actually seen or heard of anyones biowheel or bioballs creating massive amounts of nitrates (not conclusivly anyway). Your system is very similar to larger aquariums in your need to remove excess waste (much more so than a 7g aquarium). Most larger systems run some sort of wet/dry filtration to keep amonia levels down. Keep in mind that amonia is poisonous while nitrates (even at high levels) don't seem to have much effect on the system, with the exception of creating an algae bloom. Also the biowheel can only convert the amonia into nitrates, it cannot create nitrates from nothing. Thus, the keep to a successful (algae free) system is going to be keeping your amonia down, which is precisely what you would have to do if you didn't have a wet/dry system (or your fish wouldn't be able to pull O). 2 out of the water!

[static69static]

Well I think if I got a skimmer I couldn't fit the skimmer on the back with the emperor, unless I put the skimmer on a side, but then I would be afraid of having too much weight on the outside of the tank. I'm already afraid of that with the emperor since it almost takes up the whole back (24") panel. That is a lot of weight hanging on there. Have to just try it out I guess.