Nano Reef tank with skimmer or without

[Aksel.Tevosyan]

I need advice from experienced reef keepers. I want to decide do I need skimmer or it will better to place Chaeto instead of protein skimmer in skimmer's chamber.

I have Fluval Evo 13.5 mixed reef tank, which I installed in beginning of January.

Equipment is the following:

- stock 500 l/h return pump

- Sicce sincra 1000 l/h  wave maker

- Fluval PS2 mini protein skimmer

- AI Prime HD lights

Other filter media I am using

- piece of Acurel nitrate remover media pad, + piece of phosphate remover media pad

- Xport bio plate from Brightwell aquatics

- Activated carbon.

Live stock for filtration

- around 12 kg live rock

- 20 kg black live sand from Carib Sea Arag-alive

 

Right now it is already one week that I removed skimmer and placed Chaeto and seems everything is still ok, just my Seriatopora is opening it's polyps little bit smaller.

Please advice me was it right decision to remove the skimmer or not?

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

9 minutes ago, Aksel.Tevosyan said:

I need advice from experienced reef keepers. I want to decide do I need skimmer or it will better to place Chaeto instead of protein skimmer in skimmer's chamber.

I have Fluval Evo 13.5 mixed reef tank, which I installed in beginning of January.

Equipment is the following:

- stock 500 l/h return pump

- Sicce sincra 1000 l/h  wave maker

- Fluval PS2 mini protein skimmer

- AI Prime HD lights

Other filter media I am using

- piece of Acurel nitrate remover media pad, + piece of phosphate remover media pad

- Xport bio plate from Brightwell aquatics

- Activated carbon.

Live stock for filtration

- around 12 kg live rock

- 20 kg black live sand from Carib Sea Arag-alive

 

Right now it is already one week that I removed skimmer and placed Chaeto and seems everything is still ok, just my Seriatopora is opening it's polyps little bit smaller.

Please advice me was it right decision to remove the skimmer or not?

 

 

 

Using a skimmer is a personal choice. Some do, some don’t. Most nano tanks really do not NEED a skimmer. 

[OPtasia]

Either is fine. I don't run a skimmer any more in my nano. I do have a section of the AIO sump dedicated to chaeto growth. My routine is a 15% weekly water change (5 gallons of water), poly fill filter pad for mechanical filtration that I can throw away weekly during the water change. Also, I passive filter with purigen and phosguard from seachem and change out that media monthly. No skimmer needed. 

[Clown79]

Not a necessary piece of equipment on a nano tank if you maintain it and stock it properly.

 

I don't run a skimmer on my nano's either.

 

There is pro's to it but on nano's there are cons that most don't discuss like removing elements from the water, skimmers can lead to stripping nutrients from small tanks.

[The Reef Novice]

It's a personal preference, early on I removed my fluval skimmer and haven't looked back. It gave me more real estate in my nano that I crucially needed. 

[Aksel.Tevosyan]

1 hour ago, The Reef Novice said:

It's a personal preference, early on I removed my fluval skimmer and haven't looked back. It gave me more real estate in my nano that I crucially needed. 

The same reason with my case:) and did you have any nitrate boost for the first time after removing the skimmer?

[The Reef Novice]

On 3/27/2018 at 1:39 PM, Aksel.Tevosyan said:

The same reason with my case:) and did you have any nitrate boost for the first time after removing the skimmer?

A very small increase but not enough to throw off my tank.