To skim or not to skim?

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It's not necessary, but instead of having a piece of equipment to do the work for you, YOU will be the protein skimmer :lol:. Doing more frequent water changes to keep down nitrates and minimizing food and such. I see all the gunk that my skimmer takes out and I don't think I'd be able to get to all that small waste before it decomposed and raised the nitrates. JeremyS. just posted a $1 protein skimmer (made of plastic water bottles) that looked pretty effective! Worth a try IMO.
 
obscurereef said:
It's not necessary, but instead of having a piece of equipment to do the work for you, YOU will be the protein skimmer :lol:. Doing more frequent water changes to keep down nitrates and minimizing food and such. I see all the gunk that my skimmer takes out and I don't think I'd be able to get to all that small waste before it decomposed and raised the nitrates. JeremyS. just posted a $1 protein skimmer (made of plastic water bottles) that looked pretty effective! Worth a try IMO.

Aha ill rather buy one xD which one do you have?
 
The aquamedic turboflotor multi SL..forgot which website I ordered it from, but they are sold in a lot of popular ones. It was recommended to me by my mom's friend who has a 300 gallon FOWLR tank (he's also a marine biologist so that's a plus :lol:). The awesome thing is his skimmer is 8 years old and still running great (always great to have quality products). It's actually rated up to 200 gallons, but it works wonders on his tank (and mine too). I bought it, and kind of wanted to get a reef octupus or something else, but after reading the pamphlet about the skimmer, it seems like the company really knows what they are talking about and it can be used for reef tanks. What skimmer do you want if you were to get one and what's your tank size? If it's a nano, I'd say it's not really needed. If it's a large tank with a strong bioload I think it would help tremendously.
 
obscurereef said:
The aquamedic turboflotor multi SL..forgot which website I ordered it from, but they are sold in a lot of popular ones. It was recommended to me by my mom's friend who has a 300 gallon FOWLR tank (he's also a marine biologist so that's a plus :lol:). The awesome thing is his skimmer is 8 years old and still running great (always great to have quality products). It's actually rated up to 200 gallons, but it works wonders on his tank (and mine too). I bought it, and kind of wanted to get a reef octupus or something else, but after reading the pamphlet about the skimmer, it seems like the company really knows what they are talking about and it can be used for reef tanks. What skimmer do you want if you were to get one and what's your tank size? If it's a nano, I'd say it's not really needed. If it's a large tank with a strong bioload I think it would help tremendously.

Sounds good, but i need a hob protein skimmer. I wanted to get a aqua c mora. I have a 60 gallon tank with 6 fish 1 shrimp and a mushroom. Around 60 pounds of live rock.
 
obscurereef said:
It's not necessary, but instead of having a piece of equipment to do the work for you, YOU will be the protein skimmer :lol:. Doing more frequent water changes to keep down nitrates and minimizing food and such. I see all the gunk that my skimmer takes out and I don't think I'd be able to get to all that small waste before it decomposed and raised the nitrates. JeremyS. just posted a $1 protein skimmer (made of plastic water bottles) that looked pretty effective! Worth a try IMO.

Could you link me to that post? Very interested! Thanks.
 
It can be HOB or in the sump (I have it in my sump). Just be careful, because if you neglect to empty the cup bubbles will come through the top (but prob. won't overflow on the ground). Found where I got it from!
I got it with the pump, but you can just get the skimmer and find your own pump.
Store Protein Skimmers Standard Skimmers
This place charges $20 shipping and taxed me $22! So, probably best to see other options like:
Aqua Medic Turboflotor 1000 Protein Skimmer
On the pricey side, but I think lighting and skimmers are the most costly, yet most important investment.
 
obscurereef said:
It can be HOB or in the sump (I have it in my sump). Just be careful, because if you neglect to empty the cup bubbles will come through the top (but prob. won't overflow on the ground). Found where I got it from!
I got it with the pump, but you can just get the skimmer and find your own pump.
Store Protein Skimmers Standard Skimmers
This place charges $20 shipping and taxed me $22! So, probably best to see other options like:
Aqua Medic Turboflotor 1000 Protein Skimmer
On the pricey side, but I think lighting and skimmers are the most costly, yet most important investment.

Ohh alright thanks ima check them out. don't forget about chillers pricey also aha.
 
ehh...chillers...don't even remind me :lol:. I live in San Diego where the weather is very nice...the ocean is our huge air conditioner! However, the weather this past summer has gotten the hottest it has been in a REALLY long time (in the upper 80 and 90s OH NO) and my tank was getting to be 84F. So that was when I was thinking about chillers, but practically free RO/DI ice cubes proved to be some help! So I'm not really worried about high temps..if I got a chiller I'd prob. only use it 3 weeks out of the whole year. I'm surprised nobody has made a quality inexpensive chiller, I mean really, $300 or 400 for a few degrees lower seems ridiculous to me! :(
 
obscurereef said:
ehh...chillers...don't even remind me :lol:. I live in San Diego where the weather is very nice...the ocean is our huge air conditioner! However, the weather this past summer has gotten the hottest it has been in a REALLY long time (in the upper 80 and 90s OH NO) and my tank was getting to be 84F. So that was when I was thinking about chillers, but practically free RO/DI ice cubes proved to be some help! So I'm not really worried about high temps..if I got a chiller I'd prob. only use it 3 weeks out of the whole year. I'm surprised nobody has made a quality inexpensive chiller, I mean really, $300 or 400 for a few degrees lower seems ridiculous to me! :(

Thats so true aha, they probably just overprice them, i live in los angeles so its not that hot either, ill probably run a fan or something in the Sumner then.
 
A skimmer isn't needed in every situation, but can be vital in others. What tank setup, stocking, filtration, etc.?
 
Haha yeah they probably figure: "oh heat's killing your hundreds of dollars of coral and fish, why don't we "save" you money with this extra insurance." Fans work, but do little when there's humidity, so that sucks...
 
obscurereef said:
Haha yeah they probably figure: "oh heat's killing your hundreds of dollars of coral and fish, why don't we "save" you money with this extra insurance." Fans work, but do little when there's humidity, so that sucks...

Ahah for real, ima save to get one next Summer lol.
 
Don't NEED one, and some corals like "dirtier" water...as long as you keep up on water changes and moniter your levels you'll be fine (a phosphate reactor would prob. be a good addition too, but that's not NEEDED either). If we were talking about what you NEED...I'd say a filter, an established tank, and a powerhead, and salt and lighting is all for equipment. Then comes to the WANTS and HOW much work/maintenance you are willing to do. more equipment=less work, usually healthier tank.
 
obscurereef said:
Don't NEED one, and some corals like "dirtier" water...as long as you keep up on water changes and moniter your levels you'll be fine (a phosphate reactor would prob. be a good addition too, but that's not NEEDED either). If we were talking about what you NEED...I'd say a filter, an established tank, and a powerhead, and salt and lighting is all for equipment. Then comes to the WANTS and HOW much work/maintenance you are willing to do. more equipment=less work, usually healthier tank.

My tank is four years old, should i run it with no skimmer and start adding coral? Aha nice il try that ice method also.
 
If it's four years old, how is it doing w/out a skimmer all this time? Good, or are you getting lots of hair algae, diatoms, cyano, etc. Try it out, I think it should be fine. However, I know that generally speaking, sps are picky and like pristine very clean water, so might be careful when considering acros and such.
 
obscurereef said:
If it's four years old, how is it doing w/out a skimmer all this time? Good, or are you getting lots of hair algae, diatoms, cyano, etc. Try it out, I think it should be fine. However, I know that generally speaking, sps are picky and like pristine very clean water, so might be careful when considering acros and such.

What exacty are diatoms aand cyno? I have coraline algea :D aha
 
You shouldn't see diatoms. Diatoms is that brownish carpet you saw when you set your tank up. They eat silicates. Cyano is a bacteria that eats nitrates and phosphates. Also called red slime.
 
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