Do I neeed a skimmer

[supermarvin76]

I have a 50gal tank with fish, minimal live rock maybe a few shrimp, snails, and hermits down the road. I am going to run a 20gal tall tank as a refugium. Should I use a protien skimmer?

Which is a good one that doesn't take up much room for around $100??
Thanks

 

[lando]

A skimmer should never be discouraged in a tank, however, it is not truely needed. It will hep maintain water quality. For around $100 look at the SeaClone 150. It is not a bad skimmer, just fussy to adjust and break-in. Once working it skims like crazy.

 

[ashobson]

I upgraded

I bought a 54 gal corner tank that all they had was a skelter hanging on the back . I added an internal filter a couple power heads and some more live rock was having trouble with ammonia staying on the first lower mark on my test kit you know just high enough to make you worry. I upgraded to a red sea prizm rated for a 100 gal tank although most on here don,t like them for some reason I got it new off ebay for $73 shipping included and it has been doing a great job on my 54 gal and my ammonia has been 0 ever since I quess getting that nasty brown stuff out of the water every day makes a difrance. So I highly recommend a good skimmer