General Protein Skimmer Question, Collection Cup

[rogersjw]

Hi,
I am contemplating starting my first saltwater tank in a small 20 gallon glass tank I picked up a week or two ago. I've been researching all of the different hardware and techniques for running an FO or FOWLR setup and I had a simple question about Protein Skimmers....

I live in San Diego, but I travel for business a couple weeks out of the year, and for trips back home to see family and was wondering if there was a protein skimmer that had a collection cup that would be ok left alone for a week at a time (once the tank has been steady for a while). This may be a dumb question, but I thought I'd ask if there were certain brands that were less needy than others.

I could always have my neighbor come and check on them but if possible I'd like to handle it myself. Thanks for any advice!

 

[Jimbo7]

At 20 gallons, you are borderline of even needing a skimmer. If it makes you feel more comfortable while you are away, its never a bad thing to have on a tank and will be fine.
I know lots of skimmers have a small output under the cup where you can attach an airline to, and people run that into gallon milk jugs. The skimmate is reeaaallllyyy smelly, so its nice to just be able to close it up and throw it away.
ASM and octopus would be my recommended brands. Don't waste your money on a coralife or cheap brands.