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[dragonchic3]

Hi I am new here and I would like to start a FO and I was wondering do I really need a skimmer? All i here is people having trouble out of them.I do 20% water changes in all my tanks. All my tanks are 155's except for this new one I want to do the FO with and its a 135. I have all my tanks filtering as if they were 495 gal.so do i really need one?

 

[reefergeorge]

[welcome]

I strongly believe that a good skimmer is the backbone of saltwater system. You should see the crud a skimmer will remove in a week. I don't want it in my tank.
FWIW I have no problems with my swc dnw-150 I clean it every week, and that's it.

 

[Recty]

You dont HAVE to do skimming on a FOWLR, plenty of people dont. If you want to be able to have more fish per gallon and healthier fish to boot, you should run a skimmer.

It not only pulls gunk from the water that a filter simply doesnt trap, it also oxygenates the water supremely well. Plus you can use it as a gage of your tank, the way your skimmer is acting tells you a lot about your feeding and tank health.

Also, you could skip a skimmer and dose ozone.

And I guess a third thing good about skimming is that you can do a lot less water changes if you use a skimmer. Personally, I still do 10% water changes per week on my 210g tank, but I think I could easily get away with half or third of that.

 

[dragonchic3]

okay great. My brother has a saltwater reef and he has a skimmer he paid 250 for and doesn't work. and a couple other people I know are having problems with them also so thats why I was wondering if I can go without one. Thank you so much!

 

[LisaD]

I agree with Recty and reefergeorge, and also recommend a skimmer. some are touchy and need continuous tinkering. I avoid those, even though some can do a great job if you don't mind having to "tune" them regularly. what kind does your brother have? maybe someone here could make suggestions to get it running optimally. the answer is often as simple as the water level in the sump, adjustment of the collection cup, or using a different pump.

there are a number of skimmers that are pretty much "plug and play". and you don't have to have a *great* skimmer to get significant benefits from skimming. I use CPR BakPaks on my smaller tanks that are 55 gallons are less. BakPaks are HOB skimmers. They do a nice job of pulling some nasty gunk out of the water, and no way are they high end. (that was an example, I wouldn't necessarily recommend BakPaks for larger tanks.)

I'm sure some folks could make good recommendations for serviceable, reasonably priced skimmers for your tank, depending on your set-up (sump or not), stocking level and other filtration.

what I'd recommend for your 135, at the minimum:

skimmer - in sump if possible
refugium with macroalgae for nutrient export
1-1.5 lbs per gallon decent live rock
bare bottom or shallow sand bed
bi-weekly water changes of 10-20%

what will you stock in your tank? heavy or light biological load?

I ran a pretty heavily stocked 5' 120 for several years with a HOB Remora Pro, HOB refugium and several hundred lbs live rock, and not much else. my return pump failed, and I didn't replace it since I was planning to upgrade the tank - well, it took several years to get the upgrade up... it wasn't an ideal set-up, but it worked ok. the skimmer, even though it was underpowered for the tank, was an essential piece of equipment, IMO.

 

[dragonchic3]

I think he has a Berlin x2 Skimmer.It never works.And I only want a light stocked aquarium, small fish. Hopefully some live rock too!

 

[dragonchic3]

And yes I will have a sump also =)

 

[LisaD]

I think my mom had a similar one on her 210 reef. It was underpowered for the tank, but it skimmed like crazy, and her tank looked great. keeping the sump level set right was important...