protein skimmer

[lionfish1991]

Is a protein skimmer neccessary in a 20 gallon tank. the tank has a wet/dry trickle filter and live rock.

 

[Zero-2-Sixty]

na, just keep up on water changes and your good

 

[YodaHart]

Make sure to take out the plastic balls in your wet/dry. Those can cause big problems in a reef. Otherwise, a skimmer is not necessary, although it will help a lot. Just do weekly water changes.

 

[lionfish1991]

what plastic balls?

 

[YodaHart]

Most wet/dry filters have plasitic material that the water trickles over. If you don't have any, don't worry about it.

 

[gfk]

id get a skimmer, you can get a corallife one for under 100 bucks shipped, and it will make such a difference

 

[lionfish1991]

the filter has ceramic noodles in it should i leave them in?

 

[xylem]

Take out the noodles, they are the same as bio balls.

I reccomend a skimmer. I use a air stone powered skimmer. It is very small and effective if you routinely change the airstone regularly.

 

[Rik James]

How often do you have to replace the wooden airstones?

 

[Aj_999]

Usually once a month I think.

 

[Pattylucylaura]

Skimmers are not a necessity but are helpful there are other ways to do it with out. With that size tank a 5 gallon water change takes 10 minutes and is a 25% water change. I think skimmers are more for convinence yes they keep a tank stable and help out quite a bit but they can make you lazy very quickly especially if you have a top notch one that helps keep water pristine.

 

[madnav87]

I highly recomend getting a skimmer, I put an Aqua C Remora on my Aquapod 24, and my nitrates have remained undetectable while only doing water changes only once a month. If for some reason, you have to leave your tank alone for more than a few weeks, and you dont have a skimmer, problems might arise, but with a skimmer, theres a much greater chance that everything will be ok when you get back.

 

[easye123]

u dont need one as long as u do water changes....
everyone will tell u that nitrates have to be zero... along with other stuff but not totally true. then u wont get coraline growing and stuff like that with o nitrates..

just do water change like every two weeks.. and get a good cleanup crew... but as others said it wouldnt hurt...