protien skimmers/yes or no?
- Thread starter brushman
- Start date
drummereef
Team RC
If you want to you can, but honestly you can get away with just water changes on a nano tank. Just make sure you find the balance with your bioload. Most of the time this means go low.
brownsugar
New member
No harm into looking into a skimmer that can handle a system bigger in size that yours - just in case you decide to upgrade later on.
But nano's are cool in the process of setting up one now (30 Gallon has a skimmer rated for a 120 Gallon).
Vote 1 SKIM 2007
But nano's are cool in the process of setting up one now (30 Gallon has a skimmer rated for a 120 Gallon).
Vote 1 SKIM 2007
Ed Ricketts
New member
brushman,
Clearly there exists a whole lot of conditional responses. "On the one hand,...but on the other..."
It might be difficult to see what has evolved here, even in this thread, is that certain people have very specific experiences that support specific beliefs. If you're just starting out, and have what would generally be considered a nano, it might be completely appropriate to go skimmerless. Likewise, a skimmer on a 20 gal might only take money out of your wallet, or force you into decisions in the future (I have this skimmer, so my next tank should be no bigger than x gallons, to save money)
kharmajavah has an excellent point. Water changes are a successful strategy for him. Others here talk about $1/gal for salt at the LFS, but buying and mixing your own makes the "water change" strategy much more attractive financially.
The key is, you need nutrient export (generally speaking, and keeping jefathome's comments in mind). So whether you do it with water changes, skimming, or even macroalgae harvesting, or a combination of all of these, the important point is export in a maintainable way.
Nobody wants to look at the yellow box of water in 6 months and say, "Eh, just not what I had in mind."
HTHnutrient export
Clearly there exists a whole lot of conditional responses. "On the one hand,...but on the other..."
It might be difficult to see what has evolved here, even in this thread, is that certain people have very specific experiences that support specific beliefs. If you're just starting out, and have what would generally be considered a nano, it might be completely appropriate to go skimmerless. Likewise, a skimmer on a 20 gal might only take money out of your wallet, or force you into decisions in the future (I have this skimmer, so my next tank should be no bigger than x gallons, to save money)
kharmajavah has an excellent point. Water changes are a successful strategy for him. Others here talk about $1/gal for salt at the LFS, but buying and mixing your own makes the "water change" strategy much more attractive financially.
The key is, you need nutrient export (generally speaking, and keeping jefathome's comments in mind). So whether you do it with water changes, skimming, or even macroalgae harvesting, or a combination of all of these, the important point is export in a maintainable way.
Nobody wants to look at the yellow box of water in 6 months and say, "Eh, just not what I had in mind."
HTHnutrient export
