Surface Skimmer question

[Suji]

Set up a new tank cycled 16 gallon nano reef
Live rock
Barebottom
2 small clowns no more fish

Jebao RW-4 on w1 pulse mode
Koralia 240 at the bottom behind the rocks to push any detrius to the front
Aquaclear 50 with Chemipure Blue, sponge , Gfo and Poly filter

Water change 35% bi weekly.

My question is do I really need to put surface skimmer on the aquaclear? Because when I do it barely sucks water from the bottom part , mostly the top even if it just skims barely on the top plus the teeth at the bottom and very small compared to the regular intake. I would like to use the regular intake and not the surface skimmer.

The oil that builds on top if I remove it every water change is it fine? And yes I do have powerheads pointing to the top rippling.

 

[mcgyvr]

You don't have to use a surface skimmer if you don't want to..
But that one actually works really well (I use it on my actual protein skimmer to keep the surface clean)..
Not sure how you plan to remove that slime manually during water changes..

 

[Suji]

But is it worth the trade off? Only the surface is getting sucked in for chemipure blue, gfo etc....water change u put the tube upside down so it takes out the slime, because that attachment if u skim the surface look at the bottom its like 10% effectve because its closing 90% of the intake holes from the bottom

 

[ericarenee]

I believe surface skimming is Important. If you keep enough water movement in the tank you should not really need a filter input down low..

 

[Suji]

So then shouldI just close ofthebottom so it takes allthe water from the top?

 

[ericarenee]

So then shouldI just close ofthebottom so it takes allthe water from the top?

NO I WOULD use both ..

 

[Suji]

I appreciate everyones advice, 1 thing I dont understand, if I make it work so it skims the surface andpulls from the bottom intake, it skims the thin layer on top and very tiny space on the bottle as it blocks 90% of the bottom, why make it both inefficient? If I block 99% of the bottom it skims a thick layer from the top!.

If you had a sump , only the surface goes into the overflow nothing at the bottom, so whats the difference?

 

[mcgyvr]

Don't assume that just because you are taking a little from here and a little from there that its somehow inefficient..
Either way its still the same amount of water flowing through the filter as adjusting the surface skimmer is not changing the pumping speed/flow at all..

I set mine up by closing the bottom all the way then something like 1/4 turn back to just crack it open there just a bit at the bottom..