Up The Aquarium, Without A Skimmer

mhhauser321

mhhauser321

New member
Well Lets Get some Opinions Here,

How many of you think it is neccesary to own a skimmer.

On A Scale Of 1 to 10 with 1 being almost certain and 10 being don't care do you give to the topic of owning a Protein SKimmer.

Do you have to own a Protein Skimmer to be able to have a healthy and rich reef aquarium.
 
I'd say for most people its a 1. Especially if you will have fish and other inverts. Some people get by without (eg Tyree - without fish) but most can not. There is still some debate about it but I'd estimate 99% have skimmers. Let the debate begin.

What are keeping or planning to keep?
 
^ agree. I myself always run my skimmer and clean it weekly if not daily some times in order to keep the sludge comming out of the tank. With having only one clownfish in my tank, I don't get awhole lot but it falls in the list of important ways to filter your water. Other filteration methods would include:

-Having a fair amount of liverock
-Weekly/monthly water changes!
-Good protein skimmer
-sometimes... carbon. ( not really a filteration method but helps clear up the water. )
 
What I read on here a few months ago made perfect sense: When you see what it pulls out of your tank, would you want to add the skimmate back to the tank? Without a skimmer, it's an unseen nastiness in your tank.
 
one for sure! i dont use carbon, LR & LS and 2 skimmers and thats it. i have a medium bio-load and current parms as of 4 a.m. 7/20/07:
NO2=0.0
NO3=0.0
NH3/NH4=0.0
Alk 3.8
CaC12=440
Mg=1330
I/I2=0.04
Temp=82.2
SG=35
:D
 
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there are few,if any, natural organic molecules that will absorb at air/water interface on their own. nearly all inorganics in a marine tank are highly polar, charged ions, which will be actually excluded from the interface for the same reason that hydrophobes (H2O haters) are attracted there. these inorganics nteract more strongly with water than even water does itself. thus, to expose these at the H2O surface would require a severe energy penalty. inorganics can, however, be complexed to organics that are skimmed out. :D
there! now do you see why skimming is important? unless you like doing alot of water changes, go with the biggest skimmer you can afford for your tank. if you have a 100G tank get a 250G tank skimmer, youll be glad you did down the road as you add more stuff! :rollface: to sumit up, all the bad stuff floats to the surface because the weight is less than that of H2O, creating the bubbles of crap that are collected as exports of unused organic and inorganic matter. :cool:
 
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Get the skimmer, don't experiment, that's a guarantee reduction of nitrates. Remember if you nitrates reach high levels than is a @^@#$&$% to reduce them.
 
I would agree with the skimmer being essential for the average reefer, because the other elements of the reef tank and equipment require you to skim the excess nutrients and pollution out of the water. There are examples for w/o skimmer tanks, but it will be more vulnerable for a crash, especially if you are not an expert or you have fish/ mixed reef.
 
Unless set up with an automated continuous water change regiment pulling solely water from the surface of the tank a protein skimmer is essential, as already mentioned.. just seeing what gets pulled from the water on a daily basis is proof enough of this.

I would rank a skimmer #2 on my list of most important investments for your tank that should not be skimped on in any way shape or form (RO/DI or other source of pure water tops the list, lighting comes in at #3)

Especially as a discussion in the newbie forum, a top notch protein skimmer is an absolutely essential piece of equipment.
 
Well, with all the yucky stuff I've seen it pull out of my tank (3 fish, 2 shrimp, snails, mixed corals), I'd have to say I'm glad I own it, so 1 for me.

But that said, I've never run a system without a skimmer, so I can't say anything about the reliability or effectiveness of alternative means of filtration.
 
Beyond my lighting, I think it's the next most important thing I own for my tank. Don't skimp on it. I run them on all my tanks including Nanos. Although there is an argument for water changes being sufficient for a Nano, I figure it won't hurt either.

I rate it a 1.5 after proper lighting.
 
I had a succesful 55 gallon aggresive tank many years ago. I didnt even know what a skimmer was. Back then, I would say it was totally unneccesary and ultimatley, b/c of my success, I'd say it was.

Now that I have my 180 aggresive, I bought a skimmer. I cannot beleive how much crap that thing pulls out of the water. I don't even have a good one yet, so I can only imagine how much more stuff is in there. Now I'm movine it up to a solid 10!! I'm sure my fish would not die without it, but sure as heck don't want my guys swimming in that crap.

Once you get one, you'll find it was money well spent!
 
1.

Just by the amount of gunk a skimmer pulls out of the water you can see how well it is working.. you can get some of that out with other forms of mechanical filtration (small micron filter pads) but not nearly as well as how the skimmer does it.
 
Do you have to have one? NO Do I run one? No

Would I recomend one for a newbie? Yes.

I have had many successful tanks, and have seen many as well, that run without a skimmer.

However, it certianly can help on a newbies tank, as it can make up for other errors mistakes, etc...

I would start out with one, and as you gain experince, try without, and see what you prefer.
 
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