Just thought I would take a moment jot down my personal musings and hopefully in the process pass along some first hand experience from one newb to another.
I started my 54G mixed reef thinking "Skimmer, who needs one of those. I'll show them.". I set off on the adventure with my Rena XP3 as it came with my tank. Also about a sump, if I have no skimmer do I really need a sump? "No" was my response.
The uglies set in. Cyano bloomed and dominated. I picked, I pulled, I changed water, I fought I lost. Fine I'll get a cheap HOB skimmer to to clean up the water. CPR BaK Pak acquired for $80 CAD. Get it home, clean it, plug it in POP goes my GFCI. Fark. MJ1200 it came w/ is cracked in a spot that cant be seen with the impeller cover on. New MJ aquired, skimmer running.
Cyano finally is overcome. "Cool" I thought "How long can I run a Bak Pak on a 54G mixed reef. The answer: not too long. As my tank grew, matured and live stock was added the frequency of skimmer dumps was increasing. Finally I was scraping "poop" out of that thing almost every day.
I guess I have to bite the bullet and setup a sump now w/ a real skimmer. Purchased 15G high tank, used IN80, plumbing and overflow. Whilst cleaning the IN80 I accidentally snapped the ceramic impeller shaft though I don't recall exerting much force. Perhaps it was already cracked. Fine, I can buy a new impeller and still have saved some money over buying a new skimmer. Impeller aquired, sump set up, all was well for two weeks.
Noticed my corals were a little unhappy as my return was creating a lot of extra flow in the tank. I proceeded to install a ball valve on my return line. I had to remove the IN80 from the sump to do so. I put my sump back together and plugged everything in. POP goes my GFCI!!! Oh no, I have been here before! Sure enough it was the IN80 skimmer pump. The seal around the power cord looks to have failed. Son of ...
Lesson learned. Instead of "cheaping out" and doing things half arsed, I would spend the money up front this time. I purchased a new Vertex Omega 150 yesterday. Couldn't be happier with this decision.
I've learned that things in this hobby are done for a reason. Not saying you can't diverge, but know that there's a damn good reason WHY almost everyone adopts the same basic approach to this hobby.
Even w/ my new awesome skimmer breaking in my corals are all ****ed off as flow keeps changing and my hands are/were in the tank way too often imparting contaminants to my water.
I started my 54G mixed reef thinking "Skimmer, who needs one of those. I'll show them.". I set off on the adventure with my Rena XP3 as it came with my tank. Also about a sump, if I have no skimmer do I really need a sump? "No" was my response.
The uglies set in. Cyano bloomed and dominated. I picked, I pulled, I changed water, I fought I lost. Fine I'll get a cheap HOB skimmer to to clean up the water. CPR BaK Pak acquired for $80 CAD. Get it home, clean it, plug it in POP goes my GFCI. Fark. MJ1200 it came w/ is cracked in a spot that cant be seen with the impeller cover on. New MJ aquired, skimmer running.
Cyano finally is overcome. "Cool" I thought "How long can I run a Bak Pak on a 54G mixed reef. The answer: not too long. As my tank grew, matured and live stock was added the frequency of skimmer dumps was increasing. Finally I was scraping "poop" out of that thing almost every day.
I guess I have to bite the bullet and setup a sump now w/ a real skimmer. Purchased 15G high tank, used IN80, plumbing and overflow. Whilst cleaning the IN80 I accidentally snapped the ceramic impeller shaft though I don't recall exerting much force. Perhaps it was already cracked. Fine, I can buy a new impeller and still have saved some money over buying a new skimmer. Impeller aquired, sump set up, all was well for two weeks.
Noticed my corals were a little unhappy as my return was creating a lot of extra flow in the tank. I proceeded to install a ball valve on my return line. I had to remove the IN80 from the sump to do so. I put my sump back together and plugged everything in. POP goes my GFCI!!! Oh no, I have been here before! Sure enough it was the IN80 skimmer pump. The seal around the power cord looks to have failed. Son of ...
Lesson learned. Instead of "cheaping out" and doing things half arsed, I would spend the money up front this time. I purchased a new Vertex Omega 150 yesterday. Couldn't be happier with this decision.
I've learned that things in this hobby are done for a reason. Not saying you can't diverge, but know that there's a damn good reason WHY almost everyone adopts the same basic approach to this hobby.
Even w/ my new awesome skimmer breaking in my corals are all ****ed off as flow keeps changing and my hands are/were in the tank way too often imparting contaminants to my water.
