The dark knight
Member
Do you need a skimmer in a tank or can you get away without using one?
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Skimmer
- Thread starter The dark knight
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frisbee
Well-Known Member
A skimmer is definitely a great tool to have, but you can create a happy healthy reef tank without one. Just as an example, there's plenty of beautiful nano tanks out there that don't use a skimmer. Why couldn't this same husbandry, methodology etc be carried over to a 75 or 100 gallon tank? It would basically be the same thing, only it's on a larger scale. Then again this is a hobby and just like every other hobby out there some people are just better at certain ones than others. There's a lot of people out there that have a hard enough time keeping their shoe laces tied, much or less set up and maintain a reef aquarium for any length of time.
Good luck, one way or the other.
Good luck, one way or the other.
What size tank? On all but tanks say... under 20 gallons with large weekly wc, protein skimmers are a great addition, some members run algae scrubbers instead, imo you can get by without one, but I run one if I could...
The dark knight
Member
I have 240ltr tank and run a skimmer I've seen other people saying you don't need one because it's takes away all the good stuff for the filter feeders
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If your looking for strictly s yes or no answer, the answer must be no. You don't need a skimmer. However, on any tank larger than about 30 gal, a skimmer is highly desirable, to the point where I would not run a larger SW tank with out one.
If you doubt that a skimmer works, simply take a look at all the glop it removes from the system. Consider too that this material is being removed befor the biological filtration needs to deal with it.
As for "other people saying you don't need one because it's takes away all the good stuff for the filter feeders", yes some of this does occur to some extent. A skimmer will remove most fine material, but the benefits far outweigh the downsides.
There are a lot of poorly designed skimmers on the market, especially on the low end. Some are out and out junk, Before you buy, ask about it here first. Expect to spend some money on something decent, and as usual I recommend getting top quality equipment. Note that top quality does not mean most expensive.