Debating On Going Skimmerless....

[ChitownRomeo]

I have a 50 gallon aquarium from petsmart. It's been running for 2 months now and I cycled it with Bio Spira and a moth later Dr. Tims one and only to make sure I have enough bacteria. I have 60 pounds of Cured live rock from Premium aquatics and 60 pounds of live sand. Currently using 2 Fluval 306 with just the sponges, ALOT of Seachem Purigen, Chemi Pur, Rowa-Phos and Carbon. 2 Tunze power heads & I have No Algae at all. right now just 15 hermits and 2 Perc Clowns. If I do 10%water change every week do I really need a skimmer. I don't see paying $200 on a skimmer if my parameters are all spot on right now. This tank will have mostly Soft corals any way. Should I get a skimmer or am I ok?

[BigAl07]

While a skimmer is not required many of us wouldn't think of doing a tank larger than say 10g without one. A skimmer takes a LOT of load off of your biological filtration system and going a long way to keeping the odds of long term success in your favor.

Should you get a skimmer? IMHO absolutely.

Can you "get by" without one? Probably but they work hard 24/7 removing DOC from your system that might otherwise lead to cascading water parameters. A skimmer is really a GREAT addition to a Salt Water tank and personally I feel like a must-have piece of equipment for a REEF tank.

[Doogle]

It seems like you have good chemical media for phosphates and whatnot so you may not need a skimmer if you are diligent with high quality water changes.
If your serious about your water quality you should get one....wish I did when I started. I wish I did lot of things different. Ya I don't have a sump,skimmer,refugium,turf scrubber..don't even have my reactor hooked up yet...shoot me now!

[ChitownRomeo]

Yea i used the rowaphos and chemi pur for phosphates and silicates, the carbon for clarity & odors and the purigen for the dissolved organics. I do a 20 gallon water change every sunday after the Chicago Bears game lol.

[Blue Space]

+1^ just like Al -i'd def run a skimmer. i have a 29 gallon tank and perform weekly water changes of 5 gal/week. even with those weekly WCs i still pull plenty of dark skimmate out which would otherwise return to the system. To avoid nuisance algae out-breaks and help export excess nutrients i'd recommend running a skimmer.

[HUNTER1]

Like me I don't have skimmer or sump. I also run canister with chempure, gfo, carbon and Purigen and doing weekly water changes. Tank is less than 2 months old and no problem with algae. I would like to get HOB skimmer but I'll wait and see.
Good luck to us.

[ChitownRomeo]

I had a small diatom problem in the beginning but went away quick. None since then but right now just 2 small percs and some hermits. Only going to have softies so not sure about the skimmer...

[ChitownRomeo]

Like me I don't have skimmer or sump. I also run canister with chempure, gfo, carbon and Purigen and doing weekly water changes. Tank is less than 2 months old and no problem with algae. I would like to get HOB skimmer but I'll wait and see.
Good luck to us.

Good luck lol

[DaveK]

In my opinion, a skimmer, while not an absolute requirement, does fall into the class of highly recommended. I wouldn't set up a tank of any size with out one. It removes a lot of "glop" from the water. This is all stuff your biological and chemical filtration doesn't need to deal with, so you need a lot less chemical media.

You can go with out a skimmer if you want to, but it's cheep insurance. Over time that $200 is cheep compared to replacing all that chemical media. Also, once you get going, you'll have a lot more than $200 invested in fish and corals.

While we are on the subject of filtration, if your going to use a canister, it should be cleaned weekly. Otherwise it will become a nitrate factory, and big oxygen consumer.

[ChitownRomeo]

Fine Ill go and get a skimmer lol. I just ordered the Aquamaxx HOB-1. And yea the canister will be cleaned after every w/c

[reefer gladness]

Good move getting a skimmer. You might have been able to get away with it if you didn't add any more fish but in the long run it's going to be cheaper than replacing all the media every few months. Just remember to clean out the skimmer on regular basis, they function a lot better when cleaned. I clean mine weekly as part of the waterchange regime.

[ChitownRomeo]

Then yea getting a skimmer was a good move. I plan on stocking this tank so I'm sure the skimmer will help out alot plus help with oxygen.

[steved13]

+1. Good plan

[lbiminiblue]

I have a 50 gallon aquarium from petsmart. It's been running for 2 months now and I cycled it with Bio Spira and a moth later Dr. Tims one and only to make sure I have enough bacteria. I have 60 pounds of Cured live rock from Premium aquatics and 60 pounds of live sand. Currently using 2 Fluval 306 with just the sponges, ALOT of Seachem Purigen, Chemi Pur, Rowa-Phos and Carbon. 2 Tunze power heads & I have No Algae at all. right now just 15 hermits and 2 Perc Clowns. If I do 10%water change every week do I really need a skimmer. I don't see paying $200 on a skimmer if my parameters are all spot on right now. This tank will have mostly Soft corals any way. Should I get a skimmer or am I ok?

I would say you'd be safe without a skimmer. You have a really light bioload, wouldn't exceed around 7 fish for that tank. If you had a refugium or sump, you'd have a larger margin of room, but I think you can definitely go skimmerless with that bioload. I've kept a 120 and 55 both w/o a skimmer and they both did fine. But of course you need strong biological filtration to act in its place. Good luck!

[ChitownRomeo]

I would say you'd be safe without a skimmer. You have a really light bioload, wouldn't exceed around 7 fish for that tank. If you had a refugium or sump, you'd have a larger margin of room, but I think you can definitely go skimmerless with that bioload. I've kept a 120 and 55 both w/o a skimmer and they both did fine. But of course you need strong biological filtration to act in its place. Good luck!

Nah I went ahead with the aquamaxx skimmer. I decided I want a heavy bio load and didn't want to limit myself to the type of corals I can keep