do I realy need a skimmer

[sokol1312]

hi,
after my problems with seaclone skimmer, I am ready to give up.
do I realy need a skimmer?I have 20g tank with 18 lb of lr,and biolife
wet/dry filter.Now I read somewhere on this site that carbon removes
organics as well, so can I add it to my filter, will that do?
how often should I change water then if I dont use skimmer?
any ideas?????

 

[jandree22]

here's what I JUST replied in your other topic about this situation :wink:

well, a skimmer is a very wise thing to utilize IMO. It removes a lot of nutrients before they even have a chance to foul the water with Nitrates.

I have no clue why your skimmer overflowed, that's actually really wierd. I never even really took a stab at your original quesiton though.... the skimmers I've used have always caused bubbles in the tank for at least the first week, then they just kinda go away. I think it's just the break in period. As long as you have 30 days or whatever, I'd suggest just setting it the way it's supposed to be and letting it be for a week or two. If your performance doesn't increase, take it back and say it was defective and you'd like to exchange it for another.(unless you just want your $$$ back).

You know I'm not a fan of the SeaClone, but there's no sense in returning it before you really have to. I say give it one more shot then decide from there.

BTW, how big is your tank?

 

[jandree22]

another thought.... you can go skimmerless if you really want to. Just make sure you're making RELIGIOUS weekly 10% changes. If you start forgetting to do them, you're gonna soon see those nitrates skyrocket... especially using that wet/dry filter.

About the Wet/Dry... I suggest just adding another 5-10lbs of good quality rock and completely doing away with the wet/dry filter. Wet/Dry's are notorious for being NO3 factories. Live rock provides your biological filtration, and 5-10lbs more would really help in that aspect.

As far as carbon, yeah, it's pretty good at removing a lot of crap outa the water. I personally use Chemi-Pure...they suggest it can be used for up to 6 months w/o replacement. I think it's more like 3 months probably in reality, but most standard carbons don't last nearly even that long. You can keep your Wet/Dry flowing, but just take out the Bio Balls because they're the cause of excessive nitrates. Hell, maybe just replace the bio balls with a couple rubble pieces of LR :wink:

 

[brandonberry]

People who use mangroves say that their skimmer doesn't do a lot. Maybe try this. I'm currently experimenting with mangroves myself. It is still to early to tell anything though. I do have two tanks that run without skimmers just fine. In them, half the tank is covered with Caulerpa though.

 

[silly34]

I am curious I am using a wet/dry, I keep a nice load of bioballs on the inlet side and keep the skimmer/heaters on the other (sump). I am starting to put LR in it though. But wouldn't the bioballs take care of the biologics?

Just curious.

B.

another thought.... you can go skimmerless if you really want to. Just make sure you're making RELIGIOUS weekly 10% changes. If you start forgetting to do them, you're gonna soon see those nitrates skyrocket... especially using that wet/dry filter.

About the Wet/Dry... I suggest just adding another 5-10lbs of good quality rock and completely doing away with the wet/dry filter. Wet/Dry's are notorious for being NO3 factories. Live rock provides your biological filtration, and 5-10lbs more would really help in that aspect.

As far as carbon, yeah, it's pretty good at removing a lot of crap outa the water. I personally use Chemi-Pure...they suggest it can be used for up to 6 months w/o replacement. I think it's more like 3 months probably in reality, but most standard carbons don't last nearly even that long. You can keep your Wet/Dry flowing, but just take out the Bio Balls because they're the cause of excessive nitrates. Hell, maybe just replace the bio balls with a couple rubble pieces of LR :wink:

 

[jandree22]

Along with the utilization of Live Rock, bio balls provide an unneccesarily large amount of biological filtration.... They're simply just not required if you're using at least 1lb. of rock per gallon

 

[silly34]

Ahh I see. Maybe I am over biologicaling I have 2 canister filters to go w/ the sump. Plus all of the LR.

Needless to say all my parameters are in really good shape But then I like to do 15g water changes every 2 weeks (125g tank).

B.

 

[sokol1312]

hi jandree22
mytank is 20g.

 

[J.Howard]

Hi sokol, I currently run skimmers on all of my tanks, even a 10 gal I'm using for temp quarters. However, I had an old tank (30 gal) that was fish only with live rock (usually shown as FOWLR around here) that I ended up leaving with my old roommate after I got hitched and bought my house. That tank has been running for 5-6 yrs. and it's OLD OLD school style from when I was a beginner long ago. Its got under gravel filtration w/powerheads and a canister filter, but no skimmer. My pal says that he never has problems with nitrate since he adds absorbing media like I used to do. The current mindset if you are running a reef tank is to run a skimmer for sure, but you can have success in a FOWLR without one, but measures still need to be taken to remove excess nutrients. Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

You can run a 20 without a skimmer. The frequency of changes will be dictated by how high a bioload the tank has; if you adding a lot of food you will have to change the water more frequently. Make sure you are using RO water also.

If you start growing bad algae, change more frequently.

 

[Anonymous]

i agree with Jandree..i think these bio balls and wet/dry filters are way overrated...My opinion of course...like dan and Jandree said, you will have to do more frequent water changes...might wanna double check the skimmer and make sure nothing has clogged it to make it overflow, if not maybe i know this is costly but investing in a new skimmer...maybe a aquaC or bak pak 2?

 

[J.Howard]

FWIW i still use bio balls and have no nitrate problems. I know I'm part of a very small minority, but I believe bio balls and Berlin style can co-exist. And benefit of extra filtering ability they provide and the small amount of nitrate they can produce is easily handled if you use a large enough skimmer and a "Berlin" amount of LR. I see it as the best of both worlds until something happens to me to change my mind.

 

[Anonymous]

Well they certainly can exist, since the same kind of nutrient processing that occurs on the exterior of the live rock is what occurs in the bio-balls. Hopefully, your skimmer is pulling out the raw nutrients before they get a chance to break down into nitrates.

If you keep low bio-loads, practically any system will work. One reason to stock slowly in the beginning...

 

[ChrisRD]

I agree with Dan. There are lots of nitrifying biological filters that work fine, but the bottom line is you don't need any of them if you've got adequate amounts of live rock in the system already. A good protein skimmer combined with the rock is all the filtration you'll need for most reef tanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Doing weekly (or more often) w/c's on such a system sans skimmer is part and parcel. However, 10% isn't gonna do jack. Needs to be 30% at minimum. The problem with live rock in nanos is you may have to sacrifice tank space. But, if you have a small sump or 'fuge added, that can easily make up the difference.

 

[hillbilly]

Nanos are so small that I wouldn't want to do a large water change at once for fear of wreaking havoc on the corals, esp. sps. IMO I would use some kind of sump to add water volume to a small tank if I were going skimmerless.

 

[sokol1312]

hi,
I got a new skimmer, and it works.
see my reply under seaclone skimmer post,posted by me

 

[Baianotang]

the best you can afford

 

[Anonymous]

Nanos are so small that I wouldn't want to do a large water change at once for fear of wreaking havoc on the corals, esp. sps. IMO I would use some kind of sump to add water volume to a small tank if I were going skimmerless.

They are what they are, and a large water change doesn't hurt unless you change certain parameters too drastically. Large w/c's are the best way to maintain them long term. Also, part of the thing with nanos is they're set up by/for folks who DON'T have a great deal of space or outlets available. This would automatically preclude sumps, et al devices. Nanos are, by and large, one of my favorite types of systems to set up, especially as in-store displays.