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What skimmer are you currently using?

N

NJMcGruff

Experienced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
South Brunswick NJ
Rating - 87.5%
28   4   0
Bubba Jazzy said:
I found this very interesting..... Studies of skimmers have shown that they remove various trace elements, along with pods and plankton. When people run protein skimmers, they dose trace elements to replenish them after their corals and skimmers use them. Because the skimmer removes most of the elements, such as iodine, it is dosed back in causing almost an endless cycle. The main problem this holds in nano reefing is that many of the trace elements cannot be easily tested for, so no one ever knows where their level is. This can lead to overdosing which will crash a nano reef in a matter of hours. The skimmer also begins to starve your corals by removing their food source. It's simply too risky.

Protein skimmers are beneficial however, because they remove excess nutrients from the water, but this advantage is out weighed by the disadvantages. To remove the excess nutrients from this system you do a partial water change. The water change also doubles to replenish your trace elements, which are in your synthetic sea salt. Nitrates are removed, dissolved organic compounds are removed, and your trace elements are replaced. Your nitrates will always be at or near zero, and the elements will stay at a consistant level.
Click to expand...

All you did was say what a skimmer and a water change does. I'm sure most people on here know this already. You think over the week your elements are the same as the day you do a water change? No way they are consistent. Your tank has a spkie then over the week they are used up.This is why people dose the tank during the week to keep all levels close to seawater as possible. You can test for iodine and iron. Most trace element supplemts dont contane them. yes you cant test for other trace elements this is why you start on the low end when dosing the tank look as see how the coral act
 
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B

Bubba Jazzy

New Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Long Island
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The natural method of filtration consists of only liverock and livesand. No protein skimmers are used and no additives are dosed. The nutrient export is provided by frequent partial water changes of 10-15% about every week. Trace elements are replenished through water changes.

As you go about purchasing all of the supplies for your new nano reef, you're going to have to make a decision on which salt mix you should use. Because no additional dosing is usually done with this method, you will want to be using a good reef salt mix. Not all reef salts are created equal however. Unfortunately there is no set data that clearly shows which salt is better over another, which makes the decision even more difficult. The best recommendation I can make is to search around the online forums and see which ones people like best from their experiences.

When starting out your nano reef, your first livestock purchase will be liverock and livesand. You will want to purchase the highest quality live rock as you can possible afford. It will be the entire basis of your filtration so there should be no skimping. Only a small quantity of liverock is needed, so cost shouldn't be so much of an issue. For information on the different types of liverock, refer to the Liverock Selection article. Placement of your liverock can be nearly anything you like, just keep in mind that the more open it is the better.

In this type of system livesand is also important. You can purchase livesand from a variety of places, or create your own livesand by seeding dead aragonite with some sand from an established system. The depth of sand can vary to anything you like. Sand beds from 1/4"; to 4"; won't produce much of a difference in this system, but there are benefits to both. If the bed is deeper is tends to be a more efficient filter. If you choose to have a deep sand bed, make sure you have plenty of detrivores to keep the sand stirred.

With this natural method, no protein skimmers or dosing is used. Studies of skimmers have shown that they remove various trace elements, along with pods and plankton. When people run protein skimmers, they dose trace elements to replenish them after their corals and skimmers use them. Because the skimmer removes most of the elements, such as iodine, it is dosed back in causing almost an endless cycle. The main problem this holds in nano reefing is that many of the trace elements cannot be easily tested for, so no one ever knows where their level is. This can lead to overdosing which will crash a nano reef in a matter of hours. The skimmer also begins to starve your corals by removing their food source. It's simply too risky.

Protein skimmers are beneficial however, because they remove excess nutrients from the water, but this advantage is out weighed by the disadvantages. To remove the excess nutrients from this system you do a partial water change. The water change also doubles to replenish your trace elements, which are in your synthetic sea salt. Nitrates are removed, dissolved organic compounds are removed, and your trace elements are replaced. Your nitrates will always be at or near zero, and the elements will stay at a consistant level.

The whole maintenance procedure only requires about 15 minutes a week, so everyone can handle it. You can take short cuts to save time by pre-mixing water in a new, never before used, 5 gallon bucket and keeping it circulating at all times. Then when it's time to change your water, just scoop it from there.

The last key factor to this system is having good flow. Use a powerhead or two to give you a flow rate of about 7-10 times the tank's total water volume.

I encourage everyone to try this method for their nano reef. It is uncommon to not use a protein skimmer, but nano reef keeping isn't the same as a traditional sized reef (though this method also works great on larger tanks). It's simple, it's cheap, and there is no extra equipment to worry about. As I always say, the less 'toys' you have on your reef, the less there is to go wrong.

Like I said very interesting,to each his own.
 
E

evoIX_Reefer

Advanced Reefer
Rating - 100%
126   0   0
found an amazing deal on a eshopps psk75h (50 bucks) normally around 120 and good reviews and as mentioned can't change beat doing your husbandry and it only takes a few minutes to finish 5gal weekly water changes so don't need to spend 100 extra bucks for a bm3 or similar with the space provided which husbandry can't fix.
 
E

evoIX_Reefer

Advanced Reefer
Rating - 100%
126   0   0
great minds think a like? i really didn't want to deal with a skimmer but i figured somewhere down the line once i get coral crazy...i'll be dosing or going with mb7 and vodka so it'll be needed.
 
E.intheC

E.intheC

Advanced Reefer
Location
Suffolk County
Rating - 100%
150   0   0
evoIX_Reefer said:
great minds think a like? i really didn't want to deal with a skimmer but i figured somewhere down the line once i get coral crazy...i'll be dosing or going with mb7 and vodka so it'll be needed.
Click to expand...

you're definitely right about needing a skimmer with vodka dosing.

How is the Eshopps skimmer treating you so far?
 
R

richardhmc

Advanced Reefer
Location
Staten Island, NY
Rating - 100%
29   0   0
Was using an in-sump Reef Octopus skimmer. I can't remember the model number and it doesn't say on the skimmer itself. All I know is that its rated up to 150. its like a DNW or letters something along those lines.

Now, going to test out a tunze 9006
 
JJSBLM

JJSBLM

Crazy Pico guy
Manhattan Reefs
Location
11554
Rating - 100%
63   0   0
20g long mostly softies & a few choice lps. 3 fish, paired clowns & a damsel. tank is comming up on 5 months old.

running a aqua c remora nano.

it works pretty good. I have it set so it skims very dry & that gets me about 1/2 a cup a week
 
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