ocholoco

Advanced Reefer
Location
Bronx
Rating - 99%
96   1   0
I have a 26 gallon cube with about 75lbs of LR and 3" sand bed. I've been reading on other sites and some people say that with weekly water changes and enough LR and sand i might not need one. What do you guys think?
 

cowfish

Psycho-ologist
Rating - 100%
4   0   0
IMO, on a small tank (30 gallons or less) that has a low fish bio-load and does NOT have very delicate corals (certain SPS species), a skimmer is not necessary. I've run a 6 and 10 gallon nano and currently have a 29 gallon reef that's about 3 years old. None of the aforementioned tanks had skimmers. In the 29 I currently have 3 different monti caps, monti digitata, tubinaria, zoas, frogspawn, calustrea and several other corals. All have grown and continue to grow nicely. Maintenance consists of a weekly water change of 5 gallons, daily top off with R/O with calcium and monthly change of the carbon and phosban. The fish are a fiji damsel and a bi-color dottyback.
 

skene

Winter. Time for Flakes..
Location
Queens
Rating - 100%
240   0   0
I actually up until the other day ran my tank for several months doing a weekly 5 gal WC on a 29, just picked up a skimmer. To tell you the truth watching what the skimmer pulls out is barely anything at all. This is primarily a FOWLR has a few mushrooms and just put in some toadstool leathers as well.
So IMO you can do without one, but you really need to stay on top of the maintenance.
 
Location
New Rochelle
Rating - 100%
16   0   0
I actually up until the other day ran my tank for several months doing a weekly 5 gal WC on a 29, just picked up a skimmer. To tell you the truth watching what the skimmer pulls out is barely anything at all. This is primarily a FOWLR has a few mushrooms and just put in some toadstool leathers as well.
So IMO you can do without one, but you really need to stay on top of the maintenance.

What type of skimmer did you get? How long has it been running? How many fish do you have?
 

nanoreefer22

Live Sale Pioneer
Staff member
Location
11756
Rating - 100%
345   0   0
I don't think a skimmer is necessary for a smaller tank 40g and under, but even that depends on what you're trying to keep. I have a 40br with maybe 25-30lbs of LR and a 1inch SB. Fish are a pair of percs, pair of wrasses, a canary blenny, and a royal gramma. I have a huge RBTA, torch, froggies, purple cap(yes its purple), ORA green birdsnest with GREAT color, digis, and the rest softies and LPS.

It just really depends on what you're trying to accomplish. A full blown SPS tank would never work with my set up.
 

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