how important is a protein skimmer?

[Kristen9]

So I bought someone's 34 gal red sea max, and its been alittle more difficult to put together than the 12 gal thats been up for about 8 months now. It did not come with pumps. I was able to retro fit a regular submersable pump for the return pump, but I"m not having the same luck with the venture pump on the protien skimmer. I've thought about making a sump back their instead of a protien skimmer. I just dont want to pay $60 for a new pump :( I've also thought about attaching my viper metal Halide to the 12 gallon, selling the 34 gal, and up grading in a year when I move.

 

So, is the pump really worth $60 on a 34 gallon tank?

 

Any suggustions?

[Jan]

Some are of the opinion that there is no need for a protein skimmer. Most would say that it is a necessity. It depends on your personal preference. If you're going to have a large bioload you should have one. That's my opinion. If your system is fairly new you have time. Lots of cleaners and really good circulation helps a lot.

[NBoris]

in a saltwater tank the protien skimmer is the main filter and if you have a good protien skimmer you may not need any other type of filtration system

[Brian Ward]

A protein skimmer is not required but you must be much more rigid with your maintenance schedule. Jan and others here have some very beautiful aquaria that do not have skimmers. If you will have a small bioload and only softies or certain LPS then no skimmer is fine. If you want SPS then a skimmer is absolutely necessary - however, the small submersible skimmers that generally come with the RedSea tanks aren't very good.

[astroboy]

My experience is that a good skimmer is absolutely necessary. Of course, I don't do water changes as often as I should; about 50% every six weeks. On the other hand, read posts by basser8 to the effect that he hasn't done water changes for about a decade. He's been in the hobby for 30 years, I think, so he must be onto something. I wish I could run across him at a meeting to pick his brain.

 

I had a 29 gallon, pretty big bioload, all LPS with a sarcophyton. No SPS. 130 watts of compact fluorescents. A yellow tang and couple of clowns. Other than slacking somewhat on water changes, I took good care of the tank. No overfeeding, I would say....

 

I had a precision marine HOT, rated for 50 gallons, hooked up to a sort of overflow to take out the film that accumulates on the water surface (which produced alot more skimmate). What happened was that I got alot of organic stuff accumulating in the 4-6" sandbed, as a result I always had nitrates about 30, and red slime on the sand. I even hooked up a second precision marine, no improvement. I attached a remote deep sandbed (20 inches in a 5 gallon jug) and after six months that did lower the nitrates significantly, but the slime algae was usually there. Once in a while I would siphon off the top half inch and rinse it to get all the organics and slime algae out but it would always come back in a couple of weeks.

 

15 months ago I had to move, so I washed all the sand: alot of sulfur smell and disgusting black runoff indicating the sand had alot of anoxic zones loaded with organics, as I understand it, further evidence that the water wasn't being cleaned adequately.

 

When I set everything up again I used a Euroreef RS-80, rated for 75 gallons and generally considered much more effective than the PM skiimmers, and the difference has been huge. No more slime algae, everything is doing super. In theory the tank is way overskimmed I guess, but nothing is complaining. No slime algae at all.

 

Of course, alot depends on your bioload and if you have a sump with alot of algae, and this is just my personal experience. The bottom line, as I see it, is that unless you have some other effective means of filtration (ie, algae in a sump), things will be fine for six months but around that time the sand bed will saturate with organics and possible become anoxic in places and you'll have chronic nitrate and slime algae problems. Possibly that wouldn't be such an issue with a shallow sand bed. However, the consensus seems to be that deep sand beds are good, in tank or remote, although there's alot of debate about which is better, and even if having an in-tank DSB is wise.

 

So, my experience, for what its worth, is that you can't spend too much to have your tank skimmed well, especially if you're a slacker like me. I have to say I'm not convinced that without a really good sump, that regular maintenance, unless its something like 30% water changes every week or so, (which is stressful to corals) would in the long run be adequate without a skimmer, but there are many people in the hobby who are much more experienced than me who might disagree. Again, this is just my experience with my particular setup.

Edited September 30, 2010 by astroboy

[zygote2k]

I grow SPS without a skimmer- no problem. You just have to know what you are getting into without the aid of a skimmer. You have to do regular water changes and be careful with the bioload of your tank.

[BowieReefer84]

I find a skimmer is nice to inject air into your water, and keep the PH up in the tank. Even if you do not need it for filtration it helps in this aspect. I had a problem with low PH when I wasn't running my skimmer.... There may be other ways to keep the PH up, but this was an easy fix for me.

 

 

[Coral Hind]

I prefer and recommend a skimmer. Not to extend water change intervals or for extended water quality issues, since I always do nicely sized and frequent water changes on my system.

 

I like it for the ability to handle emergencies such a fish or clam death, clam spawning, or an accidental over feeding by visiting youngsters. No natural method of filtration is able to respond as fast as a skimmer does.

 

What I like is that once the waste makes it into the collection cup of the skimmer it is completely removed from the water column and cannot release pollutants back into the aquarium. No other form of filtration does that.

 

 

[Chad]

First, to answer your specific question, yes, I think $60 is worth it for the skimmer pump.

 

Second, I am going to throw some of my own thoughts into the mix here.

 

I run a skimmerless system, but have a (large) skimmer plumbed in and ready to turn on whenever it may be needed. Because, like David mentioned, no natural filtration method responds as fast as a skimmer does. I like the added insurance and have used it a couple of times.

 

Overall, though, skimmerless systems that utilize some means of active nutrient export (not talking water changes) like algae turf scrubbers, extensive macro use, etc. can be just as effective as a skimmer, they are just different. IMO, however, skimmers are easier to "get right" and are my recommendation for most folks, including you without knowing more.