Am asking because the tank will be 630G + if I decide to go bigger. I can get the skimmer easily but am just asking if its really all that nessary for a fish only tank. If i have good filtration , live rock and sand. And my LFS has a plant they say suck up nitrates I've heard of it before but dont know they right name for it? If I also overly stock up on that and do 200gal water changes a month will that be enough? It seems like It? I've been contacting some public aquria who dont even use skimmers for there shark and ray aquriams. Thanks guys.
Do you NEED a protein skimmer?
- Thread starter Zfishies
- Start date
You don't NEED a protein skimmer but its extremely helpful.. Whats your other means of filtration when you say good? You shouldn't be counting on the live rock and live sand. Let us know your stocklist and we can tell you more. As far as that plant its most likely chaeto which will get eaten by the fish unless you have a sump. It also needs lighting. You're best of getting the skimmer. Have you researched how much a 200 gal monthly WC is gonna cost you?
Yes $50 a month if i need todo more i can. The stock is not set In stone , am actually waiting a response from some mfk'ers to help me out. This isthe stock i want 4 bamboo sharks, 2 Cali rays. For filtration so far ill be using a sand filter rated up to 20,000G with 3,000ghp pump(s)[If I go bigger obviously filtration will imcrease] for flow. Am still deciding what more to add for filtration am actually looking for some guidance for the filtration. And i wouldn't really expect the sharks and rays to eat the chaeto?
imo a skimmer is a must have and forms a important part of fitration, whats the benefit of skimming, helps po4 control/nuisance algae, removes phenols/yellow water , reduces dissovled organic compounds[ doc], gives the water low TOC, increases oxygen in the water and the water in general will have a higher orp reading meaning overall high quality water, meaning better health for your creatures
At the approx. $60 in salt per month you break even in year if you bought a $500 skimmer and only did a 50 gallon change. Every year after that you save $500 a year in salt. Round numbers but you get the idea.
The skimmer removes wastes before they go through the nitrogen cycle so your biofilter doesnt have to work as hard and you dont end up with as many nitrates and phosphates that just stress the animals and grow lots of algae.
Are these public aquarium without skimmers flow through? If they are in effect doing a continuous water change with natural sea water a skimmer wouldnt help much.
Tom
The skimmer removes wastes before they go through the nitrogen cycle so your biofilter doesnt have to work as hard and you dont end up with as many nitrates and phosphates that just stress the animals and grow lots of algae.
Are these public aquarium without skimmers flow through? If they are in effect doing a continuous water change with natural sea water a skimmer wouldnt help much.
Tom
Okay but over periods of time it removes all that, if you are doing large wc whats the point then? The wc will be taking that all away in matter of minutes then the cycle starts all over but then again the wc comes along and does the same thing a skimmer would do.
Okay posted my post before I saw yours Tom. So you would say a skimmer , my sand filter , live sand and rock would be enough? Because id expect it to be when its taking away all of that.
if you had a fish only system with a small bioload sure you could scrape buy but with sharks that produce lots of waste they are needed, water changes help dilute waste but imo you will encounter organic build up/ yellow ****y water if you dont have a decent quality skimmer, the other problem relying on water changes is you can not change to much water at one time as the temp, ph, sg,kh will be differant to you water
