I think I want a skimmer

I'm trying to run an ULNS in my Biocube 14, and i want a mainly SPS tank. what do you guys think?

 

attempting to go ULNS while having LPS like your favia is kind of a contradiction. sure they are photosynthetic and they will exist, but will they thrive? they benefit from spot feeding as well as from the water column.

 

trading them and all in, and the frogspawn, for credit. thank you for the concer though.

 

lol, ok. makes it kind of hard to assist with stocking without defining with what stocking will be. so your looking at sps exclusive? what about fish/inverts?

 

I've never been very impressed with any skimmer I've seen in such small tanks.

 

sorry for the confusion. stocking is firefish and a mantis. i realize i'll probably have to get rid of the fish for a true ULNS, but i think with a skimmer, and all the GFO and carbon i run, its pretty low atm.

 

would getting a skimmer for a bigger tank, lets say a 30, be bad?

 

I think depends on how you want to achieve an ULNS. If you are thinking of carbon dosing like vodka, then you will need a skimmer... preferrably in a sump that extends your system's volume. I've not seen many good reviews on the nano tank skimmers, so perhaps adding a DIY 10 gal sump and a skimmer rated for 50 gallons would be a good bet.

Another way to achieve this is through small and frequent WCs. A 2 gallon WC twice a week equates to almost 30% weekly, or turning over your tank's volume once every month. Running filter media will further help with some of the nutrients.

 

Small water volumes just don't seem to ever create much skimmate.

 

You can manage that tank with wc and have it be dominated by sps IMO, and no skimmer. I do, but I do not have a mantis and have been doing sw for awhile.

If you want a good skimmer for nano I always recommend the Tunze 9002. I had one on my tank for almost 2 years. Efficient and runs very quiet, a little pricey for a nano skimmer but worth it. It would go on a 30 gallon as well.

Personally I would not go for the ULNS in anything under 40 gallons.