Refugium with or with out a skimmer

hello everyone i will be making a small small, around 20-25g tank with all corals, and about two fish maybe three.

anyway do you think i need a skimmer, because people tell me that skimmers are only needed on big tanks.

But then others say saltwater fish tank should have one.

and others say you just don't need one,


What do you think.

 

I'd say it depends on the fish and the corals. If its gonna be softies, LPS and 2 small fish, you may get by without one. If anything more than that, I'd say its worth its weight in gold, and dead critters and salt, and time for water changes

 

Hmm you make great points I think I will. Just stay with softies for the first year but I would always want to keep doors open. Thanks Cosmo.



And to ask another quEstion all a skimmer does is take more wast out of the tank right. And can you never are to much wast out of your tank to the point that you are taking things out that the corals love,

 

lol, yes and no, that is a highly loaded question. It really depends. but a general rule i'd keep to is for softies and LPS, a little dirty is prob good, for SPS dirty is bad. But its not a golden rule. Even so, a good skimmer is gonna save ya a ton of water changes, so its worth the money. But you can adjust a decent skimmer to skim how you like, so just spend the extra $40-50 for a good one and know that it will pay itself off soon!

 

I have been keeping a 14gal biocube with a 2 gallon fuge for a few years with no skimmer. I am growing sps and they have great color and growth. I do weekly 25% water changes and it works great for me. I keep a pair of black oscellaris, pom pom crab, sexy shrimp and a cuc. I dont dose either
Lately i have been wondering if i can ditch my in sump skimmer on my 40 gal breeder to make a larger fuge. I have been having some cyano issues in my large tank and am thinking of simplifying it just like my biocube. If it works for my small tank maybe it will work for my large tank. Anyway...
I dont think you need a skimmer unless you have a huge bioload and feed alot or have corals that depend on food, as long as you keep up on water changes.

 

Thanks for all the info I will try it without a skimmer and try to keep up with my water changes see how it goes if anything I will buy a skimmer to help me out.



Thanks everyone for the information.

 

I have 7 fish in a 125 and my skimmer pulls out nasty stuff i think they are totally worth it, my neighbors tank doesn't have a skimmer and looks great so works both ways

 

Skimmers do more then pull out nutrients they also help with gas exchange this is usually pretty important regardless of the size of the tank but becomes even more important when there is no sump as all the gas exchanges will need to happen in the tank.Atmospheric conditions play a big part in whether gas exchange needs to be higher or lower to maintain PH.

 

EXACTLY! I run a skimmer on my 36bow with sump/'fuge. I have 1 Randall's goby and some CUC inverts, no coral or shrooms yet, in a 4 month old tank. Have run the skimmer since day 1!

 

I just ordered a skimmer rated up to 100 gal for my 28 nano