Skimmer or Algae Scrubber?

I'm going to give my moded Seaclone a couple weeks to prove it's worth. If it doesn't I think I may add an algae scrubber using the Maxijet 1200 pump from the skimmer as the water source. What are the thoughts on scrubbers versus skimmers? I know processes are different, but the end result is the same (nutrient removal).

 

I have run my tank with just a skimmer, just a scrubber, and now I run both at the same time. I prefer to run the skimmer along side the ATS so keep things stable when I scrape the algae off the screen. I tend to skim on the dry side because I like to keep alot of goodies floating in the water column for my coral

 

My skimmer is already foaming (1 day), so that's a good sign (well, I guess that depends on how you look at things). I will be installing my phosban reactor next week and already have chaeto in the center compartment.

I may test out a makeshift ATS where the water Cascades from compartment 1 to the center compartment. It won't be a very long one, but a quick and easy test project.

 

I personally wouldn't run a tank without a skimmer but have been pretty successful without an algae scrubber. I do, however, dose vinegar.

 

Love my ATS and from the things I have read and started to see in my tank, I wouldn't run a tank without one again.

 

I think I'll try both. I already have cascading water in my sump going over the baffle. I think I'll experiment with a piece of that roughed up clear mesh laying down that. It's only going to be 5-6 inches tall, however.

 

I'm going to try my luck with a make-shift version down my baffle.

 

It's a little rough to use a moded Seaclone as the proof skimmers are not better than ATS. I'm no skimmer snob, but there are a lot better. And I'm not against ATS, but if you want one over the other, or are trying to determine which is better for you... use good examples of both.

 

That wasn't the intention of my thread. I was asking on a general level. But in this case, with the skimmer I have in hand, that's what I am comparing it to. I'm not paying more for a quality skimmer at this point in time. I've spent several hundred recently adding a sump, building a stand and adding new corals.

 

Any chance you have a refugium in the sump? If you do, that will essentially compete with an ATS (or it will compete with refugium algae). I have a huge ball of chaeto in my refugium sump that grew from tank conditions, plus a skimmer. I thought about an ATS, but I don't like things more complicated than is necessary.