Skimmer Reccomendation

I currently have a 16gal nano, without a skimmer - its been doing fine but I've started to notice a film on the top of my water. Does anyone have any reccomendation for nano sized skimmer?

Thanks
Kate

 

this film doesn't necessarily mean you need a skimmer. It means you need more surface agitation. I would raise a powerhead up untill the surface starts movin. Even if you had the best skimmer in the world you would still get this without that.

 

What you are seeing is the oil waste from the fish and corals and food. Now if you do move the surface water around and get the skim into the water column then with out a skimmer and good carbon there its going to stay and just keep building up.

 

Thanks both of you.

 

I agree with you tangster partially (don't want you beating the crap out of me with ur reef intelliegence and I do mean that in a very nice and respectful way) but that can be done with water changes. (getting it out of the water) Without the water being agitated, won't that affect the oxygen exchange??? If I'm wrong on this please let me know because I'm here to learn from the likes of you.

 

I put a piece of hose under my hob filter to raise it up off of the water some and have like a waterfall effect. It removed my surface scum in no time... I also run a rio nano skimmer on my 5.5 gal.. I've had it now for a couple weeks and am very impressed with it... and its cheap....

Taam Rio Nano Skimmer

 

First off let me say I'm not now or ever had or will beat anybody up with Knowledge two reasons I'm not that smart and I not that wordy . Look water changing is not a magic bullet and will not fix everything Water changes will maintain a system if you do them in small amounts daily , DOC's like Nitrates and phosphates and any pollutants that enters the system by means of food and that we add to feed the animals that make that in to waste carbons.

Water changes will dilute that level sure enough but a skimmer will remove the level . All of these pollutants are gradually built up over time like the others mentioned and how many times do you read I have NO3 and PO4 and I do 20% weekly water changes and limit my feeding and so on what can I do ? Add a reactor and they do and that takes a long while to remove them causes as its very passive and takes a long time until they get them under control they need to change out the medias more often but once there its easy to maintain these levels .

Same with a skimmer it takes them a while to catch up and get even and they require more cleaning and inspections until the they reach a point of equilibrium with the DOC's . Then that’s not to mention the added benefits of it also serving as a oxygen reactor and its releasing of CO2 and other gases like NO3's even and ammonia NO2's . The more dissolved oxygen you have in the water then there is less room for the water to old unwanted gasses. But in a tank that small water changes will do it a world of good also and will the use of a good carbon ..Oh and the added 02 will aid in more stable and lower ph swings .. But at the end of the day water changes alone will not do long term and not limit the amount of Bio load and work and stability . I ran tanks for several yrs with just sand and some plants and air stone in each corner for all the circulation needs and it worked well for awhile and keeping a fish or 2 in a 55 gal tank. This morphed into the DSB of the 90's

 

Wow, thanks for all the info, and the link to that skimmer!

I do a 25% water change at least once a week, so I think a skimmer would be really helpful.

 

I'm surprised how much green junk its pulling out... Well worth the price...

 

I have an overflow box on my water inlet on my nano that helps a ton with the film but it's normal, a skimmer isnt a bad idea but not necassary for a nano in my opinion

I'm running the overflow down to a microsponge>carbon>porcelin rings>microspnge then into a chamber with the heater then the return pump

some people hate the rings but I change mine out about every 6 months and change the carbon once every 2 weeks, works great for me so far in my 24g nano