Are Skimmers a necessity?

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

or have some weird situation where more gas exchange is needed (which should be resolved with an airstone and not a skimmer TBH).

How many reefers have measured O2 at night to know if they have a "weird" need or not?

How would you recommend using an airstone while avoiding the problems with things like salt spray?

 

[EugeneVan]

No. Most nanos are skimmerless yet many are quite successful.

That is very true. Just doing frequency water change will take care of almost everything

 

[EugeneVan]

Additional comment, I would say on a mixed reef, skimmer is more important than any other filtration! Just my opinion. Refugium can even strip out to much nutrients for a reef. A GOOD skimmer pulls out the real WASTE!

just my $.02

I totally agree. When I pour out the dark skimmate out of my skimmer everyday, my house smell like gas leak for 10 mins. I don't think it is a good ideal to have those waste accumulated in the tank

 

[Crustaceon]

How many reefers have measured O2 at night to know if they have a "weird" need or not?

How would you recommend using an airstone while avoiding the problems with things like salt spray?

Is it critical to measure at night or would the overall day to day health of the tank be enough of an indicator of that? I wouldn't expect most tanks to swing from perfectly fine during the day with no signs of distress to being on the verge of crashing at night and back again to totally normal the next day. That would be weird IMO. As for salt spray, is the answer really any different than containing salt spray from drains that produce fine bubbles, most of which are in an enclosed sump chamber? I'd probably just put the airstone there and wipe the walls from time to time. This is of course if you don't want to use a $200+ skimmer for aeration and which might be providing the unwanted function of removing stuff from the water in addition, not to mention consuming wattage and generating heat.

 

[Thomas Jedlicka]

I would say it depends on your tank. There are absolutely tanks that can get away without a skimmer, and those tend to be very specific and unique tanks in their design and maintenance for those to be maintained. I think if you have a FOWLR, there is no question that you should have a skimmer. Reef, I think 50% of the time, you should have a skimmer, with the other 50% having alternatives to skimmers being utilized.

There is just so much to be gained from a skimmer that if you have the space and money to do one, you should do it. There are times when a refugium is better used, but those require different types of care.

 

[X-37B]

It depends on how your system is setup and maintained!
I run a 20g nano cube with no skimmer.

My other 2 systems run skimmers.
I prefer oversized skimmers when running them.

 

[jft]

A skimmer is very important in my opinion, as long as it's not ATB

Can You Clarify this statement, I was looking into atb skimmers, Recomendations?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is it critical to measure at night or would the overall day to day health of the tank be enough of an indicator of that? I wouldn't expect most tanks to swing from perfectly fine during the day with no signs of distress to being on the verge of crashing at night and back again to totally normal the next day. That would be weird IMO. As for salt spray, is the answer really any different than containing salt spray from drains that produce fine bubbles, most of which are in an enclosed sump chamber? I'd probably just put the airstone there and wipe the walls from time to time. This is of course if you don't want to use a $200+ skimmer for aeration and which might be providing the unwanted function of removing stuff from the water in addition, not to mention consuming wattage and generating heat.

Id want to know if oxygen was low at night. It will likely be higher during the day in a unskimmed tank with poorer gas exchange than in a skimmed tank with better gas exchange..

Obviously the idea that tanks are on the verge of crashing is hyperbole, but if avoiding a crash is your only goal, then a skimmer may not be for you.

 

[AIRDADDY]

Just curious how many of you believe a skimmer is a necessity?
If so why? If not ...why not?

Not a necessity because there are other tools that accomplish the same job.

 

[Crustaceon]

Id want to know if oxygen was low at night. It will likely be higher during the day in a unskimmed tank with poorer gas exchange than in a skimmed tank with better gas exchange..

Obviously the idea that tanks are on the verge of crashing is hyperbole, but if avoiding a crash is your only goal, then a skimmer may not be for you.

I could see that. With either a skimmer or an airstone, you’d be injecting ambient air into the water. Maybe that air is higher/lower in relative C02 depending on whether or not let’s say windows are closed in the house at night.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Not a necessity because there are other tools that accomplish the same job.

FWIW, no reef aquarium has complete gas exchange that I have ever seen. Proof is in the diurnal pH change.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I could see that. With either a skimmer or an airstone, you’d be injecting ambient air into the water. Maybe that air is higher/lower in relative C02 depending on whether or not let’s say windows are closed in the house at night.

Windows impact CO2 a lot, but not so much O2 since indoor O2 is much more stable relative to outside air. If you as a human take in enough O2 to double the CO2 in your home, the O2 impact is quite small.

A normal reef tank has elevated O2 and lower CO2 during the day due to the timing of photosynthesis. In a tank with poorer aeration, the O2 will rise higher during the day and lower at night. Same in reverse for CO2.

 

[HBtank]

It really depends on how you maintain your tank, but in general, i'd say no. My reasoning is, even for beginner aquarists, you should know the absolute basics. That's the good old water change first and foremost. I wouldn't buy ANY nutrient reducing/preventing equipment until getting into a habit of doing water changes correctly and establishing a maintenance schedule you can reliably stick to. If you can pull that off when needed, consistently and at the correct parameters, you can keep anything water quality-wise and that's without a skimmer. The reason why many of us think we need a skimmer is because we're trying to avoid larger/more frequent water changes and need a skimmer/ats/macro algae/carbon dosing etc. to compensate for our laziness/thriftiness or have some weird situation where more gas exchange is needed (which should be resolved with an airstone and not a skimmer TBH).

Eh, salt and water changes is very expensive (and inefficient) way to control nutrients. Still something I recommend, but not in place of basic equipment like a skimmer if needed.

 

[Crustaceon]

Eh, salt and water changes is very expensive (and inefficient) way to control nutrients.

Hence why I mention “thriftiness”. If cost wasn’t an option or I had a source of free salt/infinite NSW to work with, I’d only do water changes for my situation.

 

[Crustaceon]

Windows impact CO2 a lot, but not so much O2 since indoor O2 is much more stable relative to outside air. If you as a human take in enough O2 to double the CO2 in your home, the O2 impact is quite small.

A normal reef tank has elevated O2 and lower CO2 during the day due to the timing of photosynthesis. In a tank with poorer aeration, the O2 will rise higher during the day and lower at night. Same in reverse for CO2.

Great information. Thank you.

 

[HBtank]

Hence why I mention “thriftiness”. If cost wasn’t an option or I had a source of free salt/infinite NSW to work with, I’d only do water changes for my situation.

But it also isn’t very effective at reducing the primary nutrients we are concerned with relative to other methods.

 

[InactiveAcct]

No, because I’ve used one for 2 out of 15 years in the hobby

 

[HBtank]

I personally have had issues when I removed a skimmer. Anyway, I view them as a safety net for unexpected problems, a good source of gas exchange, and an indicator of water quality that I find useful. I don’t necessarily think they are needed for their primary purpose on many tanks, nutrient control, as many have shown,

 

[Crustaceon]

But it also isn’t very effective at reducing the primary nutrients we are concerned with relative to other methods.

It depends. I could easily strip my tank of nutrients doing weekly 10% water changes and this was with large tangs and angels. If I had infinite salt/NSW, that percentage could be even higher. Most of us really don’t need insanely efficient nutrient reduction. The number of “nitrates are zero and I have dinos” threads is indicative of this. Personally, I’ve ran skimmers + carbon dosing, ATS, refugiums and chaeto reactors and found them to be overkill. I usually ended up having to take them offline because no amount of realistic overfeeding was stopping those runaway freight trains or it became too tedious checking phosphate levels on a daily basis and dosing this and that to constantly balance things. Maybe it’s just me and I hate constantly “fiddling” with my tank and prefer to let it do it’s thing.

 

[HBtank]

It depends. I could easily strip my tank of nutrients doing weekly 10% water changes and this was with large tangs and angels. If I had infinite salt/NSW, that percentage could be even higher. Most of us really don’t need insanely efficient nutrient reduction. The number of “nitrates are zero and I have dinos” threads is indicative of this. Personally, I’ve ran skimmers + carbon dosing, ATS, refugiums and chaeto reactors and found them to be overkill. I usually ended up having to take them offline because no amount of realistic overfeeding was stopping those runaway freight trains or it became too tedious checking phosphate levels on a daily basis and dosing this and that to constantly balance things. Maybe it’s just me and I hate constantly “fiddling” with my tank and prefer to let it do it’s thing.

The math would indicate if nutrients are being “stripped” it isn’t the weekly 10% water changes, something else is occurring. But not sure what strip means in this context.