Better to have...?

[Mr Beardsley]

Fuge.

No skimmer does does all this:
convert ammonia, nitrates, phosphates, carbon dioxide to fish food.
remove carbon dioxide
add oxygen
bioaccumulate (filter out) toxins like copper.
stabilize operation and prevent tank crashes by consuming ammonia over nitrates.

Actually a skimmer does most of what you just listed.

convert ammonia, nitrates, phosphates, carbon dioxide to fish food... Doesn't create fish food, but removes these from your tank.
remove carbon dioxide... check
add oxygen... check
stabilize operation and prevent tank crashes... check

 

[Oiseau Reefer]

Hows the Xenia working for ya in a fuge??? A bud of mine always swore by that, he said they reduce nitrates but I never found any really true evidence to back it....

I did a little experiment on this with my tank because I wondered if that was the reason my tank always ran zero nitrates so I stripped my tank five everything of Xenia and within a week my nitrates jumped from zero to 15ppm

 

[macawmagic]

I did a little experiment on this with my tank because I wondered if that was the reason my tank always ran zero nitrates so I stripped my tank five everything of Xenia and within a week my nitrates jumped from zero to 15ppm

what did you use to dip acro's then? fluke tabs would kill all the xenia wouldn't it?

side note. Looks like I'll clean out the sump and use the skimmer. I'm going to try and fix a hang on fuge or something if anything. Or maybe I'll have a new sump made to fit both. thanks for all the input. I figured that was the answer, but figured I'd ask!