Do I really need a skimmer?

[redpine42]

So being ignorant about everything, I've been running my skimmer wrong and it hasn't been skimming anything. After a couple months I've figured out how to run it, but now should I? My most recent measurements have Nitrates at 2 ppm and phosphates at .02 ppm. My Chaeto seems to be doing it's job.

 

[Jason mack]

You don’t have too run a skimmer .. there are plenty of tanks out there that do great without one .. just keep testing and if your parameters rise you can always turn it back on !!