Do you run a Skimmer?

[ThatPhillyReefer]

I personally do not run a skimmer because I feel by doing water changes every other week keeps levels and waste stable in my 90g mixed reef.

What do you do?

 

[Gtinnel]

I use a skimmer because it's my most efficient way to prevent excessive nutrients.

 

[Gernader]

Yes, I run an overpowered skimmer on my 75g to have low nutrients. However, I don’t have a skimmer on my 20g frag tank as it’s easy to do water changes frequently.

 

[Jekyl]

I run one to combat nitrates and for the ph boost

 

[vetteguy53081]

I do on big tank And drop off tank.
Nutrients export And removal of the waste in collection cup that otherwise lingers in the tank

 

[X-37B]

I run one on both tanks. The benifits outway any negatives, imo.

 

[jaganshi066]

I personally do not run a skimmer because I feel by doing water changes every other week keeps levels and waste stable in my 90g mixed reef.

What do you do?

I have a 40 gallon innovative marine and I do like 25% water changes (sometimes more) every week and my corals are happy, I’ve never lost a fish, and my nitrates are always low!

 

[Uncle99]

Yup, tried without, nope that didn’t work.
Yah skimmer!

 

[VAFish]

Yes to combat excessive nutrients

 

[jaganshi066]

I have a 40 gallon innovative marine and I do like 25% water changes (sometimes more) every week and my corals are happy, I’ve never lost a fish, and my nitrates are always low!

Oh and I don’t use a skimmer

 

[SaltyT]

I run a skimmer on my 90 gal reef tank. No skimmer on my 40b or 14g biocube bc they're lightly stocked with no coral.

 

[Gtinnel]

I also use mine to keep my pH up with an outside airline going to it. I forgot to list that reason until I saw someone else put it. Although even without the pH boost I would still run a skimmer.

 

[ChefJTMK]

Yup, tried without, nope that didn’t work.
Yah skimmer!

+1

 

[mdb_talon]

Yes I run a skimmer. Heavily stocked large system. Like most things in this hobby of course you can be sucessful many different ways, but especially on large volume systems (where frequent large water changes can get costly) a skimmer seems like it should be step number one.

I dont run a skimmer on my QT (though I always keep it running). It is a small system though and I just do a very large water change prior to putting anything in it and then small water changes for the few weeks I have fish/coral in there.

 

[MONTANTK]

I do not run a skimmer but my tank is less than 10 gallons. Anything under 40 gallons I would be interested in trying a refugium over a skimmer. I don’t like packing my systems with fish so I generally don’t have issues with nutrients being too high

 

[Jekyl]

Anyone on here who doesn't use a skimmer also not using a fuge? Interested to see how you make it work.

 

[ThatPhillyReefer]

Anyone on here who doesn't use a skimmer also not using a fuge? Interested to see how you make it work.

i don’t use both, My tank has been setup for 5-6 months and i have had no issues. I have a bunch of different corals and they thrive. I do water changes every other - every other two weeks.

 

[aquakj]

Anyone on here who doesn't use a skimmer also not using a fuge? Interested to see how you make it work.

I just do weekly water changes...I have a really simple setup just 2 HOB filters...then again i dont have that much coral either so the production of nutrients and waste is not that high but still highly noticeable...you can pretty much tell right away by looking at a tank if they are running a skimmer and a fuge...I think theres a notable difference.

 

[Spare time]

Refugium only. Works better than skimmers if you get the right light and trace element dosing.

 

[Spare time]

Anyone on here who doesn't use a skimmer also not using a fuge? Interested to see how you make it work.

I use the skimmer section of my sump for my refugium with an AI prime 16.