Filter Roller AND Protein Skimmer?

[lqdpoop]

Hello, new to R2R, what a great knowledge tool, thank you to all! I’m running a Redsea 250 and in my sump I have an Aquamaxx roller and just purchased a Redsea 150sss. I just visited my local LFS and was told I don’t need to run both the roller and the protein skimmer, stating they basically do the same thing. Any thoughts on this? I can return the skimmer and save some money maybe!?! The roller is hard plumbed in the drain pipe if that makes a difference. Also running cheato and socks. Thanks for the help!

 

[Peace River]

There are multiple types of filtration including biological (e.g., live rock), chemical (e.g., carbon, GFO, etc.), and mechanical. Skimmers, filter socks, and filter roller are all types of mechanical filtration (side note, IMO water changes are also a type of mechanical filtration). While I understand where your LFS is coming from, I still use a skimmer on nearly all of my tanks and view it as an essential for all but my smallest tanks where I can do significant water changes regularly. There are plenty of ways to handle filtration and many do it a different way but I'm sticking with a skimmer whether or not I supplement with algae reactors, algae scrubbers, filter socks, etc. Good luck with whatever you chose!

 

[Peace River]

Additionally, filter socks, filter roller, skimmer, and a refugium may be too much for many systems (especially new/newer systems that aren't heavily stocked/have high nutrients). If the filter socks and filter roller (which IMO are redundant) take out too much then the skimmer will skim less (not really a problem), but the chaeto may not have enough nutrients to grow and will show you that some thing is not necessary.

 

[GHOSTLY]

If your tight on budget return jt but couldn't hurt to have both. They target different things anyways

 

[Spare time]

Hello, new to R2R, what a great knowledge tool, thank you to all! I’m running a Redsea 250 and in my sump I have an Aquamaxx roller and just purchased a Redsea 150sss. I just visited my local LFS and was told I don’t need to run both the roller and the protein skimmer, stating they basically do the same thing. Any thoughts on this? I can return the skimmer and save some money maybe!?! The roller is hard plumbed in the drain pipe if that makes a difference. Also running cheato and socks. Thanks for the help!

You do not need the skimmer if you have a filter roller AND chaeto. You don't even need a skimmer in most cases if your chaeto is doing well. I only recommend skimmers if there is simply no way to put a refugium in or if the person has a refugium working well + frequent mechanical filter changes and it is not enough.

 

[ReefSlice]

Some tanks can run on just 1 depending on nutrients in the system, but they do different things. The roller will remove particles in the water column before they break down, while the skimmer will remove dissolved organic compounds from the water. Skimmers also provide lots of aeration which can be beneficial in many ways. I'd stick with running both unless you're consistently bottoming out your nutrients. Plenty of people run both.

 

[lqdpoop]

Now I’m kinda at a cross road again lol. Maybe I’ll return it and see how my numbers are down the road and repurchase if needed . Thank you for the quick reply!

 

[lqdpoop]

Additionally, filter socks, filter roller, skimmer, and a refugium may be too much for many systems (especially new/newer systems that aren't heavily stocked/have high nutrients). If the filter socks and filter roller (which IMO are redundant) take out too much then the skimmer will skim less (not really a problem), but the chaeto may not have enough nutrients to grow and will show you that some thing is not necessary.

Good information, thank you for this!

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

i'd run both and do. The skimmer does more than just filter. The filter is better than a skimmer.

 

[lqdpoop]

i'd run both and do. The skimmer does more than just filter. The filter is better than a skimmer.

Thank you, I’m thinking now I’ll run both as you and many have stated. If it’s overkill and drawing too much out, I can remove one or go from there.

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

Thank you, I’m thinking now I’ll run both as you and many have stated. If it’s overkill and drawing too much out, I can remove one or go from there.

if you're removing too much nutrients, remove the collection cup from the skimmer and just run the filter for waste. The skimmer will still drive off CO2 this way and provide that benefit. Or only have the skimmer run a few hours a day with the cup on.