Is a skimmer neccessary?

[KyOsIBa515]

Hello all,

New to reef2reef. I just recently converted my freshwater tank to saltwater. Bought a ghost overflow and planned to drill the tank but whimped out. Wish I wouldn’t of because a sump is ideal.

Moving forward, I used a lot of equipment from the past saltwater/freshwater...right now I am running a canister filter. Note: for now this will be a fish only system due to lack of time needed to sustain a reef. I may add a BTA for the clowns and that is it.

My question...do I need to run a skimmer for fish only? I have an old aquamaxx hob-1 that I ran on my first reef jbj28cube. I will be running a UV sterilizer being it is just a fish only for now. Is a skimmer w all this overkill? Thanks!

 

[Adalius]

It isn't a requirement, under normal fish only tank setups, some people like them because they help reduce the bioload and most FO tanks end up on the heavier loading side. They also help with oxygenation. However, I've been listening to Reef News Network and the one I listened to today (I'm catching up still, so episode 36-ish or so, about reactors) they made mention of an interview they do with Dr. Tim (*the* Dr. Tim) who says people overskim and it actually causes them to reduce their bacteria load, thus reducing their stability and bacterial capacity.

So, TL;DR, my opinion is it can go either way. I wouldn't say it's overkill and I wouldn't say it's completely necessary. But that's just my $0.02.