Need advice on Skimmer vs Refugium

lpsouth1978 · Mar 30, 2020

Alright, so I am having a bit of an internal debate over using a fuge OR skimmer. I currently have a fuge running on my tank, but it is dirty, messy, requires a lot of maintenance, and worst of all is too effective. The fuge is lit by an AI Prime Fuge for 6 hrs during lights off. I have been considering cleaning out the fuge and using my Bubble Magus Curve 5 Elite instead. I am running a mixed reef with zoas, shrooms, LPS, anemones, and a few SPS. I am a bit of a slacker when it comes to testing, but have had some extra time on my hands, so decided to do a full round of tests. This is what I found:

Temp - 78
SG - 1.026
Ca - 460 (Red Sea Pro)
Alk - 5.5 (Red Sea Pro and Hanna Checker)
Mag - 1700 (Red Sea Pro)
NO3 - 2 (Red Sea Pro)
PO4 - 0 (Salifert)

I have started dosing to get the Alk up, and will do several water changes to try and reduce the Mag. The big issue is the lack of PO4 and VERY low NO3. I know I want to keep these low, but I feel my current numbers are too low. I only have room for either a fuge OR the skimmer, and I'm not sure which way to go here. Please let me know what you all would do in my shoes. All suggestions are welcome!

slayertx · Mar 30, 2020

Always go skimmer.... skimmer and roller mat is good combo if you can aford it... and just saying if you read my post I just made.. point your light at the rollermat and now you have a rollermat algae turf scrubber.

lpsouth1978 · Mar 30, 2020

slayertx said:
Always go skimmer.... skimmer and roller mat is good combo if you can aford it... and just saying if you read my post I just made.. point your light at the rollermat and now you have a rollermat algae turf scrubber.

I would love a roller mat, but there is simply not enough room under my stand for one. I chose to use a 29g for the sump and it is too tall to get a roller mat on the system.

DeniableArc · Mar 30, 2020

Are you sure your alk is 5.5? I use a good skimmer and light carbon dosing to replace a fuge

slayertx · Mar 30, 2020

DeniableArc said:
Are you sure your alk is 5.5? I use a good skimmer and light carbon dosing to replace a fuge

yea if your alk is that low. your sps will not like it

lpsouth1978 · Mar 30, 2020

DeniableArc said:
Are you sure your alk is 5.5? I use a good skimmer and light carbon dosing to replace a fuge

It was. I double checked, once with the Hanna Checker, then again with the Red Sea Pro test kit. It is now up to 6.6 and should be about 7-7.5 by end of tomorrow. I plan on getting it up to 8-8.5, then let the tank run for a week with no dosing and see what the consumption is. Then I can set up auto dosing to keep is stable.