Noob Light/Skimmer Question

[randallcentral]

Dose one need a skimmer for a 20gallon tank. How many watts dose one need for a 20gallontank aswel.. I want to have corals.

[bertoni]

Skimmers are optional, but they are good safety nets, although a 20g is small enough that water changes would probably be fine.

Some corals require no light at all, and others need very bright light. You could have a nice tank with a small PC or T5 setup, around 100 W, or go larger and keep corals like Acropora, that require stronger lighting.

[Chago09]

agreed with bertoni, it's not 100% required although it won't hurt so you might as well add it. It will only add positives and when you start purchasing over $500 of live stock your gonna want every positive as possible

[chujai]

i would go T5s over power compact.. i dont know if this holds true everywhere but locally it is much cheaper for bulb replacements and T5s last longer.

[drummereef]

I would come up with a list of corals you want to keep. Be as specific as possible. Then design your lighting scheme around the inhabitant's needs. A skimmer is not really needed on a 20g nano if you keep up on your weekly water changes imo. There are options out there for your size tank so its your call. ;)