skimmers

[Carnavor180]

why is skimmers always the talk, does anyone else out there not use skimmers?

[kdblove_99]

I would say very few dont use skimmers. I love talking skimmers:)

[flipteg]

skimmers are not necessary for a reef tank, but it seems like everytime someone just beginning in the hobby hears that, they take it as a cue to skimp on a skimmer...

if a tank does not use a skimmer, it needs another way to export nutrients... macro algae is kinda touchy in that department to be dependable in nutrient export month after month... i use both, and even though the nitrates and phosphates are zero with just the macro algae, the skimmer, when added, was still pulling out a lot of stuff...

i made an over simplified assesment... if a skimmer pulled 1 gram of thick sludge from my 30 gallon tank, if that 1 gram of sludge was left in the tank to go through the nitrogen cycle and 100% of it ends up as nitrate (because it has to go somewhere), that's enough nitrate to raise my tank's level by 8mg/l nitrate...

i know my example is extremely simplified, but it makes me realize that even just a very small amount of skimmate translates into significant amounts of excess nutrients after it has been broken down...