your thoughts on protein skimmer - needed or not

[j86miu]

I keep reading and hearing that a protein skimmer is the next most important piece of equipment after your biological filtration.

I have adequate live rock and sand, a sponge, filter (floss maybe?) with GAC.

I plan on having fowlr for the time being. Do you think a protein skimmer is really needed or will my filtration system suffice?

Have you had experience running a successful system without a protein skimmer?

[thegrun]

No, a skimmer is not necessary, but having one can reduce the number of water changes you need to make and allow you to keep more fish in a given sized tank. Over the years I kept two tanks without skimmers, both were fine but I kept on top of the water changes.

[Ron Reefman]

Most people will tell you that you should have one, or that they are really important, and I have a pretty big one, but I have 350g in my system and a heavy mix of animals. That said, a skimmer isn't required. LR is almost required. You are using some other type of mechanical filtration and GAC. They don't really do the same job that a skimmer does, but they will help. It's that for all the work that goes into cleaning sponges or floss as well as buying activated carbon and changing it out, it starts to make a skimmer look pretty attractive. Sure, good ones are expensive, but if you look around for a while, you should be able to find a good one at a very reasonable price in the used market. For my money, I'd rather have a good skimmer and run without the filter and GAC than the other way around. But being able to have it all provides a great deal of flexibility in how you keep your system running. Hope that helps a little?

[philosophile]

If you're running a FOWLR, then you probably can get away without a skimmer, just so long as you don't have any particularly sensitive fish. But if you want to keep corals, you'll want a skimmer.

[Jocko]

Ron hit it. I guess the million dollar question is how big is your tank? The skimmer is going to remove hydrophobic (prefer to bind to something other than water) dissolved organics which is exactly what GAC does. Two different tools to do the same thing. It just comes down to what is practical for you.

Neither of them does anything to deal with hydrophilic (prefer to stay bound to water) dissolved organics though. The way you get rid of those is water changes. Water changes, of course, also get rid of hyrdophobic, since you're physically removing the water.

So for a pico tank, it might be easy enough to ONLY use water changes and skip the skimmer and GAC. But as the tank gets bigger, you don't want to be doing such big water changes so you need something to help. For some people maybe running GAC periodically is enough to clean things up. For giant tanks and heavy bioloads, as Ron points out the skimmer quickly becomes an attractive offer.

[fishgate]

With all the crap I clean out of my skimmer 2-3 times/week, I would never run without one.

[RubberFrog]

I can't imagine why someone would choose not to run a skimmer. I understand there are other ways around it, but a skimmer makes things so much easier.

[greech]

Ran sumpless/skimmerless for a little over a year. I had to work my tail off to keep my water quality in check and the tank clean but I did have success. Added a sump and skimmer and have never looked back. Best thing I have done to date for my system without a doubt.

Granted my tank is a reef so you may not have to put forth as much effort with a FOWLR but I don't see how a reef and a FOWLR can be much different in terms of keep nutrients under control.

[Jocko]

Ron hit it. I guess the million dollar question is how big is your tank? The skimmer is going to remove hydrophobic (prefer to bind to something other than water) dissolved organics which is exactly what GAC does. Two different tools to do the same thing. It just comes down to what is practical for you.

Neither of them does anything to deal with hydrophilic (prefer to stay bound to water) dissolved organics though. The way you get rid of those is water changes. Water changes, of course, also get rid of hyrdophobic, since you're physically removing the water.

So for a pico tank, it might be easy enough to ONLY use water changes and skip the skimmer and GAC. But as the tank gets bigger, you don't want to be doing such big water changes so you need something to help. For some people maybe running GAC periodically is enough to clean things up. For giant tanks and heavy bioloads, as Ron points out the skimmer quickly becomes an attractive offer.

[Dean Stell]

I'm new at this, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I started without a skimmer and was able to have a perfectly fine FOWLR set-up by not overstocking and doing my water changes. But, I wanted to have a few corals so I installed a skimmer and am really happy with it. The water seems crisper and it's taking a LOT of nutrients out of the water.

[pyroboy1der]

Depends on your tank. If you're running a Biocube or even a 40 you could get away without a skimmer as long as you change your water enough.. If you're running a 210 I'd suggest a skimmer. In between their it's kind of up to you.