Skimmer required in a nano?

[YoungREEFA]

I would like to set up a nano tank, and wonder if a skimmer is necesarry. Would a simple dual reactor with carbon and gfo be enough nutrient export? That and water changes?

[EnFuego]

What size tank and what's the bioload? Adding a skimmer to a nano tank is a judgment call.

A skimmer can you give you some insurance in case something dies in the tank and you aren't around to take it out / do a water change quickly. Example: if you're out of town and there's a power outage at your house and an anemone dies, a skimmer can help clean out the tank if you're not home to take out the dead anemone and do a water change (assuming your power turns back on). Alternatively, on the negative side, your skimmer can also overflow while you're not home causing other problems.

In my opinion, skimmers are not necessary on most nano tanks, especially if you're talking about a normally stocked tank under 20 gallons. If you have a heavily stocked tank then a skimmer could help keep your parameters in check, but I think you can get by just fine in most scenarios with regular water changes on nano tanks (especially if you run a dual reactor).

I've run nano tanks both with and without skimmers and haven't noticed a significant difference. I do plan on adding one to my current tank, but that is mainly because I have harlequin shrimp and their feeding requirements add quite a bit to the bioload of the tank.

[YoungREEFA]

The tank would be strictly sps and maybe 1-2 fish

[YoungREEFA]

Most likely a 20-30 gallon

[cloak]

I'd get a skimmer...

You might be able to get by without one, but for that size tank and those particular corals the benefits of having one is just too great IMO.

[codyreed29]

To answer your question no.

It does help and if your going to be buying sps corals I suggest having one.

You can use other filtration if you plan to have alto of fish and inverts to feed and feed heavily get a skimmer.

You may get green hair algae without one.

[mxett]

ive got a nano with some sps, and i dont have a skimmer. Howewver i run gfo in a reactor because gfo is a very efficient way to clean water. I also do 25% weekly water changes.

[YoungREEFA]

Im not against running one, i have a vertex 130 and that is probably to much for a 30 gallon nano... Any ideas of some decent skimmers for nanos?

[EnFuego]

Are you running a sump?

EDIT:
If you are running a sump, then I would add a skimmer (if it were me). If you aren't running a sump, I would start without it and let the tank run for 6+ months to see how SPS are doing in the tank and re-evaluate at that point.

[gbru316]

This is a difficult question to answer because every single tank is different. I found that my tank requires a skimmer to achieve low nutrients. Others have found it not necessary.

Try without first, if you have nutrient problems, consider adding a skimmer.

[jinks]

I would take the skimmer over the reactors. You could also get away with out any of them if you will keep up on the water changes, but the skimmer will give you a little more wiggle room.

[xCry0x]

I have a 29G nano and the entire tank has been unstable since my skimmer quit working. Was going great for a solid 2 years then the past year the skimmer has been sporadic and the tank has had overall algae issues.

Not necessarily cause and effect.. but nothing else has changed.

So one of my goals this holiday season is getting a new skimmer operational. However instead of buying another $200 HOB skimmer I am planning to try out a cheaper airstone skimmer.

[terrypercula]

It's one of those things you don't need but you'd want. There's a lot of advantages to having a skimmer even beyond nutrient export. For example it oxegynates the water. So yes you could get buy without one but you'd be surprised how much waste you can pull even from 1-2 fish and additional filtration methods.