Am I Doomed?

waterbury guy

waterbury guy

Member
I have a 55 gal FOWLR that has been up and running since Feb. I have never run a protien skimmer on the tank. I have heard of skimmerless systems, so I figured I'd try that way. However after more reading I'm learning that the skimmerless people run a sump or refugium, I have neither. The Penguin I run has no bio wheels, or filter media in it. All of my water parameters are excellent, I do 10 gallon RO/DI water changes every 7-10 days and I have not yet experienced any problems. I was planning on buying a Remora Pro, but just discovered last night the space between the back of my tank and the wall is less than 6 inches (the penguin just fits) and I don't believe a Remora will fit. My questions are these:
1) Have I just been lucky so far or am I going to have problems?
2) Anyone running a Prizm skimmer that can give me the dimmensions of it, and thier opinions on it's performance, noise, and ease of maintanance?
Thanks!!
 
joerdie

joerdie

Member
i have never NOT used a skimmer and IMO it is nessesary but again thats MO. as for maintenence, basicly the only maintenence you need to do after you set up a skimmer is to emty the cup. (witch is grose) but is a small price topay for the great good that they do.
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
We don't have a skimmer, nor do we have a sump or refugium. We have yet to have a problem with the water, amonia (sp), nirtites and nitrates read zero.
Many use them, i just never have.
 
aileena

aileena

Member
If you are looking for an excellent skimmer that hangs on the back of the tank I would suggest a CPR Backpack skimmer. I have one on my 29g and its amazing the crap it takes out of the tank. It is good for up to 60g so you should be alright and it may be a tight fit behind your tank with only 6 inches but it should fit. Good Luck
 
waterbury guy

waterbury guy

Member
Thanks for the replies.
I usually am a "ain't broke don't fix it" kind of person, but...
I was hoping to upgrade my lights to 220w PC ($200 is about all I can afford to put into lighting) and then introduce some corals. I was under the impression that corals would demand a higher quality water. I am also getting a little tired of stoping by the LFS to buy 10 gallons of RO/DI everyweek. So was hoping to cut my water changes down to once or twice a month.
I don't think I am too heavily stocked right now (plan on adding a pygmy cherub angel and then no more fish), and I think my LR and DSB are working the way they are supposed to.
Nonlofinwe, thanks for the offer, but I think I need to hold off a bit. Just got finished telling my wife "after I buy my lights that's the last major expense", now I have to fill her in on the $200 skimmer I want.
 
finland

finland

Member
IMO a skimmer could help prevent a problem. If you have 6 in clearance between the wall and tank, and don't want to spend a bundle on a skimmer, you could get a sea clone. I think they are about a $100 including pump. They aren't great , but are good for the price.
 
M

macyjo

Guest
just my two cents
I have never seen anyone rave about the prism and I HAD a sea clone--after about 1 year it wasn't holding its own.---If you can swing it go with the bak pak.----that is if you are doing the HOB thing. hth
 
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