Is Protien Skimming Enought?

[klo]

Hi,
I have had my 40 gallon aquarium for about a year and a half.
I have been using a canister filter and a bak-pak 2R since the beginning. My question: Is protien skimming enough filtration? I ask because my canister filter is beginning to fall apart and is a pain to work with anyway. Should I invest more money in it or just put it in the garage? I know that it is useful because when I take apart the canister it is full of sludge. However, my protien skimmer does not need to emptied very often.
I have a Solar Fairy, a six-line wrasse, scarlet cleaner shrimp, coral banded shrimp, a couple peppermint shrimp, a strawberry crab, red mushrooms, hairy mushrooms, green star polyps, and snake polyps. A bunch of hermits and snails and a lot of LR & LS.
Troubled,
Kenny

 

[oceana]

in our reef we use a HOB filter simply for filtering out large particals.
other then that we only use a aqua C pro with Mag drive for filtration.
keep in mind we also have a sump/fuge and lots of live rock and sand.

 

[klo]

Thanks. Does anyone rely soley on protien skimming? I do not have a sump/fuge. I do have some plants in the tank.

 

[wax32]

If you have a lot of LR (1 pound per gallon or more) and a decent sized sand-bed you should be fine with just the skimmer. I also like to run a HoB aquaclear filter with just some carbon to keep my water clear... technically it's a filter but just barely. I don't have a sump/'fuge.

 

[klo]

Cool. Sounds promising. I have 50 LBS of LR and 20 LBS of LS.

 

[wax32]

Yeah ditch the canister. Make sure you have enough flow in your tank, since you will be removing a flow source.

 

[1journeyman]

I set my tank up with live rock, a deep sand bed (very deep), a protein skimmer and several powerheads.
Everything seems to be going great 2 months after the cycle.

 

[klo]

Thanks for the reply. Anyone else only use protien skimming? One question though. When I was using my canister filter (proquatics 1600), it did collect a LOT of gunk. Will protein skimming start catching the extra sludge, or will the LR/LS biofilter do something with it. I am still hesitant because I have used both for so long. Perhaps a small mechanical filter would be a good buy?

 

[oceana]

i think running a HOB of some kind with filter pads just to remove larger particals is needed. just be sure that you are changeing out your pads on a regular basis
it will also give you a place to put carbon when you want to polish your water

 

[gfk]

just buy a cheapo hob filter from walmart and replace the 3 dollar carbon pads every 3 weeks or so. i just use mine for water movement alone with my bakpak2, but it does still collect some crap in there

 

[57chev]

To answere the question is skimming enough. No its not. Regular water changes are your best, and I believe the cheapest way to keep your water perfect. With a 40 gal set-up consistent small water changes will be simple

 

[ophiura]

I think you can probably ditch it and use the advice above. Also remember to add powerheads if you are removing a hunk of your circulation. Do you have biological media in your filter? You may want to either keep it in salt water until you are sure your tank doesn' have a spike or anything, or just put it in a mesh bag or whatever in part of the tank and remove it slowly, kinda like you would if you were removing bioballs from a wet dry. Just a little bit of security if you are at all worried.