Is this ok

hawk_fish

Member
I was wondering if this is good enough filtration for my 55 so far.
1 Red Sea Prizm Deluxe Skimmer (up to 100 gals)
1 Coralife Super Skimmer (up to 65 gals)
65-70lbs of liverock
4 Inch sandbed
Maxi Jet powerhead (280 gph)
Picor Powerhead (80 gph)
Tell me what you guys think.
BTW, inside my Red Sea Prizm skimmer there is biological media in the media basket.
 

chosen1608

Member
Everything looks ok except you are gonna need alot more turnover (ie more powerheads/stronger powerheads) BTW, why do you have 2 protein skimmers?
 

bailey52

Member
Yea I have the same ? Why 2... Ive been told having to powerful of a skimmer for your tank also is no good...
 

scsinet

Active Member
Meh. I don't really think it's possible to overskim. It may strip trace elements a little faster than you want, but as long as you do your water changes you'll be okay. Of course, that's not to say that two skimmers isn't...a bit useless. To me, two skimmers on one tank is an excuse to set up a whole new tank...

I agree with chosen. You want 10x turnover per hour minimum. 55g = minimum 550 gph total flow.
 

hawk_fish

Member
I knew I needed more powerheads. I have two skimmers because the Red Sea Prizm Skimmer isn't that great so I have two. plus I don't have a biological filter so I have just another skimmer becuase personally I think another skimmer is more effective than a bio filter. But I do agree I need more powerheads.
 

hawk_fish

Member
Originally Posted by SCSInet
Meh. I don't really think it's possible to overskim. It may strip trace elements a little faster than you want, but as long as you do your water changes you'll be okay. Of course, that's not to say that two skimmers isn't...a bit useless. To me, two skimmers on one tank is an excuse to set up a whole new tank...

I agree with chosen. You want 10x turnover per hour minimum. 55g = minimum 550 gph total flow.

BTW what do you mean two skimmers on one tank is an excuse to set up a whole new tank?
And I am just going to get another Maxi Jet Powerhead of 280 gph so I will have a lot more turnover.
 

scsinet

Active Member
Originally Posted by Hawk_fish
BTW what do you mean two skimmers on one tank is an excuse to set up a whole new tank?
And I am just going to get another Maxi Jet Powerhead of 280 gph so I will have a lot more turnover.
Bailey is right, I was making a joke. I'm kind of obsessive. People often hear of my fish hobby and say "Hey, I've got an old tank sitting in my basement I'll sell/give it to you."
My girlfriend complains every time someone offers me a tank for a good price, because she knows that I can't have an empty aquarium sitting around the house... as soon as I get it and stick it in the basement, it's only a matter of a couple weeks before I start spinning my wheels about what I can do with it... 2000 dollars later...
I might tend to disagree on you about your opinion of two skimmers versus one. While I agree that it won't hurt to have two skimmers, it is not a subsitute for a bio filter. Your bio filter is helping with the nitrogen cycle. All the skimmer is doing is raking crap out of the water before it has a chance to break down into the ammonia>nitrites>nitrates. Although it will obviously help (the less there is to break down, the less the problem), it won't eliminate waste breakdown, let alone ammonia released directly (fish urine). Proper biologic filtration is absolutely, A-#1, key to a successful tank.
If you have 1-2lbs LR/gal in your tank, you'll be fine with your setup. If this is an FO tank or you don't have that much LR, you need to add a wet-dry, a HOB with bio-media, or something else.
 
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