powerhead or protein skimmer

[dwizard23]

Hey first time post long time reader--I have a 29gal tank with dead coral-a tiny picasso trigger (i know he gets huge-i will trade with a friend when he does ) a hawkfish, a puffer (cant think of his name but he s white on bottom with orange and green swirls on top) 4 clowns and a crab--and have crushed coral or whatever for the gravel--looks like tiny well, crushed shells (sorry just made the jump from fresh to salt and still using fresh terms) --now granted the trigger isnt a lifelong tennant but everything else hopefully will be-NOW i want some live coral-sponges -invertebrates and a manatee (the psycadelics are sooo sweeeet and i know they have to have live coral etc to survive well) Do i need a protein skimmer or can i just go with a powerhead?--i have heard one or the other is fine but just want to be sure--again its a 29 gal tank

 

[melbournefl]

Way tooooooo many fish for a tank that size and I'm telling you if you have a MANATEE in there you're REALLY overdoing it the last few we were feeding from the dock easily weighed over 500 pounds! LOL are you sure you're not talking about a Mandarine?
I'm going to refrain from further comments hoping one of the shark type people can lend some credibility to my initial comment.
Later,
Paul

 

[dwizard23]

LOL -yea manderine manatee they are all the same-just kidding-right now nothing seems crowded at all (the clowns stay up top and im glad because they keep the trigger in check) the hawkfish and puffer are at full size (MAYBE 2-3 inches) and like each other alot -they are always swimming around below together--but the manderine im talking about only gets up to 3 inches (this is all what my lfs tells me)-not 500 pounds--damn that was funny when i read your response i had no idea i said manatee

 

[ntvflgirl]

Manatee...heehee. I love it. Well, for starters, I don't have a protein skimmer, but have read that they are pretty essential in tanks with fish. Powerheads are good for water movement, which helps in filtration if you have live rock in your tank. They also help keep certain algaes at bay, and generally keep things "mixed up". Protein skimmers will remove alot of the xtra proteins that fish cause from the water. Now about your bioload. The "rule" for reef tanks, if I'm not mistaken is an inch of fish for every 5 gallons of water, and some say for every 10 gallons. You will need an excess of filtration to keep all of your water parameters in check. In fact, I don't know how you are doing it now!! I am by no means a pro at this, and hopefully someone who can explain it better will come along shortly. IMHO, I would say you would actually need both if you intend to keep you livestock. I think you want about a 5x turnover in water movement for powerheads. I don't know anyone who has a sw tank without a powerhead. I'm looking into getting 2 more now for my own tank. Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong. Good luck, and let us know how things progress.

 

[dwizard23]

i do have a darn good filter for 75 gallon tanks-again mine is only 29 that gets a good current going in the water-i know when i drop food in there it takes off because of the strong current ( im actually thinking about turning down the flow so its not soooo much but dont know if that s a good idea or not)--again my lfs tells me that as long as i have this big bad filter i shouldnt need a powerhead but, ya never know

 

[ntvflgirl]

I have a filter on mine as well. Mine has a feature on it where you can turn it on "low" for feedings. I would definately turn it off if you don't have this feature. Otherwise, the filter is getting all of the food, and not the fish!!