Prism Skimmer?
- Thread starter entice59
- Start date
waterboy_007
Member
if you have live rock and live sand, you wont need an additional filter, but if your going fish only with CC and no live rock, you need another filter for your biological filtration.
-jon
-jon
entice59
Active Member
i have a mushroom, an anomie, a clownfish*seems to choose the powerhead rather then the anomie as a safespot*, a electric blue damsel, a cleaner shrimp, a turbo snail and a scarlet reef hermit. Do i still need another filter if i get that backpack skimmer? im using a fuvual 2plus and a powerhead right now, the fuvual 2plus is when i had a turtle and i didnt really want to just put it in storage and waste my 30 bucks.... i am cheap =
WOW!!!! 69 BUCKS!!!! THANKS!!!!!!! THATS HELLA CHEAP!!!
WOW!!!! 69 BUCKS!!!! THANKS!!!!!!! THATS HELLA CHEAP!!!
surfnturf
Member
I use a prizm skimmer on a 29 gallon FO tank. It does a decent job although I adjust the flow a few times a day. From what I've read, you need to do this with most skimmers to get the best gunk in the cup. I don't think that you need another filter as long as you have the appropriate amount of LR and don't overfeed.
smalltimer
Member
Turbofloator hang on, that is all I have ot say !!!!
surfnturf
Member
Entice, check your impeller in that Prizm. The earlier ones came with a 12 blade impeller that was noisy, they later switched to a 18 blade impeller that is much quieter (supposed to be, I never heard the 12 blade) Mine is pretty quiet. I guess you can call Red Sea up and request an 18 blade impeller, from what I read on about.com they will send you one without charging you.
glinton
Member
No problem entice59. I saw it and couldn't believe it as well. 69.99 seems to be a great deal.
I am assuming from the rest of the responses that Prizm is a pretty good skimmer. I have heard that bak-paks and remoras are also good. But $69 sounds great (as compared to 120 for a bak-pak and who knows what for the remora). Is a Prizm worth it? I dont want to regret the purchase later.
Thanks!
I am assuming from the rest of the responses that Prizm is a pretty good skimmer. I have heard that bak-paks and remoras are also good. But $69 sounds great (as compared to 120 for a bak-pak and who knows what for the remora). Is a Prizm worth it? I dont want to regret the purchase later.
Thanks!
surfnturf
Member
The Prizm seems very capable, but of course it doesn't perform as well as the expensive high end skimmers. They are rated for up to 90 gallons but I am skeptical about that, I'd say good up to 55 or so, but I certainly could be wrong. But after using the prizm for about 4 months or so, I am pleased with it. I would definitely use the Prizm pro on a large (75 gal. and up) setup, I think they go for about $220 on average.
surfnturf
Member
Entice, you may want to reconsider the Fluval. From my own experiences you are much better off avoiding mechanical filtration of any sort if you are using a good skimmer (the Prizm is a good skimmer). The problem is that when you filter stuff out of the water and onto a media, it quickly gets converted to ammonia, then nitrite, then nitrate. Nitrate is one of the main reason we need to do water changes of course, so why give the conversion a chance? Let the skimmer get the leftovers out before they get broken down into the end product (Nitrates). If you want to provide circulation use powerheads, Rio powerheads seem to be the most inexpensive and pretty durable to boot. I used a filter on my SW tank for quite some time, I always had cyanobacteria throughout the tank, within a month of removing the filter all of the cyanobacteria disappeared and a whole assortment of filter feeding organisms took off in the tank (corals, tube worms, featherdusters, clams, and some stuff I haven't figured out yet). Saltwater seems to be more forgiving that freshwater with respect to cloudiness and doesn't seem to require mechanical filtration (Although a skimmer may qualify as a mechanical method by some peoples definition). So, personally I would at least remove all of the media from the fluval to use it strictly for circulation, adjust the skimmer as needed and clean the collection cup at least every other day. Much success to you, and before you make any drastic changes I would urge you to seek more opinions from folks on this message board that have been doing this a very long time.
entice59
Active Member
im planing to buy fish though, wouldnt i need a fuvual, i change it every month or so, is that ok? or should i just get it out completely, i heard that you cant use just the prizm for alot of fish. i was planing to buy a scotter blenie, a mandarin goby, a flame drawf angel and maybe some other fish, later on that is, im going to take my time buying fish. im not going to buy all my fish at once. in sf we have this fish store, on sundays they have fish at below wholesale in bags, problem being, fish might be sick. But yeah, if i change the fuvual a lot wouldnt it be ok? if so, how long do u think i should change it? i feed the anomie brine shrimp every 2-3 days
surfnturf
Member
Hard to say how often to change it, I used to clean my filter once a week and still had a lot of problems with high nitrates. Now that I quit using the filter, the nitrates are coming down, and like I said earlier I started to get a lot of filter feeding organisms that are growing really well. A filter tends to remove the particles they feed on. The water is at least as clean as it was with the filter, the skimmer takes much more particulate out than you would think. I have a 4" Niger Trigger, 4" Yellow Tang, and two damsels about 2" each. I use dwarf zebra hermits to help clean up, about 25 pounds of Figi live rock (I should have at least another 15-20 pounds) in a 29 gallon in the living room with the Prizm skimmer and no filtration, the tank is very clear and the water quality is great although I may need a couple more water changes before the nitrates are below 5ppm. If you are going to be adding fish, it will probably be very difficult to keep the nitrates low while using the fluval as mechanical filtration. Don't get rid of it though, it might be nice to use that with one of the nitrate absorbing medias like Nitrate Sponge or one of many others, then you'll be able to go a little longer between water changes.
surfnturf
Member
Entice, I failed to look at your setup specs. For a tank that size I think you might run into trouble if you add more fish, I can see 2 fish max in a tank that size. You'll probably be using that as a sump under a larger tank within six months. I would avoid the bargain fish in bags, you really need to see the fish swim and observe their behavior and if possible see them eat. Also, you need to quarantine any new fish before they go into the display tank, otherwise you may lose your other livestock. To tell you the truth, I would keep what you have and maybe add corals or the like instead of more fish. You didn't really say how much live rock you have, you should have at least 20 pounds for a 15 gallon tank to handle the biological filtration and nitrate reduction. The lighting sounds great, that will be my next wallet drainer, I've got my eye on a nice compact flourescent setup. I was looking forward to setting up a 75 gallon marine tank, but the Koi got big in the pond this summer and somebody won't let me build a pond in the basement
entice59
Active Member
aw... i want to have atleast a mandarin goby and a flame drawf angel, is the drawf reef safe? im planning to empty out my wallet on corral too..... yeah that light is awesome. personally it looks like it has enough space for the 3 fish i want but the problem is.... i dont know if the prizm will be able to support them, i have about a little over 12 pounds of live rock and 20 pounds of live sand* i think its called live sand, or just sand which was in the bag with water already in it*? problem being that i have no more space for a bio wheel, i think i'll replace the fuvual with my backup powerhead, i used to raise red-eared sliders*the quarter sized turtle* then it got really big and i gave it away, i feel real guilty blowning off 30 bucks on the fuval though and barely use it.
i was about to get freshwater, but then i saw how colorful the saltwater fish and coral was and i was blown away by it. but it came with a price... a pond downstairs basement would be cool, are you plaining to raise your koi to be worth a lot, have you heard of flowerhorn chiclids i think it was called, 650 dollar fish for a certain size* plus you cant have any fish in the tank or else it will kill it* its fresh water. Its a good luck fish in hongkong and in other parts of asia, asian gangster people keep them for good luck in gambling. Kois are cool why not make a huge one in your back yard, my friend didnt really have trouble doing it here in san francisco even though its foggy and freezing all of the time. Or you can just surprise that person, THEY CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT ONCE ITS DONE =) If your around sf theres alot of places where you can get cheap koi, like 5 dollars for a small one in a lot of cool colors, you can even bargin with the chinese store owners if you by in bulk or by a lot of stuff.
My dad raises discus not those 110 dollar perfect grade ones but its still good, problem with the tank is, my dad made the tank completely empty, no gravel no plants just a sponge filter, a bio wheel and a light, thats it!!!!! he's using a 55 gallon acrlic truvu tank for 5 discus its been 5 years. He really didnt want to use the 55 for saltwater because he tried it before and he didnt know about protein skimmers and the whole tank crapped out and he blew 1000 bucks on everything. which sucks for me because he sold his wet/dry filter which i could have used..... anyways
thanks for the tip =D
i was about to get freshwater, but then i saw how colorful the saltwater fish and coral was and i was blown away by it. but it came with a price... a pond downstairs basement would be cool, are you plaining to raise your koi to be worth a lot, have you heard of flowerhorn chiclids i think it was called, 650 dollar fish for a certain size* plus you cant have any fish in the tank or else it will kill it* its fresh water. Its a good luck fish in hongkong and in other parts of asia, asian gangster people keep them for good luck in gambling. Kois are cool why not make a huge one in your back yard, my friend didnt really have trouble doing it here in san francisco even though its foggy and freezing all of the time. Or you can just surprise that person, THEY CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT ONCE ITS DONE =) If your around sf theres alot of places where you can get cheap koi, like 5 dollars for a small one in a lot of cool colors, you can even bargin with the chinese store owners if you by in bulk or by a lot of stuff.
My dad raises discus not those 110 dollar perfect grade ones but its still good, problem with the tank is, my dad made the tank completely empty, no gravel no plants just a sponge filter, a bio wheel and a light, thats it!!!!! he's using a 55 gallon acrlic truvu tank for 5 discus its been 5 years. He really didnt want to use the 55 for saltwater because he tried it before and he didnt know about protein skimmers and the whole tank crapped out and he blew 1000 bucks on everything. which sucks for me because he sold his wet/dry filter which i could have used..... anyways
thanks for the tip =D
surfnturf
Member
Yeah, that would be a hell of a surprise, I'd want at least a thousand gallons for the pond in the basement. The pond that the Koi are in right now is about 900 gallons or so. That's what sucks about Wisconsin, the damn winters. I was living in Oceanside, CA a year ago. Pretty sweet, but expensive as all get out. In WI at least I can afford a hobby or ten. If you want to get those other fish, I would really consider upgrading the size of your tank. The funny thing about SW is that the fish usually cost more than the tank. I picked up the 75 for about $150, that will hold (next year hopefully) 2X that price in fish and inverts. I would get the biggest tank you can afford and gradually build it up. Keep your eye on the classified ads in your local newspaper, there is always somebody that either killed all their fish or got married and was ordered to sell the tank. That's probably the best way to find a sweet deal, one those "it's me or the fish, take your pick"
smalltimer
Member
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smalltimer
Member
Turbofloator hang on, that is all I have ot say !!!!