Originally Posted by sprieto
A protein skimmer is used to remove biowaste products, so no.
Your Aquaclear is probobly a "power filter", used aas your "main filter".
For a 10 gallon fresh water you are fine.
A saltwater tank, no matter what size, needs both, a "main filter" and a protein skimmer......
Sorry this might not have helped much.....
What do you consider a "main" filter?
A saltwater tank does not need a power filter or canister filter... which I consider a "main" filter. A tank can greatly benefit from a fuge, however for a 10g I don't think we need to set up a fuge.
A saltwater tank needs LR and a skimmer. I know that people have run them skimmer less... and I have too for a period of time. But I'll take a tank with at least a # per gallon LR and a skimmer over a tank w/o a skimmer and a power filter.
So I say go with the skimmer and if you could run a sponge that would be fine. But again, in his case... a 10g tank I don't know what I would do. I haven't had something that small before.
I think those little eclispe models run a sponge, but no skimmer. I really have no clue.