Protein Skimmer

Connorer

Connorer

Member
I thought i'd share my experience with a protein skimmer just in case it helps anyone, i have fish only with live rock setup.

I posted a couple of weeks ago about wether or not it was necessary to have a protein skimmer, and got some mixed replies, i already had one but it's ridiculously noisy, so I looked into getting rid of it. To trial it out, I just turned it off for about 2-4 days, and when i came to do my weekly chemical test, my ammonia had gone from 0 to between 0.5-1, i've turned it back on and less than 24 hours later it's gone back down to almost 0. So my advice is that it is 100% necessary for everyone, corals or no corals. They do amazing work! (now i'm on the hunt for a silent one haha) :)
 
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deejeff0442

Active Member
In the 30 yrs i have been keeping reefs and fish tanks maybe 5 yrs of it i used a skimmer.i always did weekly or biweekly water changes.never once did i see a difference in water quality with or without a skimmer.back when i started i had one with an air compressor that blew bubbles through a wood block.
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
deejeff0442 said:
In the 30 yrs i have been keeping reefs and fish tanks maybe 5 yrs of it i used a skimmer.i always did weekly or biweekly water changes.never once did i see a difference in water quality with or without a skimmer.back when i started i had one with an air compressor that blew bubbles through a wood block.
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Things sure have changed a lot since then... lol! When I clean my skimmer out each weekend, I am very proud to say I own and run one 24/7. It's amazing the amount of junk the skimmer pulls from the water! Yeah... I'd have to change water every week (or biweekly) to try to remove that much junk without a skimmer. Instead, I change it every month or so... and only to replace any trace elements that may have been consumed. I have several softies, LPS, and SPS, and I dose 3-part. I'd rather dose than mix and change water any day of the week. I bought a new 4-stage dosing pump that I calibrated today, so even dosing's about to become a lot easier... lol!!!
 
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deejeff0442

Active Member
I am just stubborn in my old ways . yesterday a friend was telling me about his new ipad i think it was.lol i have no idea between an ipad..ipod laptop or anything .hell i would still have a flip phone if i didnt need to look at construction pics for my work.
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
deejeff0442 said:
I am just stubborn in my old ways . yesterday a friend was telling me about his new ipad i think it was.lol i have no idea between an ipad..ipod laptop or anything .hell i would still have a flip phone if i didnt need to look at construction pics for my work.
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LOL!!! It's true... you can teach an old dog new tricks... it just takes longer! :p

I always thought my flip phone was sufficient, while my teenage kids had all the cool gadgets. When my flip phone finally died, I decided since the kids were gone, it was my time to be cool. Yeah... I got a "smart" phone. Turns out it was a lot smarter than I am, and I still pretty much use it to talk and text... but it sure is nice to surf the web without using a magnifying glass, too! Just when I think I'm in the mainstream, my oldest son shows up with this huge tablet, and proceeds to connect it via Bluetooth to his cell so he can show some pictures to me. It made me think about how people used to walk around with boom boxes on their shoulders, thinking they were the s**t, and I couldn't help but smile.

One thing that's guaranteed... change. A lot of the old stuff still works, and a lot of things have improved. I don't know if I'll ever own a Reef Keeper Elite, nor the latest-and-greatest LED lights complete with cloud shadows and lightning storms. That said, I do things quite a bit more efficiently than I did 30 years ago... ;)
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
silverado61 said:
How many of you remember "brick phones"?
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Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first publicized handheld mobile phone call on a prototype DynaTAC model on April 4, 1973. Then Motorola came out with the bag phone in 1990. It was much more powerful than the DynaTAC (up to 3 watts), which made them popular with truckers and folks living in rural areas. Yeah... I remember them. LOL!!!
 
ClaptonsGhost

ClaptonsGhost

Active Member
One of the first portable phones came in a suitcase and was presented to Michael Lang to be used during the Woodstock Festival in 1969. The guy was a shyster who wanted the food concession for the festival. He also brought a silver platter with a pot roast inside that he proceeded to carve up and serve to the workers. Lang told him to take a hike. Really, who would he have called if he was the only one with a portable phone? ;-)
 
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deejeff0442

Active Member
No skimmer equals dead.fish? Really ? Dont give advise when you clearly have no clue.water changes can replace a skimmer plus replace trace minerals. Dont over stock a tank and do water changes and you dont need a skimmer.problem these days is that people want to but all kinds of gadgets and think they replace work and maintenance.
 
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AliensAreDemons

Member
deejeff0442 said:
No skimmer equals dead.fish? Really ? Dont give advise when you clearly have no clue.water changes can replace a skimmer plus replace trace minerals. Dont over stock a tank and do water changes and you dont need a skimmer.problem these days is that people want to but all kinds of gadgets and think they replace work and maintenance.
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I have tried it before I do know what I'm talking about.. This is a forum where you base your advice not ague... I tried it with a 55 gallon and it went wrong very very fast and coast a lot of money. Anyways if you want long term health of for your fish, without feeding them pellets and massive waters changes and ammonia spikes and fighting a losing battle ( like I said if you disagree feel free to post your experience and equipment ) so basically a functioning tank you will need skimmer. Filters grab waste and the waters runs through, a skimmer removes the waste.
 
ClaptonsGhost

ClaptonsGhost

Active Member
I had a 140 gallon saltwater tank in the early 80s. My substrate was dolomite, I had two 200 gph power heads sucking water through an under gravel filter, a hob filter pumping about 600 gph. Water came from the tap, and I'm talking Houston water. You can't even make ice with that crap.

I had over 50 fish (and I'm not talking firefish and damsels) including 6 large angels and 2 flame angels who all got along, dead corals for decoration, and that tank thrived. Not everyone will have luck like that, but don't tell me skimmers are a life or death necessity.

I use one so I'm not trying to justify a decision here.
 
reefkeeperZ

reefkeeperZ

Member
AliensAreDemons said:
Running a tank without a skimmer... Equals dead fish within weeks...
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Really? That's hilarious. I have run many tanks without skimmers. there is not one piece of equipment I can think of that will be the "end" of life for a tank if you don't have it. not one. I've run low light tanks on sunlight alone, I've done fish systems with nothing more than circulation lacking any "real filtration" other than biological from wha the tank contains, previous fish and coral systems with no skimmer and maintained through water changes alone for nutrient export. Contrary to popular belief the corals and fishes found on the reefs thrive in a nutrient rich environment, it's just not polluted.
 
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deejeff0442

Active Member
I ran a 90 gallon for 10yrs plenty of fish .all i had was a plastic tote under the tank for a sump and the only thing in it was the pump heaters and rock rubble.i would think a skimmer has its place but i have never seen one as a necessity.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
I've maintained a couple dozen systems without skimmers.

Funny how someone that crashes their tank needs a scapegoat. Human nature I suppose.

That said, having a skimmer provides a much larger margin of error when things go wrong.
 
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