No, you would want to have a Protein Skimmer for a Reef Tank.
What is a Reef Tank? That's a good question. In general, most people are familiar with freshwater or saltwater fish only tanks, but the notion of a reef tank is a bit foreign to them. Upon first inspection, the uninitiated reaction is that a reef tank looks like a bunch of rocks with plant like things in it and an insufficient number of fish.
One major difference between a reef tank and all other types of aquaria is that a careful ecological balance must be struck among its inhabitants to maintain the proper water quality and control predation within certain boundaries.
The cornerstone of this balanced ecosystem is rock that is obtained from the ocean that harbors a myriad of life forms, which form the lower portions of this ecosystem. This rock is called ‘live rock’ based on the fact that it contains various living organisms on and within its structure. These organisms range from bacteria to sponges, fan worms, tunicates, macro algae, snails, crabs, shrimp, soft corals or even hard corals. Pretty much anything that grows on a rock in the ocean can be on the live rock when it gets introduced into the reef tank. Some of this life cannot stand the transition between ocean and tank and dies off in a process called ‘curing’ the live rock. There are also things that may come with the live rock that are not desirable, such as certain forms of algae, predatory shrimp or crabs, etc. The important thing is that live rock establishes a diversity of life forms within the tank that would be impossible to achieve through only intentional introduction of organisms.
The other element that defines a reef tank is the inclusion of corals or other reef dwelling invertebrates such as anemones. The first reaction many people have to a reef tank is “where are all the fish?”. Fish always take 2nd billing to the invertebrates in a reef tank. The reason is two-fold. One is that the fish population must be maintained within certain boundaries to keep the ecological balance. The other is that the corals or other invertebrates are really the main stars of this type of tank. If a person desires the highest possible fish density, then a fish only (FO) tank or a fish only with live rock (FOWLR) tank is the best approach to take. These tanks can be crammed (relatively speaking) with fish and mechanical filters and large water changes used to manage the waste byproducts produced by the fish to a level that keeps it within tolerance levels of the fish. This tolerance level is much higher in fish than what corals can tolerate, so this approach is not viable when corals are involved. Another consideration is that many of the popular saltwater fish cannot be placed in a reef tank because they are predators of the invertebrates or small fishes the reef tank houses or are otherwise destructive in the typical carefully landscaped reef tank.
Lastly, the inclusion of invertebrates, many of which are photosynthetic, mandates different lighting than is required in a fish only tank. They may also require supplementation of compounds in the saltwater that they require for health and growth.
