Do I Really Need A Skimmer

[debbs2207]

Hello, I have a UV filter attached to my 180litre tank.

I (soon) will have as much LR as I can get in without cramping the tank, got the internal (Juwel) filtration system the tank came with and I have a Ehiem Pro II external filter, this is all I have.

No fish yet but we have spent a reasonable amount so I want to keep costs down as much as possible now.

Is what I have enough for the tank??

Any help information appreciated.
Debbs

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes, is the simple answer!

 

[Ter]

get less live rock and get a skimmer.. its really worth it.. u should see what i get out of mine! cutting costs will catch up with you later.
Ter

 

[debbs2207]

Any reccomendations on skimmers?

Is it a case of the more you spend the better it is?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Any reccomendations on skimmers?

Is it a case of the more you spend the better it is?

as anything you get what you pay for, we're getting a one like this whioch is good quality but still reasonably priced

 

[jemram]

I would remove the Juwel filter, and only use the Eheim for mechanical and chemical filtration. You want your live rock to do all your biological filtration. You dont need a skimmer. I'm running my 100 litre reef with JUST liverock for filtration and weekly 15%-20% waterchanges. Just be careful with your stocking levels, keep a close eye on your nitrate and phosphare levels and do 15% waterchanges weekly. You also NEED to use RO water. Adding a skimmer in the future will allow you to have more fish and lessen the water changes.

 

[debbs2207]

That's for up to 400Litres, surely I can get a good one for my little 180litre?

Does the plastic tube have to go at the back?? The tank is against a wall and I wont be able to fit anything other than a bendy pipe tube down behind it.

 

[jemram]

get less live rock and get a skimmer.. its really worth it.. u should see what i get out of mine! cutting costs will catch up with you later.
Ter

thats a good bet. You should only need 30kg of live rock and add to that a skimmer.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

That's for up to 400Litres, surely I can get a good one for my little 180litre?

Does the plastic tube have to go at the back?? The tank is against a wall and I wont be able to fit anything other than a bendy pipe tube down behind it.

that's the smallest decent one we've found, our tank's smaller than yours

 

[debbs2207]

I don't want to remove the internal filter, it's taking up room inside so I may as well use it (plus I paid for it), isn't it good to have 2 filters?. I have things like my carbon in there so it's easy to replace when I need to.

Do I need to use RO when i'm doing my water changes? To be honest I look after 3 tanks and i'd rather not have to do a 15% water change each week, every other and 10% is what I use on my tropical tanks but they are over 2 years established and I never have any problems with water (or fish), also I use tap water to change them and some chlorine remover.

What do you think??

 

[jemram]

IMO a RO unit is a must for marine. Firstly it's kinder to the fish as while they will tolerate nirtates etc, they dont like it. Secondly if you use tap water you will have big problems with algae.

You dont have to remove the Juwel filter, just dont use it for biological filtration - let your live rock to that job.

 

[tmreynolds]

Hi,

I am just setting up a Juwel 180 litre tank.

From what I've learned doing my own research, this is what I'm doing.

deltec mc500 internal skimmer, this is a very good skimmer and nothing hanging out the back, plus its designed for Juwel's

25kg LR

Always use RO water, even for water changes. Its different for freshwater tanks, you don't need it but marines definitely.

I'm just having carbon and maybe rowaphos in my internal filter, but mainly using it for an extra powerhead. The LR should do all the nitrification.

Oh, you need at least 2 powerheads.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I don't want to remove the internal filter, it's taking up room inside so I may as well use it (plus I paid for it), isn't it good to have 2 filters?. I have things like my carbon in there so it's easy to replace when I need to.

Do I need to use RO when i'm doing my water changes? To be honest I look after 3 tanks and i'd rather not have to do a 15% water change each week, every other and 10% is what I use on my tropical tanks but they are over 2 years established and I never have any problems with water (or fish), also I use tap water to change them and some chlorine remover.

What do you think??

conventional filters aren't great for marine tanks to be honest, they produce nitrates which in a FW tank is fine but can be much more harmful to SW fish and inverts. they can end up doing more harm than good. I'd strongly recommend you remove all your filters and just use live rock and powerheads. you can always put the filters on your freshwater tanks to make them more healthy, or sell them and buy some powerheads

yes you need to use RO all the time with marine tanks. there's no getting away from the fact that SW water changes are more work and more time consuming than FW, but if you don't want the extra work don't have a SW tank. Cutting corners is only going to make it more work in the long run

 

[tmreynolds]

No fish yet but we have spent a reasonable amount so I want to keep costs down as much as possible now.

After all that hard work, I'd put some fish though

 

[debbs2207]

RO unit now...hmmm, had a quick look these range from £10 to hundreds.

I think I need a BIG BOOK

What type of unit would I need for my tank?

Fish...what are they?

Do they sell sea yet???

I have no room in the cabinet for RO unit and Skimmer!