Filtration questions...again

[ess17]

Ok, I am really confused. Thanks to parker's journal I want to start a small tank. One a little bigger than a 10 though. You may have seen on another post I am thinking a 20 Tall, 20 Long, 25 or 29. I was under the assumption that all I would need for filtration is live rock and possibly a skimmer. I went to the LFS last night to price everything, and he tells me I need mechanical filtration. He shows me a filter (name brand was aqua something...) and tells me I need to run that on it but wouldn't need a skimmer if I was dedicated to doing water changes weekly. I know filtration seems to be a topic that no one agrees on, but what do you guys think about what he told me? I went over to the nano forum per someones suggestion in another thread and couldn't find much. Is it possible to run just live rock and do water changes, or do I need a mechanical filter and/or a skimmer?

Thanks, sorry for the long post....

 

[superman]

Which fish store did you go to? Kinda funny that in mentioning that you were thinking of getting a protein skimmer the guy stated that you need mechanical filtration, cuz protein skimmers ARE considered mechanical filtration! I would stick with the original plan, get the protein skimmer with live rock. Keep it simple.

 

[ess17]

Sorry, I thought I put this under hardware....

The LFS I went to is just a local one by my house. I thought they new what they were talking about, but I am starting to wonder. This guy just worked there though, previously I have spoken to the owner.
Is the protein skimmer necessary at first, or can you just use live rock with regular water changes and see how it goes? If it is necessary, can someone recommend a brand that is not huge that would hang on the side, yet still do a decent job? I don't like how the big ones look hanging on small tanks.

 

[abstract]

it is my impression that in SW tanks, doing water changes can get really expensive - not to mention you can really mess up the water parameters if you're not careful - that is the point of live rock and skimmers, etc - to minimize the amount of overall maintenance you have to do by making an ecological copy of the ocean

 

[superman]

I was actually wondering about the name of the pet store, I live in Minnesota as well, and it is good to know what places have people working that are "less than knowledgeable". I love the AquaC Remora for smaller tanks, works great and really pulls the gunk out of the water. I personally would not even set up a tank that doesn't have a protein skimmer on it, especially a small tank. But that is my take, and there are those that have small tanks that don't utilize protein skimmers, though they are not the majority.

 

[ess17]

Sorry, forgot you are from Minnesota as well....
It is called Sea Dreams. The owner seems like he knows what is going on, but every time I talk to the other guy, I tend to wonder if he gets it.