skimmer

[chito]

I have been doing weekly water changes for a long time now and all my levels are doing great. Ph 8.2 Amonia 0 Nitrate 10 nitrite 0. the tank is a 55 gallon with about 70 lbs of lr. if i keep doing weekly water changes can i get away without buying a skimmer? i'd appreciate any comments. thanx

[gjuarez]

YEs you can, although it is not recommended. Just make sure you dont skip any water changes because then your tank can run into problems.
Jerry

[gjuarez]

BTW, what other type of filtration do you have other than your live rock?

[cbianco]

Water changes only work great for my 24 gallon! The only other filtration I use (other that LR) is a filter sponge that is changed bi-weekly. I have no fish and only corals in my tank so feeding is kept to a minimum (I feed my hermits once in a while, lol). Either way nutrients are at a bare minimum in my tank. Of course you need to make sure that your tank husbandry is perfect.

Christopher

[RTDT]

Good afternoon everyone. New to the site but look forward to using it ALOT. I purchased a 30gal used tank that had not been set up for over a year and the owner left everything in a box (approx. 30lbs LR.) shells, pumps, Bio-Balls etc.... Can i set it up and be-able to reactivate the LR? We're new to saltwater tanks but have a 20gal w/10 lbs. LR and LS running for 35 days, and running good.I just hate to not be able to use the rock or Bio-Balls. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks, RT

[RTDT]

Sorry for the last entry, somehow it posted here.
Sorry

[chito]

For filtration I have an emeperor biowheel only. the tank also has a power head and the community consists of a yellow tang, blue tang, 2 percs, a dottyback, one anenome, brain coral cleaning crew hermits and starfish and a pair of pencil urchins. I also have two cucombers which have now split to four and a scallop.

[gjuarez]

I have heard from some expert here in Maast that the bio-wheels can create nitrates. Does you emperor have one?

[chito]

yeah the emperor does have bio-wheels but my nitrates are runing ok at 10. It never goes higher than that, if anything it sometimes goes lower.

[matt]

First thing I'd do is get rid of the pencil urchins and replace them with the diadema sp. long spined urchins. The pencil urchins are carnivores and will eat soft corals, and have been known to catch and eat fish and shrimp in aquariums. Sooo.....you might want to say goodbye to them. Ditto for the starfish, unless it's a brittle star or one of the blue Linckia stars.

As far as your skimmer question, there are so many other things to consider that's it's very difficult to say whether you "need" one or not. (Like water flow, Ca/Alk replenishment, etc) And, unless you get a good one, it won't matter much. What I can say is that a good skimmer will really help you keep O2 levels saturated and will remove alot of undesireable stuff from your aquarium. Those are both very good reasons to invest in a good skimmer.

[chito]

good deal. thanx for the info