Skimmer or Refugium for a Nano

[HKAVR45]

I have been tossing around the idea of buying a Aqua C Remora for my 15g Tall, which would replace my HOB AquaClear 500 refugium and I am looking for some insight that will help me make a decision. Unfortunately I cannot run both the skimmer and the aquaclear because of a lack of space on the back of the tank, and a separate sump is not an option for this setup. Any advice would be appreciated.

Here's some background info:

Tank & Equipment
- 15g Tall
- AquaClear 500 w/ macro algae & live rock
- 2 Maxijet 400's

Live Stock
- ~25lbs of live rock
- Fish: Yellow Goby, Falso Percula
- Inverts: Peppermint Shrimp, scarlet hermits, blue hermits, assorted snails
- Corals: Assorted Zoas, Shrooms, and other "Easy Care" softies

Practices & Parameters
- was doing 5g water changes weekly, now reduced that to 2g weekly with Tropic Marin Pro Salt.

Ca 400
pH 8.0
Nitrites Trace
Nitrates 5
Alk 3
Phosphates 0

- Nano Parts A and B daily
- Iodine(and I mean a quater of what they say for 25g) once a week
- Strontium once a week.

 

[Clam Man]

don't they sell a skimmer/fuge combo?

 

[NateHanson]

Personally I'd take a skimmer over a fuge any day. And I think a very small fuge is probably of very marginal benefit anyways.

 

[jovreef]

The skimmer/fuge combo's are not small enough for a 15.

I think for a "softy" tank that small there is no right or wrong answer.

If your ever going to add sps to that tank a skimmer would be best.

What about adding a small homemade DIY water bottle air driven skimmer to the fuge?

 

[HKAVR45]

I have been looking into the piccolo (at least I think that's the name), which is supposed to be the smallest air driven skimmer.

I'm kind of leaning towards Nate's advice. I used to run a 29g with a remora pro and I'll admit I did ZERO water changes and tested the water about every six months. I mean I did just about every "No, no" in the book, and there was not one single death or issue for the 2 years it was up and running. I think I owe that in large part to the work of the skimmer.

 

[reefsmurf]

See if you can find the older Precision Marine hang on tank skimmer that is air pump driven. (no longer sold). it takes VERY little space and I love it. Unfortunately their new air pump driven one is not HOT... they do sell a venturi HOT unit which, if you modify the return plumbing a little you could probably get it to take up very little space.
http://www.precisionmarine.com/html/hot-1.html