skimmer vs. refugium vs. skimmer & refugium

[Bobbofin]

I was at pet store in Acton, Ma called the The Fish Nook. They had the most beautiful reefs without skimmers. The tanks had mostly softies and zoos in them. I spoke to the clerk. He told me that refugiums without a skimmer is the way to go. He said the nutriet export is much greater with a refugium than a skimmer and the skimmer takes out good stuff. He said an established refugium alone is much better than a skimmer or a refugium with a skimmer. He stated that a putting a skimmer on a refugium is like shooting yourself in the foot. I currently have a sump with an empty wet/dry section that I will turn into a refugium, a CSS65 skimmer, heater and return pump. Looking for opinions on the subject. Thanks!

 

[Jocko]

Well this is like someone telling you what type of sand bed is best. There are no definitive answers because there are an almost infinite number of other variables in the equation.

The more experienced can tell you more than I, but the first thing to work out is what type of tank you want to have. I think alot of soft corals prefer "dirtier" water with a higher level of dissolved organics. So not having a skimmer might be beneficial in that case. Most SPS come from more nutrient deprived water in the ocean and require very "clean" water. In that case a skimmer will help by removing most of the dissolved organics.

Of course no matter what, a refugium is always a good choice!

 

[JohnK]

Where is this place?

Depending on set up and livestock, IMO skimmer and ref is the best bet generally speaking.

Ref removes dissolved nutrients, skimmer removes nutrients before and after being dissolved.

If the ref is below the display you lose all or a lot of the natural food benifit because the output from the skimmer gets chopped up in the pump.

Skimmers may pull out trace elements or other "good stuff", but they also pull out a ton of the "bad stuff". For any concerns about a skimmer removing a lot of "good stuff" I would think that frequent water changes would overwhelm any negative effects.

 

[Bobbofin]

The Fish Nook is in the Plaza with Donelan's Supermarket on Great Rd. / Rt. 119. I was impressed with the tanks. They had some Zoos that were off the hook, the size of baseballs and bright purple, red, etc....check it out. They only have about a half dozen tanks but Eric the fish dude knew his stuff and all the livestock looked healthy and good. This is no Aquarium Gallery but for what it is it is nice.

 

[mloebl]

I've been to Fish Nook a couple times too as fairly local to me. The only thing I didn't really like with the place was the prices. They seemed a bit high, and rarely had what I was looking for in stock, but they did always offer to order it. I was impressed by "Noodles" which was this rather large lta with a pair of breeding clowns that he's supposedly had for 10+ years. I'm not sure why a lot of the local places don't like skimmers (I've heard this from a couple other pet places as well.) A big part of it is I'm sure they do pretty frequent water changes (especially when losing .5gal of water ever time someone buys a fish/invert/etc), so they may have little need for one when the water turnover rate is so high. I'm sure if I did a 10% water change every day, I'd probably not need a skimmer either.

-Mike

 

[JeremyR]

Part of the problem with the no skimmer, refugium only (or other algae export methods like ATS) is that for whatever reason those are the people that end up doing less water changes. Maybe because of all those ads about "I have a magic ATS and I've not done a water change in 15 years!".

On the subject of pump chopping of bugs.. I think it's less of an issue than people think. Our skimmers are loaded with stuff that lives INSIDE it, that survived going thru needlewheels.. including way too many limpet snails. When you get down to copepod size and smaller, I think a good portion of it can go thru a pump without damage.

 

[Moe_K]

Fish Nook used to get a lot of cyano in their tanks. I was never impressed. Granted, the last time I was there was probably four years ago.

 

[Triggerfish]

There are no definitive answers because there are an almost infinite number of other variables in the equation.

I think the above statement defines the situation. ya really got to see what you have going on over time to attempt and figure any of it out.
depending on your sized setup and livestock situation, i don't think there can be a universal answer.

Regarding skimmers: Apparently it has been researched that few of the trace elements have proven to be absolutely necessary to keeping marine life.

 

[PenMan]

You can have a great tank without a skimmer. But the added safety margin with a skimmer is well worth it. If you have a tank with $2000 of live goods, isn't a $300 skimmer cheap insurance?

 

[Cheetos]

Part of the problem with the no skimmer, refugium only (or other algae export methods like ATS) is that for whatever reason those are the people that end up doing less water changes. Maybe because of all those ads about "I have a magic ATS and I've not done a water change in 15 years!".

On the subject of pump chopping of bugs.. I think it's less of an issue than people think. Our skimmers are loaded with stuff that lives INSIDE it, that survived going thru needlewheels.. including way too many limpet snails. When you get down to copepod size and smaller, I think a good portion of it can go thru a pump without damage.

Whoa! No water change in 15 years, sign me up! I have tons of snails living in my skimmer. I would only imagine that pods wouldn't be a problem going through the pump!

 

[Ifferfish]

I figure that if a natural reef has a protien skimmer,(storms that cause rough sea's) and refugiums, (shallow tide pools of algae), then I should too!! Just my thoughts, works for me/