Managing Salinity with a Protein Skimmer in a Nano tank?

Starganderfish

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I have a 20 Gallon Waterbox Cube with a reasonably heavy bio-load, a lot of corals etc.
I run chaeto loose in the refugium in the rear AIO chamber which seems to be going great, I have sand sifting gobies who sift the substrate so I haven't needed to siphon or agitate. I use an AWC/ATO unit for daily 2 percent water changes and it keeps the nutrient levels in check, while also managing evaporation. A clam, and an anemone also help to absorb nitrates/phosphates out of the water.

I haven't been running a protein skimmer because of fears the loss of skimmate, evaporation and then FW top-up would mess with the salinity pretty quick in such a small tank. I've been running a square of filter floss in the rear chamber (ditched the sock in favour of a caddy full of mixed media) but I'm noticing this interferes with the flow to the pump chamber quite a bit. If I remove the floss I do start to see a bit of an oily protein buildup on the surface of the water. I've tilted the return outlet up a bit to increase agitation of the surface which helps some but I am wondering if I should re-visit the question of the Protein Skimmer?
Short of trying to measure evaporation, volume of skimmate, tank salinity and try to work out how much salt to add to the top-off water, is there any suggestions for how to manage the skimmer taking out salt water and the ATO returning Fresh?
If it's just a matter of adding salt to ATO water, is there any advice on working out how salty is needed?

As an alternative, I recently purchased a Santa Monica Slip.7 chaeto reactor/scrubber (https://www.santa-monica.cc/Two-wee...waterfall-scrubber-upflow-scrubber_p_104.html) that should slot into the middle rear chamber. It has the option of using a small pump to get some decent water movement through the reactor, and even add an airline for increased agitation and aeration. I haven't got around to installing it but I wonder if the increased water movement from something like this might help to break up the film buildup and encourage the algae to take care of it?

Appreciate advice or thoughts
 

ReefnFamilyMan

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I ran the same tank for a years with no skimmer and a year with a skimmer and honestly the skimmer didn't make too much of a difference. As long as you are doing regular water changes which you are with the 2% daily and have a good surface agitation then you should be good. What filter floss pads are you running? I recall having to change filter floss every 2-3 days on that tank with a heavy bio load as well.
 
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Starganderfish

Starganderfish

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I ran the same tank for a years with no skimmer and a year with a skimmer and honestly the skimmer didn't make too much of a difference. As long as you are doing regular water changes which you are with the 2% daily and have a good surface agitation then you should be good. What filter floss pads are you running? I recall having to change filter floss every 2-3 days on that tank with a heavy bio load as well.
OK. You're a genius. THANK YOU!!
It didn't even occur to me to check the filter pads. I've been using generic quilt batting from the craft store which is pretty thick and loosely packed. It's more like loose filter floss in a vaguely flat shape. The stuff I've been using more recently seems to be thinner and more densely packed.
Digging through my emails I realised I ordered some "fine filter batting" from an aquaponics store back in Jan, and I think it's that stuff that I've been using recently.
The issue I'm finding is that the floss cuts down on the flow through the AIO chambers, so much that the water level drops several inches in the AIO pump chamber as soon as the floss is dropped in. And the longer it's in there, the more it slows the flow and pretty soon the level drops below the pump. So I pulled the floss out and after a few days started to see the surface film.
I just dug out a fresh pack of the Craft store batting and there's a noticeable difference in thickness and texture. I dropped a square of the craft stuff in and the water level didn't change at all. I've been able to run the craft store stuff for 4 or 5 days without it affecting flow (though the pad does get pretty manky if I leave it that long) but the aquaponics stuff seemed to inhibit flow immediately.
It's embarrassing but sometimes my mind jumps over the obvious and easy answers and tends to go straight for a more complicated idea.
I'll let this run for a few hours but I'm pretty sure it will clean up the oil slick.
You're a legend!
 

ReefnFamilyMan

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Haha you should check out pinkyfilters.com. I have used them for the past couple years on all of my tanks and I know there are some other ppl on here that use them too. Their products are great and customer service is amazing. I usually buy large rolls and cup up a few weeks worth of pieces at once and swap them out every couple days. As long as you replace them as you see them turning brown then it shouldn't impact the flow in your rear chambers. Once they are all full of crud then it's a different story lol.
 
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Starganderfish

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Haha you should check out pinkyfilters.com. I have used them for the past couple years on all of my tanks and I know there are some other ppl on here that use them too. Their products are great and customer service is amazing. I usually buy large rolls and cup up a few weeks worth of pieces at once and swap them out every couple days. As long as you replace them as you see them turning brown then it shouldn't impact the flow in your rear chambers. Once they are all full of crud then it's a different story lol.
Cheers. I'm in Australia so it's probably not very cost-effective to get it shipped here. I get a roll of 100 GSM polyester wadding 1.5m x 5m for $35 (the equivalent of around US$24) from the craft store down the road. I've been pretty happy with it, until the recent debacle (which in hindsight is totally my own idiot fault LOL). I usually get 2-3 days before it starts to brown up and I can go up to a week till it starts to impede the flow (which is why I was so thrown when the new floss was so different!!) Best of all it's a 10 minute drive from my house to pick up.

I use a white and blue filter material in my airbrush paint booth that looks a lot like that pink stuff. I can get that pretty cheap by the roll from China but I don;t think I'd trust it to be 100% clean for an aquarium. Much better to buy it from a reputable source like you do. I trust the wadding I get from the craft store because it's sold locally and complies with Aust Standards.

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Starganderfish

Starganderfish

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How did the Slip7 work? I am thinking about buying one myself.
It's kind of weird, actually. I've had almost zero algae growth in it.
I ended up getting massively overtaken by a gellidium algae outbreak in the display, so I suspect any additional nutrients were being taken by that. I did a bit of a tear-down, removed all the rock and dripped peroxide over it, gave it a few minutes then re-assembled the tank. The gellidium is pretty much gone now (though I noticed a little patch returning yesterday I need to spot-treat with peroxide.) My understanding also is that gellidium is stubborn, invasive and thrives even with minimal nutrients so it's not necessarily a sign of a nutrient problem.
That was about a month ago. I was away for 10 days over XMas with an auto-feeder dropping dry food in the tank, but I had some issues with the ATO/AWC unit halfway through. I don't think it did water changes for at least 4 or 5 days. (I typically do a 1 or 2% percent water change daily). I didn't do any massive waterchanges when I got back, just restarted the AWC and let it do it's thing.
I've pulled pretty much all media from the AIO, I don't use a protein skimmer, no longer use chemical or seperate biological media, just a chunk of filter floss I change every three or four days, and the Slip.7. I removed the Chaeto from the back as well.
This is the algae growth on it today - first time I've even looked at it in probably a month. It's been in the tank for 3 or 4 months and I've never really cleaned it off or done anything with it.
I don't bother with water testing, so I have no idea what my NItrate or Phosphate is. But everything is growing fine, zoa's are spreading quick, Anemone has at least doubled in size, as has my clam.
I don't want to fall into the trap of micro-managing every component and additive, the tank is supposed to be fun, so I do an ultra-low maintenance, hands-off approach
For the Slip.7?
On the one hand, the Slip.7 isn't experiencing the massive algae growth I expected or requiring continuous cleaning and checking, so part of me wonders if it's doing anything.
On the other hand I do minimal maintenance, I don't skim, I feed moderately heavy for such a small tank, my only nutrient export is small daily water changes and the tank is looking healthy. I get no film on the surface, the glass only needs cleaning maybe once a week, I never sift my substrate (sand sifting gobies for the win!!) and it's not requiring constant testing and monitoring, so whatever it's doing, it seems to be working.
On the gripping hand, the Slip.7 IS expensive for what it is, shipping to Australia was murderously high for me and frankly Chaeto would probably do much the same thing without the high initial cost...so...

I honestly can't say whether I would recommend it or not. In hindsight, I didn't really need it and I totally fell for the "oooh, that's a cool thing" trap.
If you've got high nutrients which is translating to a lot of algae growth on glass, rocks in tank etc, and chaeto isn't an option, the Slip.7 could be worth looking at.
But if what you've got is working and everything is under control, I probably wouldn't bother. Removing a little bit of Chaeto every few weeks and either feeding to fish (if they'll eat it) or just chucking it, is quite a bit easier than pulling the Slip's plastic grid out, taking it to the sink scrubbing it clean and then re-installing it.
It's a cool idea, and there are definitely situations it will work great in, but for me it was more my inner geek going "ooh cool gadget" and was probably overkill.

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