Protein Skimmer or Refugium?

[AllAmericanReefs]

Hi, I am having a very hard time deciding on whether or not to get a protein skimmer or a refugium for my 20gallon AIO cube. I have 3 chambers in the back of my AIO, the first has the heater, the middle has filtration like a sponge, carbon, and ceramic, and the final has the return pump. I would like to make possibly one of these chambers into a refugium or put a protein skimmer in it. I don't think I would have room for both unless I was to get rid of my mechanical filtration that is already in the middle chamber. Which I'm not sure if taking that out now would be a bad idea as it probably has some bacteria built up on it already. Really not sure which way to go on this. I would love to have copepods in the tank so I am leaning towards a refugium so the pods have a place to breed besides in the live rock. Also, the tank has been up for 2 and a half weeks and finished cycling about a week and a half ago, so this is a new tank with no livestock in it yet.

 

[The Farmer]

Is it easy to access to maintain your algea growth?

 

[exnisstech]

Most of the aio I have seen really don't have a chamber large enough for an effective fuge

 

[fishski13]

Are you struggling with anything like nitrate or phosphate in the tank? One can be more beneficial than the other and its all about personal preference.

 

[jda]

They do different things. What are you goals? I guess that you likely are not struggling with anything yet.

Fuge can lower your residual nitrate and phosphate levels. So can skimming, but on the front end by removing organics before they break down all the way. Skimmer can also remove heavy metals from the tank and help with gas exchange.

Skimmer could be used now. If you decide on a fuge, then you might need to wait a little bit.

 

[Pelagikos]

Most of the aio I have seen really don't have a chamber large enough for an effective fuge

I have an all-in-one and I could not stand the look of the protein skimmer hanging on the back, yet my nitrates were in the danger zone like near 100. I got rid of the protein skimmer and built My own refugium with an aqua clear and a tennis ball size chaeto...
My nitrates dropped to the 20s in a week.

Hi, I am having a very hard time deciding on whether or not to get a protein skimmer or a refugium for my 20gallon AIO cube. I have 3 chambers in the back of my AIO, the first has the heater, the middle has filtration like a sponge, carbon, and ceramic, and the final has the return pump. I would like to make possibly one of these chambers into a refugium or put a protein skimmer in it. I don't think I would have room for both unless I was to get rid of my mechanical filtration that is already in the middle chamber. Which I'm not sure if taking that out now would be a bad idea as it probably has some bacteria built up on it already. Really not sure which way to go on this. I would love to have copepods in the tank so I am leaning towards a refugium so the pods have a place to breed besides in the live rock. Also, the tank has been up for 2 and a half weeks and finished cycling about a week and a half ago, so this is a new tank with no livestock in it yet.

I have an all-in-one peninsula and I could not stand the look of the protein skimmer hanging on the back, yet my nitrates were in the danger zone like near 100. It also was very fussy about water levels and produced too many micro bubbles even with an ato.
I got rid of the protein skimmer and built my own refugium with an aqua clear and a tennis ball size chaeto...
My nitrates dropped to the 20s in a week.

 

[X-37B]

On my aio 20g nano cube I run no skimmer. I have 2 bunches of red macro algae attached to a rock with a rubberband. This has worked well for me.
Most small aio nanos do not need a skimmer or fuge, imo, as their is not enough room for either.
You can see the red macro in the back corners.

 

[Waboss]

Back when I had an AIO, I added a skimmer first. Then eventually added an external refugium.

My reasoning was this (keep in mind it was for my specific application).

• Wanted more gas exchange than just the minor ripple across the surface that I had
• Skimmer was more likely to remove "other things", like heavy metals, solids that bound to the bubbles, etc.
• For me, the chamber in the AIO wasn't even close to being large enough for the refugium I wanted to use, plus maintaining it would be a pita

Like others have said, it depends on what your plan or concern is. Plus what you're comfortable with from a maintenance and/or aesthetics standpoint.

 

[AllAmericanReefs]

Most of the aio I have seen really don't have a chamber large enough for an effective fuge

Yes the size of the chamber was definitely one of the issues I was thinking of for a fuge. I have seen some nice HOB refugiums I do like though

 

[AllAmericanReefs]

Are you struggling with anything like nitrate or phosphate in the tank? One can be more beneficial than the other and its all about personal preference.

No not struggling with either of those at the moment

 

[AllAmericanReefs]

Thank you all for the quick replies I appreciate it! I'm thinking maybe do a protein skimmer for now and then if I want a refugium later on I can get a HOB refugium such as this one https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/aquamaxx-hob-r-hang-on-back-refugium.html

 

[Atrumblood]

On my aio 20g nano cube I run no skimmer. I have 2 bunches of red macro algae attached to a rock with a rubberband. This has worked well for me.
Most small aio nanos do not need a skimmer or fuge, imo, as their is not enough room for either.
You can see the red macro in the back corners.

Are those montipora on your back glass?

 

[flashsmith]

I've had a few AIO tanks. Currently have an SR 80 running and an IM 25 I just took down. In a tank that small a weekly water change is your best option. Two gallons would take less than 15 minutes a week. I have yet to find a decent skimmer for an AIO. I have a tunze on my 80 and it always skims wet. Ice cap k1 on my 25 and pretty much the same deal. They're not worth the cost. Whereas my skimmer in my RS 625 will turn your stomach it needs serviced.In a small tank a good ATO system to keep things balanced is far more important than a skimmer. Swings can happen fast with small water volumes.A strong cleanup crew will also help greatly.

 

[X-37B]

Are those montipora on your back glass?

No montis.
Upper right is a purple stylo.
The green one is a pavona cactus coral and the orange one I dont remember.

 

[exnisstech]

Yes the size of the chamber was definitely one of the issues I was thinking of for a fuge. I have seen some nice HOB refugiums I do like though

That would probably be a better option. I ran with only a fuge in my reefer 170. It's about twice the size as yours and had a sump but nitrates were always just barely detectable and pods were abundant. Ran it that way for a couple of years the moved most LPS out, changed rock work and added some sps frags. Hair algae came on and my chaeto all died so I put a skimmer in instead. Preferred the fuge tho and will probably go back to that once I get things dialed in. This was the tank at its peak before I rearranged it so it definatly made a believer out of me that a skimmer is not needed. 4g WC weekly

 

[AllAmericanReefs]

I've had a few AIO tanks. Currently have an SR 80 running and an IM 25 I just took down. In a tank that small a weekly water change is your best option. Two gallons would take less than 15 minutes a week. I have yet to find a decent skimmer for an AIO. I have a tunze on my 80 and it always skims wet. Ice cap k1 on my 25 and pretty much the same deal. They're not worth the cost. Whereas my skimmer in my RS 625 will turn your stomach it needs serviced.In a small tank a good ATO system to keep things balanced is far more important than a skimmer. Swings can happen fast with small water volumes.A strong cleanup crew will also help greatly.

I have the Duetto ATO installed and its working great. Going to be getting some Kalkwasser here soon to put in it as well so it can dose through the ATO. I was wanting pods for part of my clean up crew which is one of the reasons the refugium sounds nice.

 

[AllAmericanReefs]

That would probably be a better option. I ran with only a fuge in my reefer 170. It's about twice the size as yours and had a sump but nitrates were always just barely detectable and pods were abundant. Ran it that way for a couple of years the moved most LPS out, changed rock work and added some sps frags. Hair algae came on and my chaeto all died so I put a skimmer in instead. Preferred the fuge tho and will probably go back to that once I get things dialed in. This was the tank at its peak before I rearranged it so it definatly made a believer out of me that a skimmer is not needed. 4g WC weekly

That's a beautiful tank! 4gal weekly WC is what I plan on maintaining. Appreciate it