Skimmer for Fluval spec v and monthly water change advice needed

[TJ Merrells]

Running a Fluval spec v. Just recently finished cycling and added my first corals.

Been getting some hair algae just on the glass which is weird. Any insight on that?

I work away from home 3 weeks at a time so want to set it up to do monthly water changes. In the rear chamber I have a coarse sponge, poly fil, and marine pure spheres.

Thinking about adding some chemi pure elite, possibly a bit of poly filter and the addition of a skimmer. Want my tank staying nice and clean and basically maintenance free while away.

Been considering the reef glass skimmer or the dymax iq skimmer. But would either have to go in the tank or in the rear chamber and would have to take out some marine pure and fit my sponge and poly fil around it.

Wondering some opinions on the best course of action and what I should do. Thx all

 

[Ranjib]

skimmer or chemipure elite both are good. Dont do both at the same time. Introduce them with one month gap in between. Skip waterchange the week you introduce chemipure elite.

 

[TJ Merrells]

skimmer or chemipure elite both are good. Dont do both at the same time. Introduce them with one month gap in between. Skip waterchange the week you introduce chemipure elite.

I'm surprised I haven't got more comments on this.
Do u think poly filter and chemipure elite together would be good enough or should I add the skimmer too to accomplish monthly water changes? Or is that overkill?

Planning to introduce polyfilter and chemipure elite, water change a week later and a skimmer a month later as my bio load is still low

 

[NS Mike D]

No way to answer this without knowing your NO3 and PO4 levels as well as other info like other water parameter and your maintenance routine (water changes).

Nuisance algae/bacteria is just a fact of new tanks, until you establish the microfauna and coral colonies that will compete with the algae for nutrients and space. When I say nutrients it more than just NO3 and PO4.

While there is a consensus that low NO3 and PO4 is desired for a new tank, keep in mind that it's totally possible to strip them down to levels that actually favor the nuisance stuff.

Also, I have a thread in this forums I'll see if I can bring up debating whether or not a skimmer is needed in a nano tank. The posts were fairly split. Whether or not you use a skimmer, I recommend that you do it in a way to test and measure what you are trying to achieve in terms of nutrient levels and keep in mind a skimmer will remove micro fauna beneficial to corals.