Skimmer only vs fuge only??

[SteveDavies]

Can somebody please help me make a final decision, do i go oversized skimmer or fuge only? I like the idea and benefits of either but my sump isn’t big so having both isn’t really an option, a major draw to the fuge is the possibility of having a mandarin down the road & pods/cuc in sump but im also liking the idea of a clean sump with just a skimmer, so basically i just want somebody to tell me what to do because im crap at making decisions lol

thank you guys

 

[Montiman]

I have never been happy on any medium to large aquarium without a skimmer AND some means of Nitrate and phosphate control. The skimmer will respond to nutrient influxes faster and contribute to water clarity. So I would pick skimmer over a fuge. The second reason I would go skimmer first is there are other methods of Nitrate and Phosphate control besides a fuge.

I love having a fuge as my method of nitrate and phosphate control but if you can't fit one I would consider some method of carbon dosing to be used in conjunction with the skimmer. Great thing about carbon dosing is it can take up as little space as a bottle of No3Po4X and a dosing pump.

I will also say there are plenty of people who keep aquariums with just a fuge or just a skimmer but they ussually don't stock their tanks like I want to and they often do a lot more water changes than I want to.

 

[P-Dub]

How much additional room do you have in the stand? If there is room, you can have a stand-alone refugium. That is what I did. It doesn't even have to be in the stand... FWIW.

 

[SteveDavies]

I have never been happy on any medium to large aquarium without a skimmer AND some means of Nitrate and phosphate control. The skimmer will respond to nutrient influxes faster and contribute to water clarity. So I would pick skimmer over a fuge. The second reason I would go skimmer first is there are other methods of Nitrate and Phosphate control besides a fuge.

I love having a fuge as my method of nitrate and phosphate control but if you can't fit one I would consider some method of carbon dosing to be used in conjunction with the skimmer. Great thing about carbon dosing is it can take up as little space as a bottle of No3Po4X and a dosing pump.

I will also say there are plenty of people who keep aquariums with just a fuge or just a skimmer but they ussually don't stock their tanks like I want to and they often do a lot more water changes than I want to.

Im mainly going to rely on water changes for export as its not a big volume tank, i know the skimmer can raise ph with water movement but also the fuge can through running opposite light shifts theres so much debate between the 2 its really doing my head in, is it possible to sustain a pod population for a mandarin without running a fuge or am i going to be constantly buying pod packs to keep up the demand, i’d also like to say that im only planning on stocking with 2 clowns and the possible mandarin, sorry for the long reply & talking about the fuge side of things more, im not leaning one way more than the other just trying to come to a final decision lol

 

[S2G]

A skimmer would be my first go to. A quality skimmer that is

 

[Montiman]

Im mainly going to rely on water changes for export as its not a big volume tank, i know the skimmer can raise ph with water movement but also the fuge can through running opposite light shifts theres so much debate between the 2 its really doing my head in, is it possible to sustain a pod population for a mandarin without running a fuge or am i going to be constantly buying pod packs to keep up the demand, i’d also like to say that im only planning on stocking with 2 clowns and the possible mandarin, sorry for the long reply & talking about the fuge side of things more, im not leaning one way more than the other just trying to come to a final decision lol

Frankly I don't know if I would try a mandarin in a 20 with a fuge. If I were you I would just try to add both. Adding a small fuge to the sump with a CPR in tank fuge along with lots of rubble could let you fit both a skimmer and a fuge.

 

[SteveDavies]

How much additional room do you have in the stand? If there is room, you can have a stand-alone refugium. That is what I did. It doesn't even have to be in the stand... FWIW.

Hardly any room at all mate, i have thought of the fuge outside the stand but my daughter is crawling round like mad and is getting into everything now so it could be a nightmare haha

 

[SteveDavies]

Frankly I don't know if I would try a mandarin in a 20 with a fuge. If I were you I would just try to add both. Adding a small fuge to the sump with a CPR in tank fuge along with lots of rubble could let you fit both a skimmer and a fuge.

I have toyed with the idea of both to be honest, ive even thought about removing the ato & sock holder section for the extra room but im not sure if it would be worth the hassle

 

[Bossman]

FWIW I have a RS 260 max with a CPR hang on back refugium. I have it on the side of the tank which is close to the wall. I've kept a Ruby Red Dragonet for some time and it grew fat on pods alone.

 

[SteveDavies]

FWIW I have a RS 260 max with a CPR hang on back refugium. I have it on the side of the tank which is close to the wall. I've kept a Ruby Red Dragonet for some time and it grew fat on pods alone.

Just had a quick look noticed theres a few different sizes, which one are you running mate?

 

[Bossman]

Just had a quick look noticed theres a few different sizes, which one are you running mate?

I have the medium size (19" long) fuge on my tank. I did have to alter the return slightly to fit. I did that with a hand saw and some instant glue. And I'm no engineer. I've used the pump and light that came with it with great success. I bought a softball size bunch of Chaeto to start.


Just took this pic. The fuge light is set to come on at 8pm and turn off 8 am. I use a simple mechanical timer for that.

 

[SteveDavies]

Your tank looks sweet man, thanks for the input think im going to end up flipping a coin on this haha got a few more weeks to decide anyway

 

[ReefBeta]

Hardly any room at all mate, i have thought of the fuge outside the stand but my daughter is crawling round like mad and is getting into everything now so it could be a nightmare haha

Wow, you really have no more space to work with. I wanted to suggest external skimmer but that's not gonna work either. If I have to pick only one, I'll pick refugium, because it's capable of removing ALL nutrients, while skimmer will only remove part of it.

But I will probably try out something like an air driven skimmer, like mame skimmer iii. It's small enough to fit inside the refugium, and provide the benefit of gas exchange.

 

[Entz]

The ATO on the Nano isn't much smaller than the one on the 170 (1.3G vs 1.5G). If you can move to an external water container you can turn the built in ATO container into a small fuge. It wont feed a mandarin though.

A small compact skimmer like the Tunze 9004 should fit in-front of the filter sock holder (or maybe even in the back) and add a separator. That would let you have a 9"x"9" or so dedicated fuge area. Basically do what @bar|none did in his thread on the 170 (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/s...d-lighting-triton-method-build-thread.598772/). Sump dimensions are very similar.

 

[Clownfish2]

Get a skimmer. It removes waste and if you can connect a line to outside air you can have pH 8.3 24/7. My refugium with an H380 Kessil and chaetomorpha never worked. The chaeto kept dying due to low nutrients in the water, but the skimmer kept collecting waste.

If you want copepods, buy a bottle and cultivate in 1 gallon jars. Feed them isochrysis galbana phytolankton.

 

[ReefBeta]

Get a skimmer. It removes waste and if you can connect a line to outside air you can have pH 8.3 24/7. My refugium with an H380 Kessil and chaetomorpha never worked. The chaeto kept dying due to low nutrients in the water, but the skimmer kept collecting waste.

If you want copepods, buy a bottle and cultivate in 1 gallon jars. Feed them isochrysis galbana phytolankton.

Probably the H380 is too powerful. I use a H160 for the refuge for my 40 gallons setup, and only runs it on about 70%.