Is protein skimmer importan for FOWLR ?

[farrel]

Hi,

i heard from friend if protein skimmer not important if you FOWLR oriented, so you can install it or not, but the tank can't hold many fish.

how do you think ?

thx

[tineng]

depends on the fish you are keep....some of the more diffcult fish requires very clean water, so protein skimmers is very very important...

[veliferium]

maybe if u intend jus to keep a few fishes and can afford to change water every week,go ahead,if not get one

[ozy]

But I feel that a skimmer is good as it aerates the water at the same time, which I believe is good for the tank.

[jasMarine]

But I feel that a skimmer is good as it aerates the water at the same time, which I believe is good for the tank.

Yes.... agree with OZY

FOWLR tanks with few fish very strange right ?

[iewnehz]

u want your fish to thrive or to live?

[Clownfish]

if u r not gonna keep corals in the future, get those cheap weipro skimmers... shld serve u well enuff

btw, water with better water quality realli will bring out the colors of ur fishes betta

[Dispar_Anthias]

Protein skimmer is most recommended for every kind of setup... Its your only lifeline if anything should goes wrong

[farrel]

thx guys for answer, yup i agree it's feel strange to keep few fish in FOWLR setup

i have 264g FOWLR tank and using protein skimmer weipro SA-2014 and i satisfy enough for its skimmate but i plan to change with aquac ev-240, is it worth to buy aquac ev-240 for FOWLR ?

thx

[Asfur]

Hi farrel, the guy that tell u skimmer is not important in keeping FOWLR is giving u a very big mistake. I think i know who suggest you, as my suggestion, don't follow that guys advice again. Skimmer is very important in every setup, you may avoid the use of skimmer is you live just in front of very clean water and drawn the water direct from the ocean, but can you afford it?

[farrel]

drawn water direct from sea ? sure i can't, mr. asfur, the advice not came from our friend in indonesian forum but from my friend that living at my city and he is tell me that he don't use protein skimmer for 5 year and nothing happen, everything is fine.... and honestly i had litte confuse, becasue i will buy aquaC EV 240 and i don't want buy it without the important function in my tank..... but now i will buy it !

thx for suggestion and explaination

[Asfur]

Ohh okay, than i might made a wrong guessing, so as an information for u, there are also a couple member in our local forum that suggest not to use a skimmer in FOWLR or even reef tank, so beware of their statement.

[farrel]

yup, you're right i had read their post about protein skimmer, and i just make sure that i don't wrong invest in my my tank

[sheltiejazz]

Hi all, i read that protein skimmer serves the purpose of reducing nitrate in tank. Doesn't the LR and bio-balls, biohome etc does the same? Or issit because the latter are not as effective and thus is insufficient to only have them for marine fish due to higher demand of marine fish?

Thanks.

[kareen]

Hi all, i read that protein skimmer serves the purpose of reducing nitrate in tank. Doesn't the LR and bio-balls, biohome etc does the same? Or issit because the latter are not as effective and thus is insufficient to only have them for marine fish due to higher demand of marine fish?

Thanks

Protein skimmer remove dissolved orgainic matter in water before they had a chance to decompose. While LR, bio-balls, etc (the bacteria in it) convert the harmful ammonia, nitrite into less harmful nitrate. The nitrate is removed by other means, eg refugium, de-nitrator, water change, deep sand bed, etc.

I hope this clear your doubts.

[diabolus]

Ohh okay, than i might made a wrong guessing, so as an information for u, there are also a couple member in our local forum that suggest not to use a skimmer in FOWLR or even reef tank, so beware of their statement.

There are successful systems running without a skimmer too.

[ozy]

There are successful systems running without a skimmer too.

Agree. But it takes a very knowledgable reefer to understand the dependencies and is able to balance the different parameters of the system well. I have seen such systems and they do take a while to tune and stabilize. And I believe you do get a great sense of achievement once you have done it.

[farrel]

There are successful systems running without a skimmer too.

i often hear about this, from statement like it that make me confused and indeed some my friend have saltwater tank that not using skimmer and success.... and how to make balanced system (water parameter) ?

thx

[diabolus]

you can read about it at here

[farrel]

you can read about it at here

i had read it 1 month ago but i think that's not easy to apply those system

[Asfur]

Hi diabolus , i've already rad that article year ago. I'm not against you , you are right there are "some" ppl can have a tank without skimmer, but i'm here talking on generals, in fact i've often chat with MR. Julian best friend, and he also quite often write an article to advance aquarist, if you often go there you must know the name, he is Greg Schiemer. Plenum are only really success in Prof Jaubert tank, and DSB on Dr. Ron, there are so many follower fail to attempt this method, that's why not even expert like Julian or Greg move from Berlin Method to their method. That's why also why expert and most good books never suggest to keep Moorish Idol, eventhough may be there are some ppl can keep it for several years in tank.

And you know what is the habit of indonesian hobbist, in reef tank they want to have (if they can) all spp fish, they will put large angel, dwarf angel, butterflyfish, tang, etc, with only jebo skimmer.

Or a FOWLR tank with only 4-5 feet tank, but want to put at least 5-7 spp large angel plus 2-4 spp tang, this is not count with other small fish like clown fish, wrasses, dottyback, anthias, you name it, they buy it .

[patrick123]

I tend to agree with Asfur. The purpose of having a hobby is to provide the best environment we can afford for the animal that we keep. Buying a skimmer is not that expensive and if it can provide good and healthy environment for the fish years to come, it is a worthwhile investment.

This is not about a hobby on how many fish you can squeeze into a tank without a skimmer, but how long you can keep the fish alive in captivity. You can always choose to save on skimmer and spend your money on replenishing dead fish, or invest your money into proper husbandary setup. The choice is yours.

Cheers,

Patrick

[diabolus]

Im not arguing that you do not need a skimmer,in fact i'm a strong believer of using a skimmer.

all i'm pointing out is that besides Ron Schimek and Prof. jaubert being successful in their own methods, there are others who succeeded too.

Its not impossible and its definitely up to the individual reefer to do all neccessary read ups,researchs, trials & errors.

If one cannot tahan the urge to add in fishes all the time, then one is almost certainly doom in the jaubert system.

[farrel]

Yup, i agreed with mr.asfur's statement, indeed i think their system has some 'secret' that we cannot knowing so the followers can't success with it.

is like prof. jaubert with DSB and don't need skimmer on it.

but i think i want apply some sytem that succesesfull and approved with some user that ever try that system.

and i found some aquarist success without skimmer and i want find the cleareance about it..... why it can be without skimmer ?

[diabolus]

The main purose of the skimmer is to remove protein from the water, meaning the DOM inside the water.

if you can have a huge amount of LRs,macro-algae and other forms of nutrient exports, then i believe you can do without a skimmer. Of course feeing pattern and the types and numbers of fishes plays a part as well.