skimmer for a nano
 

whats a good skimmer for a 20 gal tank. my last 20 had a sump, so skimmers where easy to get. so what would you suggest.
thanks for the time.

people are going to disagree as per the usual...
But get yourself a prizm or prizm pro if you're looking or functionality over price.
You can pick up a prizm for 20$, I've used them on smaller (30 gallons and under) for years and they work.

Grab a deltec if you want the best in HOB (hang on back) though from what I have heard..

there are Aqua Romara C, and Aqua medic turbo floter multi T1000 then you can use it on a larger tank when you upgrade and you can also put it in a sump.

Bill

I think there are a couple of ramora pros on here right now...
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=58360

I'm using an Aqua-C Urchin Pro on my 20gal with sump and it does a great job on a tank that small so I think a Remora would be a good idea too.

Weekly 10% water changes with IO or better and you don't need a skimmer in my opinion.

I do weekly 30% water changes on my nano and you should see the crap that still comes out of my skimmer (EuroReef nano). That's with 4 small fish that only eat pellets and once in a while mysis. Not heavily stocked.......yet ;)

Why not use all the help you can get?

If it's not an sps tank, maybe don't need one but I tried the skimmerless sps tank once and although it was good, never got the great color until I added a skimmer.

I'm not saying you can't be successful without but I don't really see the point unless its because you don't have the space.

There have been some threads around RC over the years about how much less active fish are when people have had to keep their skimmers off for a while (days or weeks). Skimmers are great for gas exchange. Keep the water oxygenated if nothing else.

I found that as well. I only had 3 small fish in a 20gal soft coral nano and so I tried it skimmerless with macro algae and large water changes for a while. The glass had to be cleaned 3 times more often and there was a persistent cyano problem within the tank. Even a 'crappy' inexpensive skimmer can make a difference on a small system like that.

Yeah I notice a huge difference with glass cleaning before and after the skimmer.

I think it's all relative anyways, small fish but also a small tank.

After having large tanks and small tanks over the years, I am finding that the smaller ones are much less forgiving. Sometimes easier to fix problems but things go bad so much faster.

I use the Aquatic Life 115 nano skimmer.. works great.