Protien Skimmer ???
 

I'm looking at buying a new corner tank and stand, the tank is a drilled tank and comes with a fluvol 404 ....
Do I dare attempt this without a protein skimmer ? as I hate the look of ugly equipment hanging off the tank along with the cords hanging ....

Or do I scrap the the fluvol and make a sump ?

Any thoughts or links would be appreciated

Sam

I have always been a fan of Sumps and running a good protien Skimmer. The one thing I am most glad of from back when I first got into saltwater keeping, was the advise from my lfs to not cheap out on a skimmer and go with a sump. I ended up spending the extra money for a good skimmer and went with a sump, and have reaped the rewards ever since. Also I guess you would have to take into consideration of your tank size, if it is a small tank and lightly stocked then routine water changes could work. If you are not sure about how heavy the stocking of the tank will be then the protien skimmer and sump route would give you more future options.

I would personally get a sump and a in sump protein skimmer, i could never trust a hang on skimmer.

Jason

I went sumpless (ran a Fluval 405) on my 90 gal corner tank for several months before I put the sump in. I found it easier and much less work keeping the water parameters decent after the sump was installed. Skimming keeps the water so much clearer with fewer water changes. I still use the 405to run carbon. Personally, I would never go back to keeping a tank without a sump and skimmer. Hope this helps.

Thanks , that was my thought too .. just needed somone to give me the push to make a suitable sump ...

Thanks again ...:biggrin:

I have a eheim canister filter, not sure if it's exactly the same however, I HATE the Canister! It's a pain in the a$$ to clean and am now having nitrate issues 5 months in.(Filled with rubble).
I am currently upgrading to a 72G with sump and skimmer and already find it much easier! I am sure I would never go back to sumpless.

I've been running my 75 gal sumpless for a couple of years now. I have a new drilled 90 gal ready to go for which I plan to have a basement sump. Not sure where you're headed, but my 75 is running fine with a Rena XP canister filter which I use to run carbon and GFO. Other than that the canister is empty, no rubble, just the empty baskets. I do have a DIY air driven skimmer though and it pulls some pretty nasty stuff from the water, so I'd recommend a skimmer if you're going to keep any number of fish. I clean out the canister every few weeks since it does collect a fair amount of grunge even without any filtration media in it. My nitrate levels were elevated somewhat for a time, but recently they've dropped to almost nil. Might be the addition of a ball of Chaeto, or my DSB is finally starting to work, dunno. In any case, none of my fish nor my BTA seem to have suffered any ill effects from the nitrate levels. I used to have all the recommended media in the canister until I read it can become a nitrate factory. Weeks after removing the filtration media the nitrate levels didn't change, so who knows.

So for just starting out with a new tank, I believe you could get it running without too many issues using the Fluval... empty and a skimmer. You can always upgrade to a sump in the future as you develop and stock the tank. If money is not an issue, then starting out with a sump is probably a good idea.