I'll throw in my two cents as well. Fluval filters are junk, complete junk. They lose efficiency and as been stated in previous threads.. collect so much nasties it's not even funny. They need to be frequently cleaned. Like... weekly. When I DID use mine, it was only for carbon use. When I used the fluval, I had algae all the time... nuisance algae everywhere. Since I got rid of it... the phosphate/nitrate factory is gone and I am seeing a slow improvement.
Skimmers are most
definately important... the #1 thing to have IMO. I would definately put a skimmer on your tank. When you see the crap that it takes out of your water you'll think "wow... what a great investment" trust us.
In my opinion... (key word here, MY) the basics to a successful reef are:
- A good skimmer (decent anyways for the size of tank)
- A good amount of Live Rock for the size of tank
- Keeping paramaters as stable as possible, at all times. Stability is key!
- Doing smaller, but frequent water changes. (weekly)
- Good water circulation throughout the entire tank
- And keeping all equipment clean so no junk can build up and reduce performance.
There's my little rant.
