first off id like to say hi to everyone. new to site. this is my 10 gallon nano
set up, rena 20 smartfilter with the rena smart heater. love this thing, powersweep 226, need something else (any suggestions) this thinh sucks, and 12 pnds of live rock (mix of pohnpei and feji) ordering my lighting system thursday. Question do i really need to get a protien skimmer. all i can find is in tank ones and thats gonna take up to much room.
i started this last thursday tell me what you think .give advise if nessasary or you just want to thanks
IMO, yes, you really need a skimmer...lol
this is one of the biggest fallacies in this hobby, that you don't need a skimmer on a nano tank... "but Joe blow has a nano with a tang and a hob filter and it's great, so why cant I???"....lol
I beg to differ!
The reason being that smaller nano reefs have virtually no buffering capacity...
ie: bad things chemically happen very fast in a nano, and it's my honest opinion that the serious nano reefer who is looking for long term stability and homeostasis should invest in good filtration(skimmers/media reactors/refugia), flow, and lighting, as well as use ro/di filtered water and use the finest pharmaceutical or analytical reagent grade elemental additives they can get their hands on.
I have been doing nano systems long since before "they" said it was possible to maintain them, even full blown high end SPS nano systems, and I can tell you the key to success is to treat them like a larger system when it comes to flow and filtration, as well as ensuring the purity of all items entering your little closed system. weekly wc's can get you pretty far, but what an incomplete way to protect your investment of several hundreds/thousands of dollars of livestock. and there is a huge difference between corals/fish thriving and colonizing vs. just surviving....
so that is my shpeal on nano's, dont skimp of the skimmer or flow, use ro/di, and buy Elos or Warner Marine additives.
also,
less is more, this isnt a race to fill your tank, the least amount of livestock you can be happy with the easier it will be to maintain. I suggest highly ornate and colorful small fish with interesting behavior, and non agressive or like types of corals since they will be confined to such a small space, also, doing massive research about adding the permanant residents who will live there is always good too.