[ghandidawgg]

I have a 40 gal tank. 3 powerheads with total 691 gal/hr plus a backpack filter at 200gal/hr.
I have a lot of live rocks.
The people at my LFS said i don't need a protein skimmer.
Should I get one or not necessary.
Read lots of threads saying that the smallest tank needs bigger skimmers.
If i should purchase on which kind should I get.
How do they work?
How hard are they to install?

[Reefdaddy]

They actualy told you that you didnt need a skimmer? Whoa, thats odd. A skimmer runs by Bubble making and that bubble attaching to Dirt and Protiens and raising it to a collection cup. As for setup they are usually plug and play. Install is hang it on the back or place it in the sump. You NEED ONE. Now determeine on size of tank, Pocket book, and need (ie hang on back or in sump) and get yourself a Skimmer.

[ghandidawgg]

what's a pocket book?
what brand skimmer do u suggest for a 40 gal tank.
I do not have a sump and don't really want anything else hanging on the back.
do they have some that goes in the cabinet with a pump to it?
what part of AZ are u from?
Where do u get ur fish supplies?

[dougc]

I ran a 75 gallon tank without a skimmer for 3 years, but I did have a mud refugium/sump on the tank and harvested macroalgae from same on a regular basis. That being said, a skimmer adds the small margin above the line that marks success or failure. There is no real downside to having a skimmer.

[ghandidawgg]

cool. i read about those mud refugium. are those easy? what do you have to do for those?

[Reefdaddy]

Originally Posted by ghandidawgg

what's a pocket book?
what brand skimmer do u suggest for a 40 gal tank.
I do not have a sump and don't really want anything else hanging on the back.
do they have some that goes in the cabinet with a pump to it?
what part of AZ are u from?
Where do u get ur fish supplies?

Pocket book =Wallet
For a 40 gallon tank a ASM Baby G would do nicely
Anything that adds water volume is a plus, even a 10 gallon Aquarium to hold your equipment.

I live in Queen Creek Az

I own my own Store.

[ghandidawgg]

is ur store in queen creek too. I mostly go to about the reef in Tempe. I'm in scottsdale

[dougc]

Although Ecosystem Aquarium sells the concept of "Miracle Mud", I think of it more as a remote sandbed. The mud is much finer than sand and should serve the same nutrient-processing function as a sandbed. In addition, the sump is seed with macroalgaes, which absorb nutrients. The algae is then harvested to remove nutrients from the system.

To me, the advantage of the mud-based refugium is that the mud can be partially replaced much more easily than sand in the tank. Some theorize that a sandbed functions for a few years, but eventually fills up with trapped debris and locked up nutrients. This is proposed as the cause of the decline or crash that is sometimes seen with deep sandbed tanks. I don't think that there is any empirical evidence of this, but so goes the theory. I am running a bare-bottomed tank, but hopefully garner some of the benefits of a sandbed with the mud.

The mud area in my sump has several 1" high partitions to segment it, making it easier to remove a section of mud for replacement. The sump is currently lit with power compacts, although I think the macroalgaes could benefit from stronger lighting. My old tank was lit with VHOs, with which the algae in the refugium could better compete, but with metal halides over the tank, the algaes seem to grow better in the tank than in the refugium.

The refugium is also the home of last resort for critters that I don't want in my tank. Several crabs that I suspected of mayhem now live happily in the sump. At one point several years ago, a goby disappeared from my tank. I found him a year later in the sump. That explained the decline in the pod population I had seen over the preceding months.

You can either buy or build a mud refugium. I built mine from acrylic after studying the design of the EcoSystem sumps. Used ones pop up for sale on forums at fairly reasonable prices. I originally started with EcoSystem Miracle Mud, but currently have a container of Carib Sea Mineral Mud, which will be used for the next partial replacement. It was much cheaper than the Miracle Mud.

I also run a skimmer, iron-based phosphate remover, and the mud sump on my current tank. Guess what? I still have algae in the tank.