Protein Skimmer for a 10 gal. nano

[Csxno1]

Hi all....Well i'm moving up to a 10Gal. Nano now from the 6 Gal. eclipse tank i had changed over. The eclipse does not leave enough room for growth or flexablility. I need to get a protein skimmer for the 10 gal. though and was wondering what you guys have used and what works well. A CPR bak-pak maybe?? Let me know your thoughts.


Mike

 

[brandon4291]

Hello Csxno1, welcome to our forum and reefs dot org.


I have never owned or installed a protein skimmer although Im very familiar with how they work... so Im not much for product review in this department--mainly just wanted to welcome you.

Many of my friends use that BakPak system, heard good reviews about it. Supposedly a Sander's Piccolo can be modified to be quite effective on a nano aquarium...never seen one though.

There are many here who will chime in to give us some ideas, in the meantime happy reefing.

Brandon M.

 

[wombat1]

I think just about any skimmer would work on a 10 gallon. The Bak Pak is a great skimmer. I have one on a 40 gallon. With the ease of nutrient transport via water changes, I consider anything less than 10 gallons to not really need a skimmer. If you want to keep some more demanding corals, though, it will definitely help. You can save yourself a lot of money by a) building your own, which is very simple (our DIY section can help you) or b) buy a used one in the for sale/trade forums. A "used" skimmer is equal to a new one, except for the older pump.

FWIW, I built a skimmer for a 10 gallon a while back that cost me $11. This didn't include an air pump and airstone I had lying around, it was just the PVC piping.

 

[Csxno1]

Thanks all.....I had thought of a Reefugium, but it seems like it's to much trouble, also having to have a seperate light and all. I work at the Aquatics Dept. at the Cleveland Metroparks zoo volunteering. I am in the position to get some stuff for free, but after talking to some of the keepers they were all in agreement that the water changes just weren't cutting it and that's why the caulerpa is thriving in my 6 gal. So i figured a 10 gal. would be easier to get a protein skimmer on.Also i to keep some of the harder corals since one of my projects at the zoo is working with a 1000 gal. Frag tank. I have access to all sorts of frags. Anyways all thanks for the help.

Mike

 

[brandon4291]

First of all Id like to convey my longing to trade jobs with you, or Wombat for that matter.

Secondly, that was a good statement about all skimmers being the same after you cahnge pump/air delivery--great way to save well over $100 on many models... have you guys ever ordered parts off Ebay? Or maybe its better to just do a personal trade with someone here via UPS...

Brandon

 

[Csxno1]

I can tell you the best way to get involved with an aquarium or something like that is to be invovled with a great aquarium club. I am the VP of the Cleveland Aquarium society and our president is one of the keepers at the aquatics dept at the zoo. So by being invloved with my club i was lucky enough to get this opportunity to work at the zoo. I don't get paid, it's all volunteer, but i'm hoping that once they build a new cleveland aquarium that i might quit my job on the railroad for a s job there. I'll post pics of the new tank when i get it going in a few weeks.

mike

 

[wombat1]

Mike, if you're lucky enough to have a LFS or someone you know with a Bakpak that you can examine up close, you could copy the dimensions and easily build one of those suckers. Maybe not square plexi, but with PVC or acrylic tubing. After you've built your own skimmer, you'll understand much better the features that make great ones. Good luck!

 

[Csxno1]

Thanks Wombat......actually that is a wonderful idea. I'll see what i can do, especially since the aquatic dept at the zoo here in cleveland builds all there skimmers from scratch. Thanks for all the help.

mike

 

[Anonymous]

Actually, no, you don't need a skimmer for your 10 gallon nano.
It's a waste of money IMO. A water change takes only a few minutes.
Jim

 

[brandon4291]

I can see some instances where a good skimmer would come in handy on a ten gallon. Some people stock with a relatively large fish bioload in a 10 and I would think that algae would be selected for in this type of setup if it was unskimmed. Now lighten the bioload a little and this changes things...

 

[Csxno1]

Well the bio-load on this tank will be mostly from corals and the cleanup crew. Probably only fish will be gobies or something like that. Still trying to figure out what would be better. Natural (as in reefugium) or mechanical like a skimmer. I already do 1 gal. partials every 3 days on the 6 gal that i'm having problems with. I want to be able to control the caulerpa. It's the main cause of all of this. Thanks for the help guys.


Mike

 

[Anonymous]

If you haven't bought your tank yet, why not get a 15 gal high? it's the same footprint as a 10 gal, just 6" taller. I have one and it's great.

I did go with a skimmer (a bakpak2). It doesn't skim that much junk, but I do have a small bio-load. It does, however, give me a place to hide my heater, ground probe, and pinpoint probe. I like the idea of them not being seen in the tank.

HTH
Brett

 

[Csxno1]

Yeah lots of people have been telling me about the 15 high thing. I already have 2- 10 gals. sitting around. So i want to use one of the 10 gals.


Mike

 

[wwinters]

I HATE my 18 tall. It has the same foot print as the 10 but is too deep. There is not enough surface area, I can't get my arm down to the botom of the tank when things fall and ... well you get the idea. For me I will never own a tall tank for a reef tank again.

 

[Bleeding Blue]

Hey Mike,

If you have two ten gallons lying around, why don't you turn one of them into a refugium. You could have a nice dsb, and farm some macroalgea. Then you wouldn't have to worry so much about skimming.

Mike

 

[skipm]

One of the biggest problems that you are going to run into when trying to buy a hang on skimmer for a 10 gallon is height, a Bakpak or Remora are too tall and unless the tank is on a stand where the skimmer can extend beyond the tanks bottum, they won't work. Like Brandon said, you could use a Sanders Piccolo inside of a power filter, I would reccomend an Aquaclear 300. You would have plenty of room for the skimmer plus room for a small heater and even some space for some carbon or other media if you wish. Another nice thing about the Aquaclears is that they have a flow control that you can adjust the flow, so if the flow is too high and it is stirring up your sandbed all of the time, you can just turn the flow down a little. Good luck, Skip

 

[Bleeding Blue]

I don't know what you decided on, but I just DIYed a skimmer out of pvc for my 6 gallon. It ain't pretty but it seems to work. I can post pictures if you are still looking to go that route.

Mike

 

[brandon4291]

Hey Mike, Id love to see pics especially since you and MM are master plumbing retrofitters. if I ever needed one I think it would be fun to design one in the shape you need, for the performance you need on a given setup.

These retrofit pics are a vital part of increasing diversity in our forum. I can't thank the moderators of RDO enough for letting us be so free with kilobytes. Most other sites limit kB to a mere 262 or so, and the fact that we can post detailed pics here is something that will make us a reference point for every possible nano design in the future. Get Wombat (MM) some epoxy and make an updated version of the autotopoff as well!

 

[Bleeding Blue]

Okay you asked for it. Here are some photos of my penny pintching skimmer. The skimmer itself is not that cool, it is pretty basic. The cool part is the venturi I made out of some flexable tube and some airline. It works just like the triple venturi's on the CA pumps. But those pumps were all too big, so I made one I could fit on a little pump for my skimmer. Maybe the photos will help.

 

[Bleeding Blue]

These are pictures of the pump with the dime store venturi. Sorry about the black backround, I will try to take better photos.