Need for a skimmer

So among many other things that have been placed on the to purchase list was the protein skimmer for a 46gallon bowfront. Goal is to house a decent number of fish and a bunch of corals being msotly softies and zoas with some lps. Given the fact that I do not plan on housing sps I was thinking about avoiding the whole prteon skimmer thing but since I do not have a fuge or sump and use tapwater Im thinking a protein skimmer is probably a must for my tank.

With that said my nitrates usually range from 5-15 using an API kit( who accurate your guess is as good as mine until I invest in yet another thing from the to purchase list QUALITY TEST KITS!!) How bad is a nitrate level of 5-15 on a 2 month old tank and how detrimental would it be to corals? Also I want a protein skimmer that is HOB and it must be QUIET and have almost to chance of overflowing onto the hardwood floors. Finally it must be fairly simple to put together and tune where a 5 year old could prob figure it out the more thigns I have to do to it to get it to work the more likely it will not work right! I have researched the CPR Bakpaks, remora, reef octopus, and many others. From this it seems that a reefoctopus best suits my needs of being simple, quiet, and very effective at a good price but without sacrificing quality.

Please share all opinions and suggestiosn to help me since I have never used a skimmer before. I am very worried about it overflowing and ruining the floors and also worried about it stinking about the living room with the nastiness in the collection cup.

 

My opinions

Nitrate of 5 - 15ppm on a tank containing the type of corals you are keen to house , is fine

whilst a skimmer may not be essential, it will certainly help and my opinion having run both skimmerless and tanks with skimmers is that I am happier when the skimmer is present

I also have run a few HOB options, Deltec, Reef Octopus, Aquamaxx
IIRC I have had 6 or possibly more HOB skimmers on various set ups over the years, and have never had a leak or an overflow due to these units , the possibility is always there, but the odds of it happening are very low IMHO

I believe you would be happy with a Reef Octopus and a BH100 or BH100f would be good HOB choices for a set up your size

they are relatively silent, like a ticking clock you will be aware of it when it is new, but after a few days, you are no longer aware of it

Steve

 

Thanks for the input, I figured nitrates at the current levels are ok but am afraid once I decrease WC from 10gal every 10days to 5gal weekly or biweekly and add mroe stock they will slowly climb. Right now I think I still have organics breaking down from my BRS pukani dryrock since I found a crabs claw just the other day I am not sure how long this will alst but am thinking that is where the majority of my nitrates come from since I only feed very small amounts 2 the 3 1inch fish daily

Would a reef octopus be your choice for a HOB skimmer? I was thinking the reef octopus BH1000 since the pump is external it will help with heat and keeping clutter out of the tank or would this make it much louder?

 

I run 2 BH1000s at present, both within 6 ft of where I am sat typing
If I listen I can hear them
but I no longer really notice them

I think they would be a good choice

 

They easy to install or did they require a lot of adjsuting to get the skimmate you wanted?

 

easy IMO
the instructions are basic and mostly pictorial
the exploded parts diagram is easy to follow
and the skimmate set up is straight forward

basically
you fit the pump to the 2 attachments, with the knurled locking rings attached to body of skimmer
you fill the skimmer body with water
you close the air line (I just clamped it with my fingers)
you plug the unit in
once water is circulating in, through and out of the skimmer
you release the air line
that introduces air into the mix
you may or may not get any skimmate for a couple of days = leave it alone
you may or may not experience micro bubbles in the tank for a few days or longer until the unit fully breaks in = you can address these with bubble trap methods or you can ignore them and IME they go away eventually

the only changing you may need to do later is to either raise or lower the collection box in the skimmer depending on your preference for either wet or dry skimmate

Steve

 

Thanks for all the help I think I am going to strongly consider getting one in the near future after I upgrade my lights! I think those are the only big thigns I have left to purcahse besides corals

 

..just throw'n out another : )
CPR makes a real nice HOB...Square Box style..the only reason I bring it up is, besides my experience with them, they are very sleek and aesthetically designed, blended with good function... Good Luck ! : )

 

Thought I would offer another option. Have you considered a HOB skimmer/fuge combo? This is what I run on my 29 gallon and I love it!
Refugium Protein Skimmer Reef Marine 75g w/ Pump HOB Sump PS 25" New | eBay
Easy to set up, quiet and now I have a place for chaeto and/or pods in my tank where I did not have one before. Plus, I got it for <$100 so it was super cheap. Just food for thought.

 

I will have to look into that only thing Id ont like isthe pump is inside the tank but would be nice to have a fuge how did you setup yours?