Do we really need a surface skimmer?

Hi bro,

How many of you put a skimmer in the tank?
Is it necessary? My tank is 2 x 1.5 x 1.5.
Pls comments.


Regards

Originally Posted by cruiser88

Hi bro,

How many of you put a skimmer in the tank?
Is it necessary? My tank is 2 x 1.5 x 1.5.
Pls comments.


Regards

It all depends on the condition of your aquarium`s water quality. Or if you have additional $$$ and want to try out this stuff well by all means. Alter all it will do no harm to your aquarium water or fishes.

Originally Posted by cruiser88

Hi bro,

How many of you put a skimmer in the tank?
Is it necessary? My tank is 2 x 1.5 x 1.5.
Pls comments.


Regards

Do you have plants? Do you see oily patches on the surface of the water? If yes to both questions, then it is necessay.

A standard surface skimmer is only $10.

Hi bro,

Actually i have a skimmer from my previous set-up years ago.
However, I noticed most bros do not use it from the aquascaping showcase.
Maybe i think it doesn't look nice inside the tank and it takes up space as well especially for my tank size.
For plant set-up definitely you will bound to have oil patches on the water surface.......is it true?
Where is the best place to put the skimmer?
Do you guys camouflage it??

You're almost always confirmed to have those oily patches.

Planted tanks are bound to have that film of protein on the water surface.

One way of controlling it is to install a surface skimmer and attach to a filter. It's not aesthetically friendly but you can conceal it behind a curtain of tall plants (maybe a wall of vallis, a bush of ludwiga/rotola/tonina, etc)

Other ways are to introduce mollies, platies or guppies and the like. The effectiveness of introducing livestock to control the protein varies widely. Some people swore by their platies that cleared every drop to people swearing at their guppies for only eating flakes and uprotting plants.

I personally have a 2 feet tank that runs on a surface skimmer that works very well. My 1.5 feet tank with platies proved disatrious as I had to manually clear it every few days.

[Snoopy :Þ]

I use it think is is better u can try to but it at the back of the tank will look better.

[elimmel]

Originally Posted by cruiser88

Hi bro,

Actually i have a skimmer from my previous set-up years ago.
However, I noticed most bros do not use it from the aquascaping showcase.
Maybe i think it doesn't look nice inside the tank and it takes up space as well especially for my tank size.
For plant set-up definitely you will bound to have oil patches on the water surface.......is it true?
Where is the best place to put the skimmer?
Do you guys camouflage it??

when you look at pictures of aquascapes, especially in magazines or amano creations, the equipments in the tank are usually removed.

if you do not want to have a surface skimmer, you can point the outlet of your filter slightly towards the surface to generate a little surface current to break up any oily film deposit.
alternatively, you can add surface feeding fishes like guppies, mollies or platies. using a paper towel or newspaper to remove the oily deposit once every few days works too.

if you do have a surface skimmer, place it at one of the back corners. can use tall stem plants/ vals or driftwood attached with ferns/moss to camo.

Chris,

Please post your hardware questions in the allocated hardware subforum here.