Do I really need a protein skimmer for a 10 gal aquarium?

[kyleflahardy]

I am looking to buy a 10 gallon saltwater tank for Christmas. It will have filters, heater, pumps, live rock, a couple fish, a coral or two, and a deep sand bed. Water changes will be done every week. Because it is so small do I really need to spend all the extra money and buy a protein skimmer or do you think I can get away without one?

 

[twilliard]

No need for one in a 10G
water changes will take place of that.

 

[kyleflahardy]

No need for one in a 10G
water changes will take place of that.

Thank you, you'll make my little brothers Christmas very happy.

 

[twilliard]

Thank you, you'll make my little brothers Christmas very happy.

Aquaria is a wonderful joy this time of year
Happy holidays!

 

[Tushhog47]

You will be fine without one as long as you have plenty of live rock and do your water changes. The protein skimmers that are made for small tanks are hard to dial in and usually have to go into your display tank which makes a lot of mocrobubbles in your tank. I tried one on a 20 gallon tank and ended up taking it off.

 

[JaimeAdams]

I had a 5 gallon that did not have a skimmer that was filled with coral, but no fish and it was a great little tank. Since then anytime I have tried doing a tank without a skimmer it has not ended well for me. I imagine that if you stay ontop of frequent water changes and keep the bio load low you could pull it off.

 

[adamk]

water changes are good enough, no slacking though. Dont say ahhhhh ill do it tomorrow blah blah....i do all my tank maintenance every monday no matter what. If for some reason i know im not going to have time monday then i make time on saturday or sunday. In a tank that small things go bad really fast, so take it slow and enjoy

 

[glb]

I have a coralife airstone skimmer on my 12g. It skims like crazy. Another benefit is it helps aerate the tank water. My ph has gone up since I started using it. But do you need one on a tank that small? Not really. I just think skimmers are cool.

 

[Filipino Reefer]

I have a 10 gallon too with a pair of percula clown fish and bta...do i need a skimmer ??? what if i dont do water changes?

 

[gbroadbridge]

I am looking to buy a 10 gallon saltwater tank for Christmas. It will have filters, heater, pumps, live rock, a couple fish, a coral or two, and a deep sand bed. Water changes will be done every week. Because it is so small do I really need to spend all the extra money and buy a protein skimmer or do you think I can get away without one?

As long as you do water changes every week very diligently it will probably be fine (set a reminder).

If it's likely that once the tank novelty wears off water changes become a chore and likely to be skipped, a skimmer will give you wiggle room.

I have a skimmer on my 10 gal and it removes quite a lot of wastes with a couple of clown fish.

 

[DDenny]

I have a 25g without a skimmer. Two fish and I feed fairly heavy to get my NO3 and PO4 up where I want them.

 

[Reef Devils]

I am looking to buy a 10 gallon saltwater tank for Christmas. It will have filters, heater, pumps, live rock, a couple fish, a coral or two, and a deep sand bed. Water changes will be done every week. Because it is so small do I really need to spend all the extra money and buy a protein skimmer or do you think I can get away without one?

A hang in the back filter should work just fine.

That’s what I got on my 10 gallon

 

[jda]

Nobody needs a skimmer, but you have to do the same things in other ways. Do not underestimate the removal of heavy metals bound to organics. Also, aeration and gas exchange is a big deal too. Even if they skimmer does not remove many organics, these other things can be a big deal.

 

[Filipino Reefer]

My setup
14 gallon pen however i removed the backwall and replace with a hangonback tidal 35 sump has heater jebao wave maker slw 5 and nicrew blue channel only 35 watts i think .... office temp never goes up to 74 deg all year long....i got gsp from my home tank .... i got zoanthids magician, a pair of clowns and rbta...temp is at 79 no max...what you guys think? i was hoping to no water change but if needed i'll do it....

 

[danimal1211]

I have a 10 gallon and do frequent water changes. To be honest they are quite easy and not time consuming as long as I keep premixed SW ready to go. I have a skimmer (reef glass). The only reason I don’t run it now is it drops my PH. I am working on a way to incorporate a CO2 scrubber with the air pump as it is air stone driven.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Wit a 10g tank, you should visit the 'Minimalist Reefer' thread here. The whole idea is to keep it simple and as inexpensive as possible.

Minimalist Reefer

I'd like to see R2R start a 'Minimalist Reefer' forum for those of us who want to keep it simple and maybe be a bit 'old school' in the way we do things. I'm a member of the Reef Squad here and in talking with a few other Reef Squad members, I've found they have some very similar feelings. So...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Timfish]

No, you don't need a skimmer. Here's some of my skimmerless systems.

Large Build - Skimmerless since 1997

Hi Tim I have one question. Are you using natural light to light your reef? I didn't notice any lights hanging in the video you posted in top down thread. Hey, the system does get sunlight filtered through bronze tinted windows mid morning. Depending on time of year it varies from about half...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Tired]

I have a 10 gallon too with a pair of percula clown fish and bta...do i need a skimmer ??? what if i dont do water changes?

You will need to do water changes eventually, given the amount of waste a BTA produces. Particularly once it starts splitting.

Water changes are (usually) needed to remove excess nutrients and organics in the water, and to replace various elements that the corals use up. A protein skimmer can do some of the former. In a small or lightly fed tank, it may even do too much of the former. It also provides some oxygen via water agitation.

(Possibly worth noting that no arbitrary schedule of water changes is guaranteed to be good. You have to learn what your specific system needs, because depending on the tank, you could be looking at water changes anywhere from once a week to twice a year. Or less, but that requires a lot of fiddling around.)