Nano dilemma: Clam Vs. Skimmer Vs. H2O changes - Opinion?

[logan]

I have successfully kept a 36 gallon bow front reef for a number of years
and have recently decided to venture into the serious nano reef space. Specs
on my new reef tank are as follows:

7 Gallon AGA Bow
Zoomed Powersweep 214
Whisper 10 Filter
Ice Probe with Controller
10 pounds Nature's Ocean Live Sand
10 pounds Fiji LR
CSL Retro Fit 32w PC
50w Heater

Now I am debating about what to do in terms of skimming. I have a skimmer on
my 36g and it works like a champ and skims well. I have it however because I
only do 3% - 5% weekly H2O changes and an occasional 20% change. However, I
am debating whether or not I even need a skimmer on my new 7g nano. With all
the rock, equipment, and sand, there's only about 5.5 - 6 gallons of actual
water in the tank. If I do a 1 gallon H2O change weekly, that's amounts to
about 16% - 18% H2O change. IMO, I think that's large enough to warrant my
not getting a skimmer. I've looked at the Sanders Piccolo, Skilter, or
Coralife Super Skimmer I, but to be quite honest, I'm not convinced of their
necessity, and they would definitely crowd an already crowded tank. I am
therefore simply considering getting a 1" clam and having it do the dirty
filtering work for me.

Thoughts and opinions appreciated.

Many thanks,
Kyle

[[email protected]]

In article >,
"logan" > wrote:

> I have successfully kept a 36 gallon bow front reef for a number of years
> and have recently decided to venture into the serious nano reef space. Specs
> on my new reef tank are as follows:
>
> 7 Gallon AGA Bow
> Zoomed Powersweep 214
> Whisper 10 Filter
> Ice Probe with Controller
> 10 pounds Nature's Ocean Live Sand
> 10 pounds Fiji LR
> CSL Retro Fit 32w PC
> 50w Heater
>
> Now I am debating about what to do in terms of skimming. I have a skimmer on
> my 36g and it works like a champ and skims well. I have it however because I
> only do 3% - 5% weekly H2O changes and an occasional 20% change. However, I
> am debating whether or not I even need a skimmer on my new 7g nano. With all
> the rock, equipment, and sand, there's only about 5.5 - 6 gallons of actual
> water in the tank. If I do a 1 gallon H2O change weekly, that's amounts to
> about 16% - 18% H2O change. IMO, I think that's large enough to warrant my
> not getting a skimmer. I've looked at the Sanders Piccolo, Skilter, or
> Coralife Super Skimmer I, but to be quite honest, I'm not convinced of their
> necessity, and they would definitely crowd an already crowded tank. I am
> therefore simply considering getting a 1" clam and having it do the dirty
> filtering work for me.
>
> Thoughts and opinions appreciated.
>
> Many thanks,
> Kyle
>
>

I'd skip the skimmer on a tank that small and just go with LR/LS and
10-20% weekly water changes. Have you considered adding a small refugium
to the sytem? If you still wanted a skimmer, that could be a place to
put it. Also, some folks have had luck putting Piccolos in Aquaclear
HOB's. You didn't specify what species of clam you want but with only 32
PC watts, I'd skip the clam IMO. Also, you may want to check this site
out if you haven't already:
http://www.nano-reef.com

HTH,

Scott

[richard reynolds]

> I have successfully kept a 36 gallon bow front reef for a number of years
> and have recently decided to venture into the serious nano reef space.
Specs
> on my new reef tank are as follows:
>

> 7 Gallon AGA Bow
nice tank just tore mine down worked well, just moving on.
> Zoomed Powersweep 214
i dont like them, others might.
> Whisper 10 Filter
pos yank it
> Ice Probe with Controller
dont know you will really need it, but good if you do. I bult my own worked
nice and sat in the output of a prizim
> 10 pounds Nature's Ocean Live Sand
> 10 pounds Fiji LR
ok nothing bad there
> CSL Retro Fit 32w PC
dont know CSL from anything but the 32wPC works nice
> 50w Heater
depending on where you live 10w is more than enough, I am in SoCal and ran
mine with a 10 cold was never an issue

> Now I am debating about what to do in terms of skimming. I have a skimmer
on
> my 36g and it works like a champ and skims well. I have it however because
I
> only do 3% - 5% weekly H2O changes and an occasional 20% change. However,
I
> am debating whether or not I even need a skimmer on my new 7g nano. With
all
> the rock, equipment, and sand, there's only about 5.5 - 6 gallons of
actual
> water in the tank. If I do a 1 gallon H2O change weekly, that's amounts to
> about 16% - 18% H2O change. IMO, I think that's large enough to warrant my
> not getting a skimmer. I've looked at the Sanders Piccolo, Skilter, or
> Coralife Super Skimmer I, but to be quite honest, I'm not convinced of
their
> necessity, and they would definitely crowd an already crowded tank. I am
> therefore simply considering getting a 1" clam and having it do the dirty
> filtering work for me.

I ran mine with a prizim where you are and hopefully only were considering
the whisper 10, id love to tell you that i did waterchanges routinely but
really i rarely did them, a-n-n were generally 0, all i ever had to do was
topoffs and the chiller kept the evap down a tad so id topoff every other
day, unless it was HOT. the clam idea sounds good, and i had a maxima in
mine for a while, didnt really decrease anything though except calcium a tad

> Thoughts and opinions appreciated.
>
> Many thanks,
> Kyle
>
--
richard reynolds