Somes noobs questions, skimmer and tank size

[JN Turcotte]

Hi all,

First to present myself,

Young, I have kept many fresh water aquariums of small size.
The latest and biggest was a 33gallons of Cichlids.

I am now grown up. I have an engineer degree in industrial automation.

I am also an animal lover and I have been keeping and breeding snakes for the last 5 years. Right now, I have over 50 pythons.

Few months ago, I received a 14 gallons Fluvial Chi from my girlfriend and I started to be really interested again in the fishes. This time, I would like to build a Saltwater aquarium when I buy our new house.

I researched a lot and read a lot of things theses past weeks. I know how to plumb, bean farm overflow, how to cycle, refugium, etc...

One thing that I CAN'T find and understand are the skimmer.

1 - What make a skimmer good or bad ?
2 - What should I search for when buying a skimmer ? (other than as big as my budget)
3 - What make a skimmer, a good skimmer ?
4 - Is there place I can review skimmer, select some brands ? or depends on tank size ?
5 - Where should I look to buy one ? online ? local salt water store ? used ? ebay ?


Last, I have read mixed stuff on this. Should I start with a smaller tank size, let's say 50 to 90 gallons or should I go BIG right away ?

Ideally, I would like something that is 72'' long, that's bringing me to a 200+ gallons, probably quite expensive if I ever make a mistake.



Thank you all, and hopefully I will be able to share my knowledge in a few years :razz:

[CM125]

Well as for skimmers, there is a great post right now about someone deciding between skimmers, there are some links as well, he pretty much has the top 4 best skimmers to pick. As for size bigger is better, I have 6' 125 gallon and im really glad i started with it, its more forgiving salinity and chemical wise and it gave me the room to expand when i was ready.

[mrhasan]

Go bigger as much as you can go. Remember that a bigger tank will require more $$$ while a smaller tank will require more maintenance. Its better to have a smaller tank with proper maintenance instead of having a bigger tank which you can't maintain. Don't always listen to "go bigger". But yes, go as big as you can afford and keep up with. Going with bigger tanks certainly has many advantages like more water = more stability and wider selection of fishes that you can't have in smaller tanks. You just have to make this decision depending on what you want to give to it :)

And regarding skimmer questions, there's a member named "skimmer king" over here; the name says it all ;)