skimmer for a nano?
 

I'm in the planning stages of setting up a 10 gallon nano, my
first saltwater tank. (Yes, I know, everyone at the LFS tells
me I'm insane too. ;) )

Reading about skimmers they sound like a Good Thing, but
my lfs don't have any for tanks smaller than 50 gallons. Can
anyone recommend a tiny skimmer available via mail order?

My plan so far:
10 gallon hagen (it was a cheap kit)
aquaclear mini filter with foam and charcoal until live rock is cured
then I'll just use it for circulation
30 watt incandescent lights (hope to fix this somehow)
15lbs live rock (can't get live sand here)

mushrooms, polyps, feather dusters, tube worms,
bumblebee, cerith, conch snails, little crabs, other
greebly little crawly things. :)
6 months to eventually soft corals and 1 clownfish-anemone pair

constructive criticism welcome!
Ivy

Welcome to the board!

You might want to get better lighting if you ever decide you want an anemone. Also, with a 10G, you'll find that you'll run out of room quickly, especially with an anemone.

As for small skimmer, I've heard that there is a really good one for small tanks called a Picclo. I've never actually seen one for sale new in Canada, but I do occasionally see them used. If you are interested and want to learn more, do a search on www.nano-reef.com. You might get lucky and find one in the classified section of that board.

Good luck and have fun!

Best sollution I can offer you is to do weekly 5 gallon waterchanges. You will not need a skimmer and will not have to have a skimmer in or outside your tank.

I am an advocate for skimming a tank but with weekly waterchanges it's not nessecary IMO :biggrin:

Other benifit's to these frequent waterchanges are happy inhabitants and consistant calcium and alk levels.

cheers

Thanks for the welcome and advice :)

I've been lurking on nano reef.com; it has super advice but
the members seem to be mostly in the US. I'll keep an
eye out for a skimmer less than 3 feet tall.

5 gallon water changes? Wow, that's half the tank. Won't
it shock the critters a bit?

Lighting- yea, I know. I'm completely useless at wiring
things and the lfs don't have any hoods for 10 gallon tanks.
Saskatoon really is a small town.

ivy

Well, if you have no other forms of aeration, a skimmer is a must if you want lots of livestock. A regular powerfilter will not produce enough aeration but a Millenium powerfilter with venturi would work well as long as you turn on the venturi. My Eclipse 6 right now is absolutely useless. I wish I could add a skimmer to it but don't want to mess with it in my office as I don't want any accidents. If you can't find a Picollo, a Coralife Skimmer I would work. Maybe see if Bob_I wants to sell his. If not, you can get it from Big Al's online.

Piccolo skimmer
 

Welcome Ivy:
Here is the manufactures site:http:
//www.aqua-sander.de/produkte/piccolo.en.html
They have several kinds of counter courent skimmers up to mumugious.
Several places in the site they state that for any info Please E-mail them......so use the link to get N.American suppliers....or check out getting it from the UK.
Also the design doesn't look complex...DIY might be the way to go ....but for 18 pounds Sterling the commercial one seems inexpensive.
Hope this helps

The smallest skimmer I have tried that stunned me with its performance was the one found in the link.

http://www.northcoastmarines.com/pics/jst1001.jpg

It was the best skimmer I have ever tried and impressed with it performance, as long as the water level is constant. It comes in a very small foot print it is only 31/2 dia reaction chamber unlike what is mentioned in the website.

If I have a nano someday, I'll use these for sure.

Venki

You could easily use a halide pendant over that tank - maybe a 175w unit. They are fairly easy to find used, or DIY yourself.

I've mailed the piccolo people, thanks.

I looked at northcoastmarine's skimmer, but I'm confused as to how
it actually works. Does it have to go into the tank?

Coralife ones all seem to be too tall, my tank is only 30cm tall.

How about prizm or skilters? Anyone using those? I'd really like
something I could hang on the back of the tank and plug in.
It's my first saltwater tank and I'm not confident about DIY. (I
nearly electrocuted myself once just painting a room *grin*)

I can't put a halide light on this tank as it's on my desk and the
output would be blinding. Also have pet birds which are free roaming
and worry about them landing on the hot light.

thanks
Ivy

Prizm is the debbil. You would probably save time doing water changes rather than skimming at all =)

JMHO :eek:

beth