Hang on back protien skimmer
 

So iv had my tank up and running for about 6 months. I have not had a protien skimmer at all and im curious to know if maybe i should get one? And if so what is a good HOB for a 55 gallon? I have an external filter i clean every 4 days if that matters?

I have a Bubble Magus NACE5 HOB skimmer which I am very pleased with. Pulls out a lot of dark, stinky skimmate. It will be easier to have a good HOB skimmer and better for your water quality than a regular fw filter. For sw tanks, a skimmer is almost always a better option than a filter (if you don't keep up with your 4 days cleaning regimen, the filter will become a nitrate factory).

I haven't researched for tanks that size but the top skimmers tend to be Deltec, Tunze, and now the Reef Octopus.

I recently bought a new tunze to replace my Eshopps skimmer. The Eshopps just has too many issues with bubbles. The tunze stopped spewing micro bubbles within a few hours.

I went looking for a Deltec MCE600 recently but I couldn't find any online in Canada.

Depending on who you talk to they either hate it or love it but the Aqua Remora C HoB I used it for just over a year I never had any issues with it at all and it never produced any microbubbles I am a very big fan of it.

I have a deltec it works great pulls lots out of the water and has a very small footprint. I have been running it for about 2 years and never had a prob. J&l is where I got mine from

Thnx for the input guys.

I really wanted to get the Deltec but when all the Canadian retailers I speak with tell me they are expecting inventory in the next three weeks it tells me they probably won't have them in three weeks...

It is a second choice but the tunze is rocking the skimmer slime.

If you keep up with waterchanges you could get away without a skimmer, depending on your fish load and how much you feed.....

If you have a high fish load and feed heavy then it's better to run a skimmer. Some of the nicest tanks I have seen have run skimmerless. I ran one for awhile and my corals were exploding with growth.

If you decide on running a hob

Prism
Remora
Deltec
Tunze

Those skimmers are pretty decent, although I don't like hob skimmers due to the fact that they fill up skimmate fast and can overflow with fluctuating water levels.

You can always mod the skimmer cup to drain skimmate into a larger container like a milk jug but you would need to clean the cup often so that it works optimal.

Also I would suggest getting an ato so the water levels are stable and you can dial the skimmer in better.

If you decide on keeping this tank for awhile then get a hob, if you decide to upgrade to a larger system, look for a sump and run and insump skimmer, I find the insump skimmers perform alot better.

Thanks guys. Very helpful info

You should see the size of the reservoir for the Tunze 9016. It's 1.4 liters!! I put mine in on Saturday evening and by this morning I've got a good 1-2cm of blackish skim. Very happy with it so far because there are no micro bubbles coming from it any more and it seems to be much quieter than my Eshopps, even though the pump is massive. Probably due to the motor being in the tank as opposed to on the outside.

If you run a HOB skimmer or one with less tolerance to changing water levels then an ATO is practically a must, unless you are OK topping up every day.