p ViRuS q

i have on of those seaclone skimmers.(yea i know, there no good)
i was wondering since i have a 29 gallon tank and im planing on only having 3 fish for it(no live rock), would i need my skimmer? would it help to keep it on the tank even though it doesnt produce a lot of gunk(if any)?
any replies appreciated.
thanks

Mike

I would try to persuade you into getting a better skimmer for your tank or start to save up for a better one. Even though the seaclone may not be pulling out much skimmate it is at least helping to keep the tank water well oxygenated.

I recently setup a tunze 9002 protein skimmer and it's working pretty good. I don't know if I'll like it better than the aquac's but it's working well so far. And it's a little bit cheaper ($20 or $30 less than) the aquac remora.

Gozer_1

Yeah the SeaClone is pretty crumy. I found I had to adjust my air flow constantly to get any good skimmate out of it. I got rid of it in favor of an AquaC Remora.

You say you don't plan to have live rock or anything. What do you plan for decor? What fish do you want. Most fish will appreciate a cave to hide in on occasion. What about your gravel? Will it be live sand? What are your filtration plans? Those will all play a part in your skimmer performance. Good filtration will leave your skimmer as more of an aerifier. Which is good, but it won't skim a whole lot. Getting oxygen into a marine tank can be a little tricky. Using the skimmer to dissolve the oxygen in to the water is the best. Something like an air stone would leave you with a bazzilion tiny bubbles all over your tank. So, as long as your flitration is strong, you'd be OK with the SeaClone. They like to pour out the microbubbles too though. (The Remora is only slightly better in this department). A strong biological filter and good healthy water changes will be your primary source of water quality. The skimmer will mostly just add air.

p ViRuS q

i wasnt planing on having any decor in my tank, that way the fish have more room to swim around.
i currently just have 1 false percula. i dont want to have a fish that gets over 10".
what i have for substrate is regular marine sand. it isnt live or anything. i have about 20lbs of it in the tank.
as for filtration i have a magnum H.O.T canister filter(250gph), powersweep powerhead(160gph)and if you count the skimmer, another 256gph. i dont know if i would need much more for that tank being that i wont have a lot of fish in it.

p ViRuS q

i was planing on getting a different one, but being that i wont have a big bio load i was thinking of just staying with the seaclone. would that be a bad idea?

Gozer_1

Your clown will be MUCH happier with a cave to call it's own. Swimming room is important but so is a place to call home. Especially for a clownfish. I'd recommend some kind of cave, rock or not. Will eliminate a lot of strees on your clown.

Your filtration should be fine even keeping the SeaClone. As I said, with your limited bioload and smaller tank a skimmer is more just for the oxygen and flow. You'll be getting rid of most of the organics with your weekly water changes. When you start to get more fish you may see your SeaClone start to produce some goo. After you have your final stock list you may consider an upgrade.

One thing I will say about the SeaClone. The bubble whirlwind looks cool.

p ViRuS q

allright, so i will start looking around for some type of cave ornament or something. i wouldnt want a lot of stress for the fish, hopefully he doesnt die on me.
i will consider the upgrade depeding on how things go later on down the road.

Gozer_1

I'm sure he'll be fine till you can find something. He'll be stoked when you do though.

I think you'll be fine with the SeaClone for awhile. You're doing things slow and keeping it simple. A skimmer just won't be as important. Once you get it going and catch the bug you'll want better. Just wait, you'll have a nice fully setup tank and see a little soft coral or a mushroom. It'll creep into your head and pretty soon you'll be wanting rocks and corals and and and... When that bug catches you'll definitely need to upgrade lol.

p ViRuS q

im sure you are right about the bug.lol
i really am just taking it slow since it is my first time dealing with saltwater. i dont want to get into things that i am not really ready for. i want to just try and keep this fish alive for a while then i will probably get another one. little by little, thats how im taking it.