Protein Skimmer Recommendations

[JosephM]

I’m planning a saltwater build and want to incorporate a sump (filter socks, skimmer, refugium, bubble trap, return) I’m using a 20 long and wanna know what skimmers you guys would recommend. I’m on a budget somewhat (would prefer cheaper but not cheap quality) I heard Reef Octopus was good until I read all the recent reviews and they were one stars. Looking at bubble magus NAC3.5 Protein Skimmer right now but it looks like water height is 8-10” which I would assume is too high for a 20 long? Any advice and thoughts will be taken, thank you!

 

[NoahLikesFish]

You probably won’t need a skimmer unless you are doing LPS or SPS or grossly over stocking the aquarium, you would be better off just adding a big fuge

 

[JosephM]

You probably won’t need a skimmer unless you are doing LPS or SPS or grossly over stocking the aquarium, you would be better off just adding a big fuge

It is a 29 gallon so the more fish I can have the better and I was hopping to have a nice reef. Still big fuge and no skimmer?

 

[NoahLikesFish]

Yeah 20 long is huge for a 29, you probably shouldn’t do a 20 long because iirc a 29 isn’t 36” a 10g or a 5g bucket would suffice as a sump actually if you want a cool fish idea, a jaw fish might be nice in a 29, they need a deep sand bed which wouldn’t look as bad in a 29

 

[JosephM]

NoahLikesFish I have a spare 10 gallon tank I could use. So you think I’ll be best with a filter sock leading to fuge and then bubble trap leading to return? How many gph on the return should I shoot for?

 

[NoahLikesFish]

I don’t know, I’m not using a sump for my tank. I would ask someone else, all I know is that a skimmer isn’t that useful in smaller tanks