Hello, I m new and need some help.

[Wnyku]

Hello All , my name is mike and i m running 40gal reef and fish for almost 3 months now. My corals and fishes are doing good , in some cases of softies i can see even grow. But ... i need answer for serious question.
In 40gal tank , i have fluval 306 filter only and no protein skimmer.
Do I really need one ? I m trying to get answer all around the stores and every time answer is different. Can someone tell me if i need that skimmer or not to successively run what I've got .I will try to insert some pictures as well .
Thanks for advice .





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[Wnyku]

here is few more


http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g.../imagejpg3.jpg

[aprilschutt]

Sorry I don't have an answer but that is a really beautiful tank! You've only had this running for three months?? Awesome!!

[gone fishin]

IMHO you do not need one, as long as you stay on top of WC's and filter cleaning. It would be beneficial if you decided to get one. Good luck

nice tank by the way.

[ReefsandGeeks]

+1^ Although beneficial, you could keep your water quality in check with more frequent or larger water changes. not sure what kind of coral you have (I always have problems seeing people's pictures unless they are an attachment to the post) but as long as you don't have SPS and don't over feed you should be okay. It would get expencive pretty quick trying to do a WC everytime your nitrates got high enough to bother SPS. Not to mention a ton of maintainance. Go ahead and go without one for now. If you're alright with the extra water changes and your corals are doing well then you're good. you can always add one later if you wanted to keep water peramiters better and more stable.

[jrr98002]

Protein skimmers are designed to remove organic wastes from the water before they can break down into (ultimately) nitrates and phosphates and fuel unwanted algae outbreaks and poor water quality which can and do cause coral issues. As mentioned above, if you CAN stay on top of this with WCs and the like, then you don't absoultely need one, but you're only three months in. I find WCs to be a huge PITA but if you don't mind doing big WCs often, more power to you and go without the skimmer.

[Mishri]

Yeah, since you are keeping sofites they actually do quite well with higher nitrate levels, you'll do just fine without a skimmer with your fluval 306. I have 2 fluval 304s and a 305 myself-but wont be running them on my tanks as I intend to be running SPS which requires some heavy skimming and keeping phosphates and nitrates down.

[Wnyku]

Thank You guys , i will try run it without skimmer then . All levels are ok now so I hope all is gonna be good. Not planning to add much now , maybe few softies in some time.
One more question if i can ? Some sources saying i should keep no more then 1 fish by 10 gal of water .Is that true ? or i can do 6-7 in 40gal tank. so far i have 5 fishes , 4 crabs and 4 -5 snails. Is that that's it ? or i can try something also ?

[mbemount]

Originally Posted by Wnyku

Thank You guys , i will try run it without skimmer then . All levels are ok now so I hope all is gonna be good. Not planning to add much now , maybe few softies in some time.
One more question if i can ? Some sources saying i should keep no more then 1 fish by 10 gal of water .Is that true ? or i can do 6-7 in 40gal tank. so far i have 5 fishes , 4 crabs and 4 -5 snails. Is that that's it ? or i can try something also ?

One fish per 10/g of water isn't necessarily true. It's really depends on what fish are already in there and if your tank can handle the bioload. What fish do you currently have in there? More fish = more waste.

[Wnyku]

I have green mandarin , maroon clown , two damselfish, regal tang and purple pseudochromis so i have six now. So you think i can add one or two ?

[kayraw]

I'd personally use a skimmer on any size tank. I currently run a 20 gallon with a tunze 9001, fuge and filter with floss and rowaphos yet my skimmer still pulls out so much crap in 2 days. I've seen tanks do well without them but require a lot more maintenance.

[Wnyku]

Also guys , I need some suggestions about lightings.
I have fluval 60 led 7500k . Day light is awesome but moon light is not giving me full colors of my reef . ( adding pic) Probably due to only 4 led's of blue in all light combination.
I decided to do my own ( incredible light ). I bought 16 festoon types bulbs and brackets (6led in each ) and gonna make my own light out of it. But now , i bought 8 blue , 2 purple , 2 red , 2 green and 4 white so total of 64 led. Now i need someone good in lighting , with of them i should use to see the best colors on my reef tank.
I know that i may sound like newbie but I m a newbie
Should i use all color lights or just blue and white or just blue ? Completely clueless her guys .

[joem1cha3l]

that tank is too small for that tang.

[Wnyku]

Tank is not that small , its 36' long , looks small on pic tho

[gone fishin]

Originally Posted by Wnyku

I have green mandarin , maroon clown , two damselfish, regal tang and purple pseudochromis so i have six now. So you think i can add one or two ?

I would say your maxed out. You will have a pretty aggressive tank. The tang Will outgrow the tank and the mandarin will need a constant supply of pods. Good luck

BTW you may have better luck on the lighting question by posting in the lighting and other equipment forum, quite a few DIY guys over there.

[Scubaken]

Agreed, the tang will very shortly outgrow the tank, then get stressed and then I.C.H will pop up and the rest is history

[cidbozek]

Originally Posted by Wnyku

Tank is not that small , its 36' long , looks small on pic tho

I think he meant 40 gallons is small for a fish that requires 180+ gallons

[jrr98002]

Especially if you're committed to going without protein skimmer, plus with that tang that's going to get HUGE if he doesn't die of stress/disease first, I'd agree with everyone else that you're maxed.

[Wnyku]

So it was a mistake to buy a tang ?

[jrr98002]

Not NECESSARILY a mistake if it's very small at the moment, just know a 3 foot tank is very small for even the smallest species of tangs (which your tang isn't) so it will NOT be happy forever in there. You may be able to keep it a few years, but be prepared to trade it in or give it away or something.

[ichthyogeek]

It wasn't a mistake to buy A tang, but yes, you should have done your research on the tang before you bought it. Personally, I'd get rid of the tang. No matter what the store says about you being able to bring it back when it gets too big, it's rather cruel to the tang to grow in such a confined space, then moved to a smaller space, and most likely die. Sorry if that hurts, but it's quite possibly the truth.

From what I can see, you have a mandarin dragonet (unseen), a hippo/regal tang, a yellowbelly/kupang damselfish (C. hemicyanea), a blue damselfish (C. cyanea), a strawberry dottyback (Pictichromis pictis), and a maroon clown (Premnas biocellatus) (unseen), correct? Current consensus is that the dragonet will starve due to lack of pods (look into mandarin diners and especially Paul B's brine shrimp feeder). The hippo will be too large in a few years. You might be able to get by with one other fish if you return the hippo and mandarin dragonet.

Corals. You seem to have a mixed coral tank. I see mushroom anemones, zoanthids, and what looks like a photosynthetic gorgonian. I also see a Duncan, hammer, favites, and goniopora, all of which are stony corals. I think, but don't remember, that the favites and goniopora are small polyp stony corals. I have absolutely no idea what that bright yellow coral is, a Sarcophyton leather maybe?

[Wnyku]

That yellow coral is a yellow Sinularia.
We'll , then in a year or two I will give/trade my hippo to a bigger tank .I don't want him to staffer . Mandarin I think is gonna be ok because he learn to eat brine shrimps and on top of that I m giving him zooplankton 3 times a week . So far his stomach is rounded and looks fatty At least I hope he will do ok. I love that fish . Already almost 2months in my tank .
Thank you very much for all suggestions !!
Will not add any more fishes to my tank then and I will try to continue without skimmer .

One more think , I heard about UV light sterilizer .Is it helping ? Or it's just waste of money ?

[Branespikin]

I like what you have in your tank looks nice. I would recommend using a skimmer. You have a sump/refugium? If so put it in there if not then a HOB. It will pull out a lot of gunk.

[Wnyku]

That's the problem , I have no sump and no space for HOB

[FraggledRock]

if it aint broke, dont fix it...