protein skimmer help?

[seth]

what is a good hang on protien skimmer for about or less than 150? there are so many options and i dont want to buy something i will regret.

 

[Smitty]

Either an octopus or an aqua c remora.

 

[seth]

what about the hang on refugium and protien skimmer combo? are they any good? i am pretty new to this and i have a constant nitrate problem that i cant seem to fix with water changes alone.

 

[Smitty]

Yeah, those seem to work also. What type of water (tap or r/o) do you use for your tank, how much live rock do you have, and what type of sand, if any, do you have? Also, how often do you do water changes, what and how many fish, and what and how often do you feed them? These are questions that may help determine why you're having nitrate issues.

 

[little_fish]

Hello and Welcome!

+1 Smitty

 

[seth]

using distiled ro water, not sure on the live sand, but its at least a two inch sand bed. and at least 100lbs of life rock. and i have six small fish. i feed them once a day and only what they can eat in two min or so. and i do a ten percent water change every week.

 

[seth]

i have a yellow tang, six line wrasse, two clowns, watchman goby, bicolor psudochromis? not sure if thats how you spell it

 

[Smitty]

Ok, it sounds like you're on the right path with maintenance, and stocking limit. I'm out of ideas on why your nitrates are giving you issues...where are your nitrate levels at anyway?

 

[little_fish]

do you have sand or crushed coral for a substrate?

Also a 55 gallon is too small for a yellow tang, they need a larger home for proper health and happiness.

 

[seth]

sand, and my nitrates are about 80 or up. i just bought the AquaC Remora Protein Skimmer with Maxijet 1200 Pump and Drain Fitting. i hoping it will help.

 

[seth]

the yellow tang is only about 1-1/2 inch long right now, when it gets a little bigger i will re locate him to a freinds 120 gal tank.

 

[Smitty]

It should help...i have that same skimmer on my tank also, and it works great.

 

[kbuser92]

Great job thinking and PLANNING ahead! Most people that think of what to do when a fish gets too large dont actually plan on what to do at that point, but thats great that you know what to do!