Queries on setting up a Marine tank

[danaya]

Hi, is it necessary to put up a skimmer in the initial stage of the setup? I gather some info on some LFS and says that once I established my water conditions, after a few months can already put up a skimmer. Also, is it necessary to put up a chiller for a live rock + fish + soft corals setup?

[teebs]

1) When cycling the tank, you do not need a skimmer. Only when the tank is cycled, then u will need to use a skimmer.

2) Cycling a tank will take from 2-6 weeks depending on whether you use live rocks, live sand and NSW.

3) Depending on your tank size, you may be able to get away with using fans only. However, if you use MH lights, you will need to use a chiller due to the large amount of heat generated by the MH lights.

[danaya]

Hi teebs! Thanks for the feedback.

For the skimmer one, is it ok to use those small internal ones instead of the bulky ones setup outside the tank? since my tank is only 2 ft. By the way, if I use a 24W x 4 T5 tubes, would it be ok to use a fan instead of chiller?

[BFG]

If you do not want to use a skimmer, you have to do weekly water change. Using synthetic salt plus RO/DI water for your salt mix. Do not leave the water in the tank stagnant while cycling and there's no need to have the lighting while cycling the tank.

[teebs]

Hi teebs! Thanks for the feedback.

For the skimmer one, is it ok to use those small internal ones instead of the bulky ones setup outside the tank? since my tank is only 2 ft. By the way, if I use a 24W x 4 T5 tubes, would it be ok to use a fan instead of chiller?

For the skimmer, you can use the Prizm or Deltec MCE600 skimmers. The MCE600 is extremely good as pulling out waste from your tank but it costs quite a bit. You can basically forget about the Weipro or other cheaper skimmers on the market as they are pretty useless.

For a 2ft (I'm assuming 2x1x1), you can use fans only. I'm using fans on my 2x1x1 fowlr and chiller on my 3x2x2 LPS tank.