I want to add coral (softies mostly) to my 29G FOWLR. Finally spent the $$$ on decent lighting. I've been using water changes every week or so (about 40% change). Should I add a skimmer, or just keep doing frequent water changes to maintain water quality? I've got about 500-750gph of flow. About 35lbs LR, and 25lbs LS. Fish: Coral Beauty, Ocellaris clown, fire goby, PJ Cardinal. Peppermint shrimp (2), skunk cleaner, hermits, emerald crab, snails etc.
29G, skimmer or frequent water changes?
- Thread starter manowar669
- Start date
I would add a skimmer but you dont NEED one. With a skimmer you could reduce the size and how often you do WC but that is JMO
How much of a difference in size/frequency of WC would you estimate that the skimmer would make?
Do you have any macroalgae in your tank? I would add maybe a ball of chaeto in the corner or something for nitrate control, or look into a HOB refugium setup. I'm guessing with that, you could get away with 15-20% weekly changes without running a skimmer.
I would say you could go down to about 25% every 3 weeks. I am only doing about 25% every 8 weeks or so but I have a 50 gallon sump/fuge on a 65 gallon tank and my tank has been running a few years
I wouldn't recommend such large water changes unless you have a very messy fish that requires constant live food like feeder shrimp or fish. At most I would change about 25% each time. I have a 35G with a small skimmer and I change about 20% every month. Everything has been running great for the past couple of months.
Without a skimmer for your tank you could probably do 20-25% every three weeks with cheato (to take up excess nutrients).
Without a skimmer for your tank you could probably do 20-25% every three weeks with cheato (to take up excess nutrients).