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Do I really need a surface skimmer?


Jovi
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Hello, I just recently bought a canister filter without its intake and output accessories. (It was a second-hand one and it was cheap so I just bought it). I was just browsing online for some lily pipes but I faced this decision of whether to get an intake pipe with a skimmer or without one. I currently keep 2 Malawi cichlids in a 29 gallon but plan to increase that number to 5/6 soon. I don't really see a protein layer on my tank, but algae is a serious issue that has been persisting for ages now.

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If you have the option, it's a nice thing to have.

It doesn't hurt, helps the health of the fish, especially integrated like that.

I would say it's not required, but given the option to have it, I'd have both on hand. Depending what you feed you might run into issues where you want the skimmer. Especially with a heavy protein diet or large fish.

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On 4/24/2022 at 5:03 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

If you have the option, it's a nice thing to have.

It doesn't hurt, helps the health of the fish, especially integrated like that.

I would say it's not required, but given the option to have it, I'd have both on hand. Depending what you feed you might run into issues where you want the skimmer. Especially with a heavy protein diet or large fish.

Thanks!

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A surface skimmer is pretty handy if you have duckweed and don't want it. You typically have to enlarge the openings a bit, but they just vacuum the duckweed from the surface of the water. If you don't have duckweed you probably don't need one, but they can be handy.

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Surface skimmers are nice and also a burden depending on a few things. If you feed floating foods, be aware that you might lose a handful of food to the filter which will just be adding unecessary organics to the water column as the filter will be 'eating' it before some fish do. In terms of cichlids, this might not be the case with a highly stocked tank (above the two you currently have) but understocked or less aggressive feeders might be competing with the filter to get food. I've also run into an issue with some skimmers (the Eheim standalone pump unit) actually being a trap for some fish. One day I couldn't find a group of Pygmy Cory's that had come out of QT and into a display... And well I found them, and not all in the best case of health. 

Be aware of what you keep and the limitations on what is in the tank before adding a surface skimmer. Sometimes they are awesome for water clarity, but it's also at the balance of making sure they are not taking away food from the tank, a death trap for smaller fish, as well as providing some other benefit.

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On 4/24/2022 at 10:56 PM, Tihshho said:

Surface skimmers are nice and also a burden depending on a few things. If you feed floating foods, be aware that you might lose a handful of food to the filter which will just be adding unecessary organics to the water column as the filter will be 'eating' it before some fish do. In terms of cichlids, this might not be the case with a highly stocked tank (above the two you currently have) but understocked or less aggressive feeders might be competing with the filter to get food. I've also run into an issue with some skimmers (the Eheim standalone pump unit) actually being a trap for some fish. One day I couldn't find a group of Pygmy Cory's that had come out of QT and into a display... And well I found them, and not all in the best case of health. 

Be aware of what you keep and the limitations on what is in the tank before adding a surface skimmer. Sometimes they are awesome for water clarity, but it's also at the balance of making sure they are not taking away food from the tank, a death trap for smaller fish, as well as providing some other benefit.

On 4/25/2022 at 1:40 AM, Wrencher_Scott said:

I wouldn't do it for the exact reasons above ^^^^^. They trap stuff off the top by design and those things are probably not something you want trapped in the filter anyway (food and fish)

I think if I had some kind of surface scum I would figure out why and fix it. 

 

 

Hmm, it kind of makes sense. The main reason I'm thinking of getting a surface skimmer is because I have a ton of algae in the tank currently. I suspect it's from the plants, but I'm not sure about it. I also have quite some surface scum in the tank at all times.

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Plants do not generate or create algae if they are healthy. The only way plants create algae is bringing it into the tank if it came from a tank with any nusiance algae, or feeding algae if the plants are struggling and start to break down. 

Take a look at your water params and figure out what is going on to cause the algae, once you got that down your should have your problem fixed!

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