Questions about FOWLR tanks

[adam2373]

I'm having mad problems with my mini reef keeping anything alive other then fish. I'm seriously thinking about just going with fish and lr till I get more experience. Do I still need a skimmer? And what about supplements, which are still needed?

[thomas1102]

what are the leavels in your tank??? how often are you changing water and what is your water source?? what supplements are you adding at the moment?? if none you should add calcium and and trace elements.

[thomas1102]

BTW keep the skimmer :D

[adam2373]

I was adding NatuReef Iron Plus+, Iodine Plus+, Stongent, Bromactine and using Reef Cystals Salt with R/O water from LFS. All levels were at 0, SG 1.0123, PH 8.2 and what ever else I didn't have a test for I took to the LFS to test.

[adam2373]

Could you suggest an external skimmer with a PH that would fit a 20 gallon long? It's only 12 inches high so I've been having problems finding a skimmer that small other then the Lee's Skimmer. Which I've been having problems getting it just right. It either skims too much water or the air pump isn't set high enough not producing enough bubbles. The Lee's is an internal skimmer which I would like to get rid of.

[thomas1102]

there arnt any that i can suggest that are hang on but any skimmer that goes under the tan/becide it will work great :P .it depends on how much you are willing to spend but a few good skimmers are the red sa berlin series and if you can hang a skimmer on the back that is bigger than your tank i would highly recommend the cpr bak-pak2(online for about 129$ and it is for tanks up to 60 gallons so it would fit you tank very well) hope i helped :P .......... BTW what are your iron, calcium phospate and other leavels such as these? some inverts seem to be very sensetive. how long did you have them and what were they??? :mrgreen: