kitch40

I would still run a skimmer, even if you decided to run GFO or something similar. The skimmer is going to pull out suspended waste and excess food before it has a chance to break down and cause your ammonia to rise.

And reccomend you still have the tank cycle. Nitrates may be nuetralized by whatever chemical media you are using, but ammonia and nitrite will still spike and become toxic to your tank inhabitants.

I agree I would also run the skimmer as well, if you ever have a coral or clam spawning event you will definitely need a skimmer. A skimmer will react instantly where as other forms of filtration have a slower response in removing baddies from the water.

Skimmers remove organic particals before they decompose to Nitrate and phosphate, So even with nitrate removal the skimmer will help, especially with events such as spawing like Spyder mentioned, or acidental over feeding etc. There are also theories that they help remove the toxins some corals release to attach each other.

You'll still need to cycle the tank either way. Cycling allows the bacteria that convert amonia to nitrite then nitrate to build up. It also allows any die off from your live rock time to fully decompose and be converted to nitrate before adding livestock.

On this same thread, should a Protein skimmer be turned on when cycling the tank with Live rock???
Thanks Guys,
Aaron

1AaronTravels: Definitly! It'll pull out all the particles that float around the tank as your live rock cures and help keep the ammonia spike to a minimum. If the water quality gets too bad during the cycle it'll kill some of the creatures you bought the live rock to obtain.

Kitch40: What type of nitrate filter did you have in mind?

I've been looking at ads from" aquaripure".

Look into building an Algae Turf Scrubber. You may never need a skimmer with one. Check out algaescrubber.net FAQs.