40g FO saltwater 6months
Aqua Clear Filter, no skimmer

1. Is having a protein skimmer more essential than having a HOB filter?

2. If I have a good protein skimmer, do I need another filter?

3. Which skimmers are most recommended? Which is better, Coralife or Remora?

4. I've been told that the BIO MAX part of an Aqua Clear filter is not needed for saltwater. True?

------- also

5. Do you take out everything (including all LR) when cleaning substrate?

THANKS!

1 yes
2 depends on preferences
3 yes
4 yes
5 no dont clean your substrate.

A protien skimmer gets out what nothing else can so its vital for anything over 30 gallons unless you want to do massive water changes. I would still run your aqua clear if it was just to run carbon in, it will help your water from turning yellow. I personally have tried the super skimmer series and the remora.........they are both great........super skimmer is insanely powerful........BUT it overflows if you dont watch it all the time. The remora is a little bit more compact and efficient.....the maxi jet is literally half the size of the super skimmer pump........which is a big plus. It runs a lot less power and it wont overflow.......theres no way for it to........unless gravity leaves the earth. If you have live rock dont waste your time with bio max.........if you dont have live rock you could use it. Are you running sand or gravel? Live sand? With a FO tank I would run live sand Oolite It would work best. If your running live sand you never have to clean it......you buy critters to do it for you. I have 50 nas snails in a 29 gallon tank, a serpent star.......a ton of other snails.......a few hermits.....and a sand sifting sea cucumber. Hes ugly......but cool as shi@. He eats the sand and the poo digests everything and craps out clean sand. Its sweet.

Lets put it this way.....he sold me the snails for .25 cents a piece I bought 20 bucks worth......and he threw some in there for me. I through some in my fuge to stir the sand and most in my main tank. Theres probably close to 100.....but you dont ever see them. Those little buggers stir it up nice. :)

Mine all nestle in the sand, they are all around .5 inch or smaller and there are a few hungry ones that go eat off the glass. But my turbos eat most of the film algae and the hair off the rock.

ohhhh yes. Its going to be like an alien air craft is sucking up your corals and fish. night and day difference. I just turned on the 250 over my 70 gallon to see how it looks......DAMN. While you have your low lighting though.....go buy the 64 oz set of Oceans Blend part 1 and 2. its like 20 or 30 bucks. BUT while you have the low lighting....your corraline would TAKE OFF with this stuff in here. Your rocks would be a nice purple in color when you get your new light. I have more coralline algae in my dimly lit fuge......than I do in my display with 300 watts over it. I bought a piece of base rock thats huge for 10 bucks......it was all dead....now its got worms and all kinds of stuff on it.......and its solid purple from being in my sump. I dose this stuff every morning 1ml per gallon of display water and DAMN, EVERYTHING has grown. Look into it for sure. I have used Kent marine..Aqua C..purple up....and Sea Chem. I by far recommend the Oceans Blend....It will change the whole look of your tank, and give you an awesome purple on your rocks.

Yuppers. http://www.oceansblend.com/