I've been reading up alot on octopi recently and find that they are fascinating animals and have been beginning to think about making a setup to keep one for myself. I've kept fish before and currently have a setup of african cicilids so I understand how to cycle tanks but that's not what holds me back from buying an octopus. I'm in college right now so i'm on a fairly small budget since I don't get a chance to work very many hours a week. I already have a 55 gallon tank avalible with a hood and light and get a filter fairly cheap from my friend but that's not holding me back from getting an octopus. Since i'm on a fairly small budget I can't afford really to put $200-250 dollars on a protein skimmer that i'd only be using for one animal which leads to my question. Is it possible to house an octopus without a protein skimmer? I have many filters avalible to me from my friend who works at a pet store so I was wondering if it would be possible to have several small filters in order to not have too much current to biologically filter out the waste rather than having a protein skimmer. If there is any other less expensive way of filtering out the waste from an octopus I'd appreciate it if someone would tell me but I just can't afford to buy an octopus if I have to put so much money towards just one part of the setup.