Shut that Skimmer Down! Over skimming your tank.

Zacco

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Would it be safe to assume that 85 to 90 percent of the reefing community keeps their skimmers running 24/7 when in actuality we should be shutting our skimmers off for about 4 to 5 hours a day. Are we wrong for running our skimmers 24/7? More than likely. Over skimming or any skimming for that matter removes beneficial bacteria. By putting your skimmer on a timer and shutting it down for a few hours a day, you are giving the bacteria time to assimilate (take in) more nutrients and organics. The misconception with people having algae problems is to run out (or get online) to buy a bigger skimmer. Or to increase the water/air intake of their skimmer only to see problems get worse. By giving the bacteria more time in the reef environment to process and take in more nutrient's, we should start seeing our Skimmate a darker shade of brown in our collection cups. What say you?
 
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tj w

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lol twilliard, id have to politely disagree with that quote.
 

tj w

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Ha, i agreed with twilliard on that. It automatically rephrased what i typed.
 

saltyhog

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The vast majority of the bacteria necessary for our tanks is not in the water column, it's on the rock. I can (and have) done a near 100% water change without any problems to the tank. Skimmers take out dissolved organic matter. I'll continue to run mine 24/7.
 

tj w

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I would hate to see what would happen in my 300 mixed reef if i were to try and unplug my skimmer 5-6 hrs a day. It pulls out dark thick green nastiness now as it is
 

Sabellafella

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I mean,i dont disagree or agree lol ill tell you what tho, when i had my apex run my skimmer around night time and had it off for about 8 hours aday every single one of my corals blew up in the matter of weeks
 
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Zacco

Zacco

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LOL. I would like to interject that I am not suggesting to turn off your skimmer or run your skimmer 24/7. I am just putting a question out there for debate. I posted the above information from a response I got from a very well known company when I shot them an e-mail on this very topic. I personally run my skimmer 24/7. But this bacteria thing.... hmmmm.. does any one know how many strains of bacteria there can be in a reef tank? Hint.....It's just not one. :)
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Is the goal of the thread about what skimmers remove or algae problems Id like to know ( and the skimmer was attempted to be traced back as the cause?)

the algae part is the simplest test in reefing. Use X method to fix and document algae tanks in threads and get it up to about ten pages.

The only valid test for algae causatives and fixes, is to wield them. Theories vastly outpace cure threads
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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We posted at same time I understand your take now

Show him this thread:)
 

ESVAreefer

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I don't run my skimmer at night, my skimmer is loud and it keeps me up at night if I don't but I believe it's ultimately beneficial. If you look at Leng Sy's(of EcoTec Marine) experiments with various tank methods the tank with the most sps growth and the fluffiest LPS had the skimmer off for 6hrs daily. The skimmer removes micro food for coral. Also coral need certain ratio of nitrate and phosphate to survive and photosynthesize just that simple.
 

twilliard

Tank pests..
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I don't run my skimmer at night, my skimmer is loud and it keeps me up at night if I don't but I believe it's ultimately beneficial. If you look at Leng Sy's(of EcoTec Marine) experiments with various tank methods the tank with the most sps growth and the fluffiest LPS had the skimmer off for 6hrs daily. The skimmer removes micro food for coral. Also coral need certain ratio of nitrate and phosphate to survive and photosynthesize just that simple.
Hence why I dose no3 ;)
Skimmers pull out more bad than good :)
 
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