Shut that Skimmer Down! Over skimming your tank.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If it's left elsewhere the live rock and sand will do it's job. If it's in the skimmer it is getting plenty of oxygen which would help increase production.

Maybe.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Plus I employ thousands of these little polyps which eventually convert these nutrients to calcium...

You should train them to turn nutrients into gold instead of calcium.

 

[twilliard]

I am glad to see this all calm down

 

[SunnyX]

I don't understand why everyone must so vehemently defend their chosen method of reefkeeping. If you use a skimmer and have good results then skim away! If you run a natural system and choose not to skim then keep it natural! If you like sand, cool! If you like BB, awesome!

Running a system with or without a skimmer has its advantages and disadvantages. There's no wrong way to build a reef tank. While I feel that a reef aquarium is easier to maintain with a skimmer I don't believe that one must have a skimmer to be successful. Different strokes for different folks. I like carbon dosing and feel that it does a great job but I wouldn't advocate its use for all reefers as I believe its more of an advanced method, one that can have some serious repercussions if not dosed properly.

Oh and speaking of "results" with a particular method.

Oversized skimmer
About 13 months of growth. First picture is the tank setup 08/2008. Second picture is 13 months later 09/2009. Many corals browned out in the move and took more than a month to recover. This is from a "new" setup to what you see in the picture on the bottom half.

 

[melev]

Sunny is going to always be the exception to the rule, his tanks are what most of us attain to achieve.

I just checked to see if the Avast Skimmer Swabbie would fit the Nyos neck, but it's about 1/4" from making contact. So either I have to come up with a workaround, or ask them to make me a new part so I can use it.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Hopefully it's the right spot! Lol if not please move it @mdbannister [emoji4] ty

Can't remember if I ever answered, and I'm too lazy to read back through and see if I did. The location for the thread is fine.

 

[spacetime]

Randy - any notable science behind the assertion that venturi skimmers are more gentle on bacteria than needle wheels and thus better for systems that carbon dose?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy - any notable science behind the assertion that venturi skimmers are more gentle on bacteria than needle wheels and thus better for systems that carbon dose?

I've seen the assertion too, but I don't recall seeing any data.

FWIW, I'm also not sure what you'd analyze to know, unless somehow you quantified dead bacteria bits in the aquarium water. Reduced live bacteria in the aquarium might just mean they were skimmed out more, and quantifying live or dead bacteria in the skimmate seems somewhat problematic since they can also be growing and expanding in numbers in it, or dying in it.

I suppose you might run the skimmer and collect no skimmate and look to bacteria levels in the aquarium over time.

 

[spacetime]

All I've seen has been experienced based... usually it comes with a claim of better polyp extension and overall health of the coral after the change. I can't imagine that there is any control group possible. I suppose that it could just be due to the change of the skimmer itself.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

All I've seen has been experienced based... usually it comes with a claim of better polyp extension and overall health of the coral after the change. I can't imagine that there is any control group possible. I suppose that it could just be due to the change of the skimmer itself.

One might even argue that polyps extend more when broken bits of bacteria make desirable food.

 

[bobbyM]

no skimmer!!!
just have a look for this

Exactly..

 

[Rick.45cal]

So I read this entire thread! I want one of those t-shirts... It should say: "I read the whole 'Shut that Skimmer Down!' thread and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!" Maybe a picture of a dead horse being beaten on it too. (Sorry my sense of humor at work)

For the record: I'm new to the forum, but I have spent many years as a reef keeper and quite a few years working in a LFS (specializing in marine aquariums) through high school and college. That was a couple decades ago. I have had successful tanks from bare bottomed Berlin style tanks, to skimmer less tanks, and deep sand tanks. Predominantly I have always had "mixed reefs" with LPS and soft corals.

I haven't been active in the hobby for the last 10 years or so, but have once again "caught the reef bug" and am in the process of setting up a 200 gallon reef tank. I've been dreaming of this tank for years! I think this time I am going to do a predominantly SPS tank and attempt to run an ULNS. (I also plan on skimming lol)

Thank you all for taking the time to share your knowledge. One thing this thread has definitely proven is that reef keepers are still as passionate about this hobby as they were 20+ years ago. This is an awesome resource that we didn't have back then!

 

[Wendy22]

Ok I read the whole thread. Someone please send their skimmate off to triton and post the results to answer @twillard haha. After being in this hobby for 12 years I decided to set up a system and buy my first skimmer. I never really had any issues before without one but I figured what the heck. So now I have this skimmer running 24/7 skimming away and the drain plug hasn't been in the drain tube in almost 2 years. For me it is a $200 airstone, nothing else. I'm not saying a skimmer can't be beneficial to some systems, but it's completely unnecessary for mine. You may ask about my nitrates. Well I have to dose stump remover just to have them detectable with a red sea pro test kit. I'm not dropping in mysis one at a time making sure it all gets eaten either. I feed this tank like crazy!

Stump remover? And what is unls? While we are asking, sorry newbie here

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

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?

You nailed it buddy.I skim 4 hours a day and have to dose NO3/PO4. People are having problems with Dinos/coral starvation because their water is TOO clean and low in nutrients. This is why old school tanks were healthier before filter rollers, refugiums, and all the other junk that the retailers are telling hobbyists they need. ALL I run is filter floss/4 hours skimming, besides dosing. Most peoples' tanks are way too clean. The oxygen thing is bs too.

 

[Reefahholic]

I run my skimmer 24/7, but have been thinking that it may be somewhat beneficial to turn it off for 2-4 hrs daily during the peak period when pH is the highest. I don’t know.

Maybe the bacteria is more on the rock, but I’ve head there is a lot in the water column as well. I don’t know because I’ve never tried to look. I haven’t seen any microscopic images or studies proving either way. There may be I just haven’t seen or heard about it. If there is please DM them to me. It would be interesting to see some good data on this. I have skimmed 24/7 with a oversized skimmer before, and it did strip the system a bit too much. This time I bought a smaller skimmer.

Then you have people like Chris Meckley with ACI who tested the skim in the collection cup and found a lot of trace element’s. However, I do biweekly-monthly ICP’s and my numbers aren’t very far off skimming 24/7. So I really do don’t think they pull an excessive amount of trace elements out.

I do wonder how much Pod’s and beneficial bacteria are being skimmed out. I think we do need to look at the flip side and consider how much “Bad” bacteria may also be getting skimmed out which could maybe cause some issue’s if it wasn’t.? I guess it also depends on what you’re feeding the bacteria, and if they’re being fed at all.

 

[fish farmer]

Stump remover? And what is unls? While we are asking, sorry newbie here

Stump remover is sodium nitrate and ulns is ultra low nutrient system.

Also you revived a zombie post