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That is a small part of the whole picture and thank you!Twillard my understanding of a skimmer is it removes unwanted organics and helps put oxygen in the water
An off cycle allows the catch up of no3 and po4 (depending on foods introduced)The biggest issue I see is that simply there are so many fantastic tanks, and it's the norm with amazing stony reef tanks, that the skimmers run 24/7. Saying constant skimming is bad simply isn't the case as so many amazing systems do great with skimmers running all the time.
There are also successful tanks that don't run skimmers at all using plant based exports (scrubbers and macro), or even just waterchanges and chemical removal in nanos, but it's not like those systems have clear advantages when not using skimmers and with scrubbers there are even instances of increased nitrate and phosphate exportation when adding skimmers.
I realize the question was about full time skimmer operation and not skimmer vs no skimmer - but if you look at the most beautiful reef tanks most of them run skimmer 24/7. Figure if my system becomes that good, THEN I might play with on/off cycles, but unless your system is on par with the most beautiful in the world with basketball size acros the skimmer on/off isn't what's holding a person back.
Bottom line still seems to be, if you want to keep difficult coral, generally sps, run skimmer all the time. Even if keeping filter feeders doing things like carbon dosing seem to have more impact than "overskimming".
Now pushing the limit with a NPS tank is more up in the air - by for most reefers those systems are distinctly different from a typical reef tank.
Only if the additive adheres to surface tensionAs well as additives people use
Love this one!!Besides water a skimmer removes CaCO3, MgCO3, biogenic opal, organic material, ALK, CAL, MAG, potassium, iron, phosphate and a few more elements.
Phosphate is only between the 5 and 10% what is found in skimmers.