Just wonderering how many out there run protein skimmers with their reef setup that has a deep sand bed. I have run my reef with and without, with varying results. I have tried running totally without skimming, only occasional skimming (few days/month) and 24/7 skimming. My sandbed is 4" deep. I was trying to be as natural as possible so I started without skimming at all. I had great results, but some things just didnt seem to do as well. When I went to skimming, the results seemed to flipflop a bit in terms of what corals did better. I use DT's to feed also. The tank is 75 gallons, with 2x250W 10K XM's on it. Any opinions would be appeciated.
DSB and Skimmers
- Thread starter Reef Goalie
- Start date
OK, I don't want to run a skimmer, but I had to.
Why wouldn't you run a skimmer? Because it destroys all your plankton.
My sponges were doing great before I started my skimmer (2 months ago), now they are visibly starving and loosing mass. Unfortunately I was not able to control the water qualityi without the skimmer. I hope this will be corrected once I finish my sump setup (that will include a large algae scrubber and lots more LR). At that point I'll try to shut down the skimmer.
M.
Why wouldn't you run a skimmer? Because it destroys all your plankton.
My sponges were doing great before I started my skimmer (2 months ago), now they are visibly starving and loosing mass. Unfortunately I was not able to control the water qualityi without the skimmer. I hope this will be corrected once I finish my sump setup (that will include a large algae scrubber and lots more LR). At that point I'll try to shut down the skimmer.
M.
I run a skimmer 24/7 on both my 20H nano and 180g. My 180g has a DSB.
2 years ago my skimmer pump in the 180g began to fail. It took me a few weeks to figure it out (shame on me), but I noticed a difference in the tank in just 10-14 days. And it wasn't a positive difference.
2 years ago my skimmer pump in the 180g began to fail. It took me a few weeks to figure it out (shame on me), but I noticed a difference in the tank in just 10-14 days. And it wasn't a positive difference.
cwa46":3rbwb13g said:
It's true that they may not be related - I have no proof that they are. I just think that they are. Regarding plankton - before the skimmer kicked in I just had it in 24/7, if I feed it it will stay in for one hour or so until the skimmer gets it out again (with an efficiency of 1/24). IMO useless. Sponges are not like fish (gorge themselves for 5 minutes and be fine the rest of the day).
Anyway, I didn't want to start a big debate about skimmers: I use one and I consider them as being a good tool for reducing nutrients. But neither without drawbacks nor a "must have" as long as the nutrients can be controlled by other means.
M.
OK, the consensus is clearly run the skimmer 24/7. Thanks to those who replied to the poll. Any additions replies or opinions would be gladly accepted. And, one final question. To borrow a phrase from this thread, why on God's green earth would I NOT turn off the skimmer just during the time when I dose with DT's for feeding? :lol:
I finally ended up skimmerless - there just wasn't any reason to keep the noisy thing running. No nuisance algaes, oxygenation isn't a real problem (surge device), and with several Goniopora I'd like to keep as much free plankton as possible.
Definite props to the DSB - my nitrates have never deviated from a zero reading.
Definite props to the DSB - my nitrates have never deviated from a zero reading.
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