Well, if you can't or don't want to run it full time, running it at night would be best in that regard. It seems apparent from the data, however, that O2 levels will always be highest with the skimmer on (ie. daytime O2 levels are better with it running vs. without).
Running protein skimmer??????
- Thread starter rbursek
- Start date
I found this statement in a search for macros and dissolved oxygeon,
"Oxygen is also a bi-product of photosynthesis, which is carried out by the plants themselves. "
ok so if my skimmer is off and my fuge light is on and the plants are performing photosynthisis then do I have dissolved oxygeon going into the tank from the plants as well and how much do the plants really do?
"Oxygen is also a bi-product of photosynthesis, which is carried out by the plants themselves. "
ok so if my skimmer is off and my fuge light is on and the plants are performing photosynthisis then do I have dissolved oxygeon going into the tank from the plants as well and how much do the plants really do?
A lighted fuge can help with O2 levels - Eric studied that also. His conclusion was basically that the effect could be significant in large systems. In smaller systems his data showed the skimmer having a far more significant impact on O2 levels.
AFAIK it's not an issue. I suppose if you were introducing pure O2 or something, but not with just aeration/macros.
Oxygen poisoning (aka hyperoxyia) can be an issue within the tissues of some photosynthetic corals, but that's caused by over-illumination / poor photo acclimation.
HTH
Oxygen poisoning (aka hyperoxyia) can be an issue within the tissues of some photosynthetic corals, but that's caused by over-illumination / poor photo acclimation.
HTH
shavo":h0kyg5iy said:
i'm not sure exactly how much 'plants' will add-but main factors are the amount of photosynthetic (plant related, including coral related symbionts)biomass, and their metabolic rate (influenced by CO2 availability, and overall health of tank/said photosynthetic life)
i'm guessing that one lb of CO2 producers requires more than one lb of plant life to metabolize all of the available CO2, but that's just a hunch/intuition-could be totally wrong
Shavo Buddy you need a Friend here,so here we go I NEVER run a SKIMMER on most of my Tanks.I cant trust them not to over flow,10 Gallon Water changes every two weeks and alot of Live Rock keeps my heavly populated Tanks nice and Heathly.I run two 60 Gallon Whisper Filters on each of my 55 Gallon Tanks and my Fish Tanks have been Heathy and good for Months.Not that skimmers dont work for some people just not for me.
thanks spike I was looking for something just like this,
incase you all missed it
Myth 17: You can never skim a tank too much.
Yes, you can. Far too many works have dealt with various aspects of protein skimming. I still feel there is too little information on exactly what, how much, and how effectively foam fractionation affects various components of the water column of reef aquaria. For the most part, protein skimmers are employed as water quality control devices to maintain low levels of organic and some inorganic materials, notably compounds containing nitrogen and phosphorous commonly linked to degraded water quality not conducive to the growth of many reef species such as corals. Whether or not they are used secondarily for other questionably useful purposes such as elimination of toxins or increasing oxygenation is another matter. My point is that once nutrient levels are low and conducive to a healthy aquarium, and until other secondarily important aspects of protein skimming are experimentally validated and quantified, any skimming over that required to maintain low levels of organic and inorganic pollutants is overskimming. Why? Because if the water is cleared of those things that are detrimental, it is also likely to be equally cleared of things that are beneficial. Given the now well-recognized limitations of providing large amounts of food without a corresponding decrease in water quality, skimming as little as possible while maintaining the aforementioned high water quality is only pragmatic. There is no advantage to a constantly stripped water column in all but a very few specialized situations.
If I were asked what a solution might be, I would propose the following. Use the most efficient skimmer possible and one that is capable of maintaining high water quality when used constantly. Assuming that they do provide some amount of oxygenation, even if minimal, I would then begin shutting off the skimmer during the day for a few hours and measure tank condition visually and through testing for several weeks. If water quality is maintained, I would increase the number of hours the skimmer is off, and wait again, continuing this process until the maximum number of hours is reached where water quality and tank health remains the same without the use of the skimmer. I would also opt for daylight discontinuance since oxygen is less of a problem when photosynthesis is occurring, and since most aquarists tend to feed fish and other products like phytoplankton during the day. This way, residual foods will not be removed for at least several hours. Some aquarists may even find that they can discontinue skimmer usage entirely (I think this likely, especially if activated carbon is employed).
Potential: Minimal to serious. In the best cases, continuous skimming results in relatively healthy tanks that are considered successful by most standards. In the worst cases, organisms perish because of the lack of available foods in the water column. In most cases, the results are a "sterile" looking tank with little alive but corals and coralline algae. Corals tend to appear weakened and, for lack of a more accurate description, not robust.
Distribution: Extremely widespread. There are many who employ alternate means of tank filtration, and these are usually the same people who appreciate the obvious differences in allowing more material to remain in the water column without compromising water quality. Foam fractionation use is both desirable and extremely widely employed, but as with other things should be employed properly and with a judicious purpose.
incase you all missed it
Myth 17: You can never skim a tank too much.
Yes, you can. Far too many works have dealt with various aspects of protein skimming. I still feel there is too little information on exactly what, how much, and how effectively foam fractionation affects various components of the water column of reef aquaria. For the most part, protein skimmers are employed as water quality control devices to maintain low levels of organic and some inorganic materials, notably compounds containing nitrogen and phosphorous commonly linked to degraded water quality not conducive to the growth of many reef species such as corals. Whether or not they are used secondarily for other questionably useful purposes such as elimination of toxins or increasing oxygenation is another matter. My point is that once nutrient levels are low and conducive to a healthy aquarium, and until other secondarily important aspects of protein skimming are experimentally validated and quantified, any skimming over that required to maintain low levels of organic and inorganic pollutants is overskimming. Why? Because if the water is cleared of those things that are detrimental, it is also likely to be equally cleared of things that are beneficial. Given the now well-recognized limitations of providing large amounts of food without a corresponding decrease in water quality, skimming as little as possible while maintaining the aforementioned high water quality is only pragmatic. There is no advantage to a constantly stripped water column in all but a very few specialized situations.
If I were asked what a solution might be, I would propose the following. Use the most efficient skimmer possible and one that is capable of maintaining high water quality when used constantly. Assuming that they do provide some amount of oxygenation, even if minimal, I would then begin shutting off the skimmer during the day for a few hours and measure tank condition visually and through testing for several weeks. If water quality is maintained, I would increase the number of hours the skimmer is off, and wait again, continuing this process until the maximum number of hours is reached where water quality and tank health remains the same without the use of the skimmer. I would also opt for daylight discontinuance since oxygen is less of a problem when photosynthesis is occurring, and since most aquarists tend to feed fish and other products like phytoplankton during the day. This way, residual foods will not be removed for at least several hours. Some aquarists may even find that they can discontinue skimmer usage entirely (I think this likely, especially if activated carbon is employed).
Potential: Minimal to serious. In the best cases, continuous skimming results in relatively healthy tanks that are considered successful by most standards. In the worst cases, organisms perish because of the lack of available foods in the water column. In most cases, the results are a "sterile" looking tank with little alive but corals and coralline algae. Corals tend to appear weakened and, for lack of a more accurate description, not robust.
Distribution: Extremely widespread. There are many who employ alternate means of tank filtration, and these are usually the same people who appreciate the obvious differences in allowing more material to remain in the water column without compromising water quality. Foam fractionation use is both desirable and extremely widely employed, but as with other things should be employed properly and with a judicious purpose.
This has not proven to be true IME. I've run with/without a skimmer and IMO they do far more good than harm. Shutting off your skimmer for a while after adding foods that stay in suspension makes some sense to me, but using this idea as a justification for skimming part time, or not at all is a bit of a stretch IMO...Eric Borneman":ojl5aowq said:
This statement seems somewhat illogical to me. The benefits of providing large amounts of food are exactly WHY I prefer to skim heavily. Heavier skimming allows heavier feeding without a loss in water quality IME. IMO advancements in skimmer technology are one of the things that allows the average hobbyist to keep specimens thriving these days that we couldn't keep alive years ago.Eric Borneman":ojl5aowq said:
Considering all of the great tanks out there these days that have a continously running skimmer on them that can probably suck the paint off a house, "overskimming" doesn't seem like a common problem. Corals in many of these tanks have fantastic colors and growth rates and sure don't look "weakened", "not robust", etc. - at least not to me...
JMO/JME of course...
i've never seen a heavily skimmed tank look anything BUT healthy and robust-2 will get you 50 that the underlying cause of that 'syndrome lies elsewhere
FWIW, as i've stated before, i've also run, and i'm presently running, a skimmerless tank-there's nothing 'wrong' with either methodology
one needs only to bear in mind that if one isn't running a skimmer, or running a skimmer part of the time, that the function the skimmer performs (nutrient export via the phytoplankton sink, phenol/albumen/terpene removal, among other likely pollutants) should (imo) be performed in another fashion (water changes, carbon, etc etc.)
one of the reasons why i'm such an adherent to skimming in general is due to having watched what happens to most skimmerless systems immediately (within days, and thereafter) after introducing a good skimmer to the systems.
the differences are most apparent in large systems- i help run a coral system that's about 20-25K gallons in volume, with a very high population density (and water turnover)-as soon as the skimmer's pumps get even a little clogged/slow-the inverts let you know right quick, and nuisance algae growth is far more rapid
the only point i was trying to make is that if one IS going to use a skimmer, it seems fairly illogical to use it only part of the time (knowing what i know and have seen re: the effects of skimmers in general).
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