Concerned about getting a skimmer that is too large for your tank?

[DurocShark]

Edit: TRIPLE post! Do I get an award?

 

[Ricardo@Coralvue]

Since I started working for a company that sales skimmers I learn that what skimmer is rated for, matters. Mostly because if you overfeed just to make the skimmer work, you better have a replacement skimmer in case that one fail, because is like and atomic bomb waitting to happen, been there done that

 

[ricky5415]

Why not do both skimmer + ATS?

 

[ricky5415]

I ran 2 skimmers in my sump ( bbk supermarin 300+ sro 5000 int ) + 8 cubes ATS in my 600g set up and I am glad I did go with the oversize skimmers. Both pull out really dark + smelliest stuff + ATS grow thick algae in 10-12 days. Saves me a lot of money on buying media too

 

[Rhodophyta]

If something dies, or you overfeed, or add some new live rock or sand to the system, an oversize skimmer will be appreciated. Some of the very large 6 foot tall skimmers we had 35-40 years ago could remove several gallons of water from the aquarium, which would be a problem in a small system.

 

[Cole_lol]

My tank has been running skimmerless for over 8 years. Nitrates are very low due to a DSB and quality live rock. Phosphates are easily controlled using GFO and a little macro algae.

I've been hearing about all these long term problems and "unmanageable " conditions for decades. Overfeeding your tank and then running an oversized piece of equipment (which has been proven to be very inefficient) seems silly. Keeping food in the water column seems more natural and leads to healthier corals.

It's no wonder the skimmerless team crushed the skimmer team in the recent PC Rainbow acro growout challenge. Maybe it's time for a new contest?

ATS? Those look like more trouble than they're worth. I imagine they strip the water of many beneficial elements as well. I prefer my APS system (acropora polyp scrubber)...

I would love to hear how you believe you have been successful over the last 8 years. What type of routine maintenance and such do you do to keep your levels down. I'm going to have to look up this challenge and read up. You have peeked my interest.

 

[Waterjockey]

My skimmer is way oversized (110 on a 30 gallon). I like the large amount of aeration it provides. With a line from outside to feed it fresh air, it makes a noticeable difference. So even though I could probably run it only a few hours a day for nutrient export, I run it 24/7 for tank aeration/stability

 

[RoyinSpain]

Highly oversized skimmers in my opinion remove TOO MUCH food from the water column and corals will need more supplementary feeding. Of course it depends what you've got in the tank, soft, lps, sps, other inverts, lots of fish.. and on your feeding regime. There are no hard and fast rules and many possible solutions. Having said that, I believe we need to keep atos low but not at zero to maintain most systems healthy.

 

[ksc]

I would love to hear how you believe you have been successful over the last 8 years. What type of routine maintenance and such do you do to keep your levels down. I'm going to have to look up this challenge and read up. You have peeked my interest.

There's nothing to it. I run my tanks just like I posted above. I also do 10-20% water changes weekly. I don't have any "magic in a bottle", just use the BRS dosers , their bulk 3 part, and quality fish food. Some good reading here:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2018134&highlight=skimmerless+totm

 

[ReefManKen]

I like to get the biggest skimmer I can afford and fit in the sump. IMO feed heavy - skim heavy is the way to go.

Would tend to agree with that. So many people feed their system 3 to 4 times a day from a lot of places I've read. I'm a heavy feeder myself but only 1 or 2 times a day. Mainly once a day. I've got a cannon for a skimmer in my system and it's doing its job as intended and I couldn't be happier.

 

[Denisk]

I agre with most that an oversized skimmer is great. However, I have never used one that was rated 2 or even 3 times the aquarium size. I'm not one to feed heavy as it throws my skimmer off. As of today I have a very low bio load (one clownfish and coral banded shrimp) in a 50 gallon cube . That tank has been skimmerless for the last 5 months. In my opinion, it's all about planning your aquarium. Don't buy something just because 10 people told you its an awesome skimmer. Plan based upon the the type of demand your aquarium will have; feeding habits, fish bioload, etc....

 

[johanngh1977]

Hi guys...in my own experience i start running my 75 g sps dominate with a reef octopus 150 space saver but im not happy with his performance, i replace it for his little brother octo 110 int classic, now for sure i can teel you this little boy works 10 times more efective than the his big brother in my 75g .... so im not sure about the theory of an oversized skimmer is the best option or the best way forward....

 

[sinekal]

When i set up a 90 gal with a 30 gal sump I bought a ro skimmer rated for a heavy bio load 180, and it worked great. I later had that same 90 attached to a bigger sump with a frag tank, but addded a big refugium. Same skimmer, continued to do great. It was probably about right sized per ro at that point. Today I have a much larger system, 240 display, 3 frag tanks, and the same skimmer, still meeting all my needs.

Point is I think all three can work, over, right, or under sized, depending on your situation. That being said I think the oversized helped me when I was knew, my practices were not as strong, my system was not as mature, etc and larger size was likely needed at that point in my case.

 

[Waterjockey]

Highly oversized skimmers in my opinion remove TOO MUCH food from the water column and corals will need more supplementary feeding. Of course it depends what you've got in the tank, soft, lps, sps, other inverts, lots of fish.. and on your feeding regime. There are no hard and fast rules and many possible solutions. Having said that, I believe we need to keep atos low but not at zero to maintain most systems healthy.

It's an older article, but I believe it was Advanced Aquarist that did a study of various skimmers, and found they all were limited to around 30% DOC removal. The "bigger or better" ones just got there sooner (I. e, took less skimming time to reach 30%), but they all got similar results eventually. I don't run socks, and I do have it shut down for an hour after feeding so food circulates around.

 

[bif24701]

It's an older article, but I believe it was Advanced Aquarist that did a study of various skimmers, and found they all were limited to around 30% DOC removal. The "bigger or better" ones just got there sooner (I. e, took less skimming time to reach 30%), but they all got similar results eventually. I don't run socks, and I do have it shut down for an hour after feeding so food circulates around.

That's true, that is what the study found. I think that it is true, however once the DOCs break down they convert to inorganic thus not really part of the study. So I don't think we know how much Nitrates, Phosphates, and other micro elements/inorganic nutrients are removed via a skimmer.

 

[Jacek56]

My tank has been running skimmerless for over 8 years. Nitrates are very low due to a DSB and quality live rock. Phosphates are easily controlled using GFO and a little macro algae.

I've been hearing about all these long term problems and "unmanageable " conditions for decades. Overfeeding your tank and then running an oversized piece of equipment (which has been proven to be very inefficient) seems silly. Keeping food in the water column seems more natural and leads to healthier corals.

It's no wonder the skimmerless team crushed the skimmer team in the recent PC Rainbow acro growout challenge. Maybe it's time for a new contest?

ATS? Those look like more trouble than they're worth. I imagine they strip the water of many beneficial elements as well. I prefer my APS system (acropora polyp scrubber)...

Very true.

 

[randyBRS]

Since I started working for a company that sales skimmers I learn that what skimmer is rated for, matters. Mostly because if you overfeed just to make the skimmer work, you better have a replacement skimmer in case that one fail, because is like and atomic bomb waitting to happen, been there done that

Valid point!

Why not do both skimmer + ATS?

Totally a valid option, but you may not see as great of production from your algae.

I ran 2 skimmers in my sump ( bbk supermarin 300+ sro 5000 int ) + 8 cubes ATS in my 600g set up and I am glad I did go with the oversize skimmers. Both pull out really dark + smelliest stuff + ATS grow thick algae in 10-12 days. Saves me a lot of money on buying media too

Nice!

If something dies, or you overfeed, or add some new live rock or sand to the system, an oversize skimmer will be appreciated. Some of the very large 6 foot tall skimmers we had 35-40 years ago could remove several gallons of water from the aquarium, which would be a problem in a small system.

Good point!

My skimmer is way oversized (110 on a 30 gallon). I like the large amount of aeration it provides. With a line from outside to feed it fresh air, it makes a noticeable difference. So even though I could probably run it only a few hours a day for nutrient export, I run it 24/7 for tank aeration/stability

Very cool! How long of a line are you feeding the skimmer with?

Highly oversized skimmers in my opinion remove TOO MUCH food from the water column and corals will need more supplementary feeding. Of course it depends what you've got in the tank, soft, lps, sps, other inverts, lots of fish.. and on your feeding regime. There are no hard and fast rules and many possible solutions. Having said that, I believe we need to keep atos low but not at zero to maintain most systems healthy.

Good call!

There's nothing to it. I run my tanks just like I posted above. I also do 10-20% water changes weekly. I don't have any "magic in a bottle", just use the BRS dosers , their bulk 3 part, and quality fish food. Some good reading here:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2018134&highlight=skimmerless+totm

If it's not broken, don't fix it, right?

Would tend to agree with that. So many people feed their system 3 to 4 times a day from a lot of places I've read. I'm a heavy feeder myself but only 1 or 2 times a day. Mainly once a day. I've got a cannon for a skimmer in my system and it's doing its job as intended and I couldn't be happier.

Awesome. There are some pretty extreme feeders out there!

I agre with most that an oversized skimmer is great. However, I have never used one that was rated 2 or even 3 times the aquarium size. I'm not one to feed heavy as it throws my skimmer off. As of today I have a very low bio load (one clownfish and coral banded shrimp) in a 50 gallon cube . That tank has been skimmerless for the last 5 months. In my opinion, it's all about planning your aquarium. Don't buy something just because 10 people told you its an awesome skimmer. Plan based upon the the type of demand your aquarium will have; feeding habits, fish bioload, etc....

Very good advice

Hi guys...in my own experience i start running my 75 g sps dominate with a reef octopus 150 space saver but im not happy with his performance, i replace it for his little brother octo 110 int classic, now for sure i can teel you this little boy works 10 times more efective than the his big brother in my 75g .... so im not sure about the theory of an oversized skimmer is the best option or the best way forward....

Cool! Are you a pretty light feeder? Do you have quite a few fish?

When i set up a 90 gal with a 30 gal sump I bought a ro skimmer rated for a heavy bio load 180, and it worked great. I later had that same 90 attached to a bigger sump with a frag tank, but addded a big refugium. Same skimmer, continued to do great. It was probably about right sized per ro at that point. Today I have a much larger system, 240 display, 3 frag tanks, and the same skimmer, still meeting all my needs.

Point is I think all three can work, over, right, or under sized, depending on your situation. That being said I think the oversized helped me when I was knew, my practices were not as strong, my system was not as mature, etc and larger size was likely needed at that point in my case.

Good point. Pretty impressive that you've been able to hang onto the same skimmer over three tanks!

It's an older article, but I believe it was Advanced Aquarist that did a study of various skimmers, and found they all were limited to around 30% DOC removal. The "bigger or better" ones just got there sooner (I. e, took less skimming time to reach 30%), but they all got similar results eventually. I don't run socks, and I do have it shut down for an hour after feeding so food circulates around.

Nice!

 

[Waterjockey]

Very cool! How long of a line are you feeding the skimmer with?

I'm lucky. Tank is near an outside wall, so I only have about a 2 or 3 foot run to the outside with a 3/8 id hose

 

[randyBRS]

Very cool! How long of a line are you feeding the skimmer with?

I'm lucky. Tank is near an outside wall, so I only have about a 2 or 3 foot run to the outside with a 3/8 id hose

Lucky indeed!

 

[hejjo]

Bigger the better, but there is always room for over-kill
Ask anyone with a boat

The two best days in the life of a boat owner are the day you buy it and the day you sell it [emoji13]