Can a skimmer be too big?

kiwis

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I'm replacing my out of the box skimmer, there are a few around rated for under 300L but all my local stores have nothing in stock.

If I went for one which was rated 500-700L in a 140L tank - would this be too much or bad for the tank?
 

eea60123

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Most skimmer ratings are for a light bioload. I turn my skimmer off for a few hours if I dose anything besides major elements.
 

14 foot reef

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I don't think so Old on the right new Front and center



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kiwis

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So in short, I'll be fine to get a bigger skimmer???
 

jerrod

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This is all just personal experience but to me it depends on set up and whats in the tank. I have a light Bioload so my LPS seemed to do better when I had dirtier water but the SPS did great with the low nutrient system, now I only run a protien skimmer at night and everything seems happy. Dont know if it was because of the protien skimmer or not.
 

Shep

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A skimmer can't really be too big for a tank, it won't have a negative impact on the tank. The only really downside is that you pay for more than you need
 

HNR

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I personally think that they can be. But I will say that it is easier to underskim than to overskim. And getting "too big" is something that most reasonable reefers won't have an issue with.
 

C. Eymann

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There is such thing as overkill, but the line is pretty hard to cross, for instance if you ran a skimmer like a Reef Octopus Regal 300 on a 80 gallon system volumel, it would not skim very efficiently, it would have trouble forming a "head " from my experience.


I ran a super reef octopus xp2000 cone skimmer on a 58 sps for a while, but it struggled to skim, I moved down to a SRO xp1000 and it did much more consistent skimming.
 

eea60123

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I went bigger because I have plans to upgrade in the future. Yes you can probably strip out a lot of nutrients the corals could use as a food source, but I have my skimmer adjusted low to skim drier. I have a 450 gallon skimmer on a 220 gallon tank, run a Santa Monica ATS, dose aminos, and feed what I want without worrying about nitrates or phosphates. I have a mixed reef with mainly SPS, and my corals are healthy and growing. I don’t have a full blown SPS tank as some are just frags, so it may change in the future. I know I should, but I haven’t tested nitrates or phosphates and haven’t for over 10 years(after initial cycle). I don’t see where it would hurt to have a larger skimmer as long as you adjust it properly. I’ve run my current set up for many years 8-12 I lose track because I’ve had multiple tanks and some at the same time. I even gotten back in the habit of doing weekly water changes but have also gone months without one. Over sized skimmer helps with this.
 

eea60123

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A lot depends on you, your husbandry practices, coral selection, and bioload(fish and feeding).
 

NVS

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When I was in the hobby 10 years ago people often said to buy a skimmer rated for twice your tank size. Now adays they tell you to buy the next highest rated one for your tank size. IMO, the only limitation is really size of your sump. Skimmers clearly aren't going to take out everything. People run skimmers, fuges, algae scrubbers, and carbon/gfo and still have algae problems. I'd just go bigger. At the very least, you can grow into it if you decide to upgrade down the line.
 

eea60123

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When I first started I was told that I had to have a skimmer to be successful and that without it, I couldn’t keep certain corals. He called it a lagoon tank. Now people run ATS’s, refugiums, gfo, biolpellets, carbon, triton, zeolite, you name it and have success. I’d add another ATS and ditch my skimmer if I wouldn’t miss the gas exchange and freak out whether I just crashed my tank. Maybe my fear is irrational and partly due to bad advice years ago.
 

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