Cons to skimmers

[CrazyCarlitos]

Put a bit of kalk in your skimmer cup the next time that you change it. It will raise the pH and not allow all of the stinky bacteria to live. It works.

Thx. Will look into this.
Interesting tip

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

No downside really. Bigger tank owners with healthy SPS loads typically feed heavy and export heavy, and the formula seems to work.

Where I don't run them is when low nutrients are a problem. "Just feed more" isn't an answer. I have a 20L growing SPS like wildfire and I had to take my skimmer offline to keep nitrates and phosphates from bottoming out.

DOCs are of course an issue, but I run ozone a few hours a week and that thing does in two hours what my skimmer can't do running 24/7.

I don't agree with oxygenation being significant because the amount of surface area of a tank vs air bubbles is insignificant. This has been beat to death in FW forums. The typical flow rates we run in reef tanks cause orders of magnitude more gas exchange at the surface than a bubbling skimmer.

Ya same. I must have more coral than fish given I have to dose ton of Phosphate and Nitrate. I am struggling to find reasons to run my skimmer. I removed it from my refugium and have more space for macro algae and corals which I put down there to heal if bad stuff happens to them. Kind of nice to have open refugium, and I need more phosphate and nitrate, not less.