How do you use your Protien Skimmer

[Aquadude1]

I have often not been the biggest supporter of protien skimmers especially oversized ones on newer lightly stocked tanks. I feel it competes with corals and gas exchange can be achieved through much cheaper methods (airstone).

I have been rethinking there use on established tanks recently

Question:
Do you guys set your skimmer to the desired setting and just leave it? Or do you when you see production slow down keep increasing settings to get production again?

 

[Uncle99]

I just set mine to pull a nice dark stinky slop.
As long as that continues, I don’t touch the setting.
I dump the cup, twice weekly.
I clean the cup weekly.

 

[Aquadude1]

I just set mine to pull a nice dark stinky slop.
As long as that continues, I don’t touch the setting.
I dump the cup, twice weekly.
I clean the cup weekly.

So if it stopped, pulling as much all else remaining equal would you change the settings?

 

[exnisstech]

I skim dry and dark and will tweak once in a while as needed. Tank is heavily stocked and runs what many considering high nutrients. Second skimmer in another tank is for aeration only because I get a pH boost that helps SPS growth. I never clean adjust or empty this one. 3 other tanks running with no skimmer.

 

[X-37B]

I have often not been the biggest supporter of protien skimmers especially oversized ones on newer lightly stocked tanks. I feel it competes with corals and gas exchange can be achieved through much cheaper methods (airstone).

I have been rethinking there use on established tanks recently

Question:
Do you guys set your skimmer to the desired setting and just leave it? Or do you when you see production slow down keep increasing settings to get production again?

With my Tunze skimmers I just set them and they run without any adjustmemt. They are truly set and forget.
I can feed, do water changes and never turn them off.
The LifeReef is a beast but is more sensitive to water changes and I have to turn the dc pump down or it will overflow. Both skimmers just lose their head when feeding but no adjustment needed.
I run 2 9410dc's on 2 systems and 2 9430's on 2 other.
On my main system 150g's I run a 9430dc and a 28" LifeReef venturi.
You can't over skim unless your system is a dead rock start with minimal life.
The 9430dc is in the return section.

 

[Aquadude1]

The only reason I ask this question is because im curious if adjusting the skimmer to pull more and more keeps lowering things below the levels most people want.

I wonder if an appropriately sized skimmer that is set and forgot about would maintain organics at the a desired level. It would skim until density is too low and than start skimming again when it rises.

I think the monkey wrench though is as a skimmer gets dirtier it becomes less efficient. So the same settings may not always correlate to specific output.

 

[Aquadude1]

I have often not been the biggest supporter of protien skimmers especially oversized ones on newer lightly stocked tanks. I feel it competes with corals and gas exchange can be achieved through much cheaper methods (airstone).

I have been rethinking there use on established tanks recently

Question:
Do you guys set your skimmer to the desired setting and just leave it? Or do you when you see production slow down keep increasing settings to get production again?

With my Tunze skimmers I just set them and they run without any adjustmemt. They are truly set and forget.
I can feed, do water changes and never turn them off.
The LifeReef is a beast but is more sensitive to water changes and I have to turn the dc pump down or it will overflow. Both skimmers just lose their head when feeding but no adjustment needed.
I run 2 9410dc's on 2 systems and 2 9430's on 2 other.
On my main system 150g's I run a 9430dc and a 28" LifeReef venturi.
You can't over skim unless your system is a dead rock start with minimal life.
The 9430dc is in the return section.

Ive been wanting to try the tunze skimmers. I plan to get one for a new build sometime this year hopefully.

Do you think its possible to overskim an established tank with an oversized skimmer that is constantly adjusted to pull more and more?


I saw an roughly 110 gallon system that was skimmed by a skimmer rated for 500 gallons. It was lightly stocked and always had very low nutrients and pale corals. It also had cyano explosions often

 

[X-37B]

The only reason I ask this question is because im curious if adjusting the skimmer to pull more and more keeps lowering things below the levels most people want.

I wonder if an appropriately sized skimmer that is set and forgot about would maintain organics at the a desired level. It would skim until density is too low and than start skimming again when it rises.

I think the monkey wrench though is as a skimmer gets dirtier it becomes less efficient. So the same settings may not always correlate to specific output.

I think the monkey wrench though is as a skimmer gets dirtier it becomes less efficient. So the same settings may not always correlate to specific output.

Depends on the skimmer.

No wrench here.
Both the Tunze and the LifeReef skim just as well when dirty as when clean.
Once set there is no need to adjust. Clean the cup and go.

I can put a drain hose on the LifeReef and don't need to clean the cup even when it's black. It does not effect the performance.

 

[Aquadude1]

The only reason I ask this question is because im curious if adjusting the skimmer to pull more and more keeps lowering things below the levels most people want.

I wonder if an appropriately sized skimmer that is set and forgot about would maintain organics at the a desired level. It would skim until density is too low and than start skimming again when it rises.

I think the monkey wrench though is as a skimmer gets dirtier it becomes less efficient. So the same settings may not always correlate to specific output.

I think the monkey wrench though is as a skimmer gets dirtier it becomes less efficient. So the same settings may not always correlate to specific output.

Depends on the skimmer.

No wrench here.
Both the Tunze and the LifeReef skim just as well when dirty as when clean.
Once set there is no need to adjust. Clean the cup and go.

I can put a drain hose on the LifeReef and don't need to clean the cup even when it's black. It does not effect the performance.

The tunzes mixing chamber is black right, do you notice any build up of worms in it?

 

[X-37B]

Ive been wanting to try the tunze skimmers. I plan to get one for a new build sometime this year hopefully.

Do you think its possible to overskim an established tank with an oversized skimmer that is constantly adjusted to pull more and more?


I saw an roughly 110 gallon system that was skimmed by a skimmer rated for 500 gallons. It was lightly stocked and always had very low nutrients and pale corals. It also had cyano explosions often

Well my 9430dc is rated for a 270g full acro system.
The LifeReef is rated to 300+g's so no.
When I started the 150 I added 150lbs of live rock and ran the skimmer from day one. I added the second after a year.
I am running 2 skimmers together rated at close to a 600g system.
My 9410dc's are on a 50g and a 35g.

 

[X-37B]

The tunzes mixing chamber is black right, do you notice any build up of worms in it?

No the chamber is clear acrylic.
Yes no issues. I ran the 9410dc in an 45 frag system and a fuge in the sump. The barrel of the skimmer was coated in coralline and it just kept skimming.
My spare 9430dc.

 

[Aquadude1]

Ive been wanting to try the tunze skimmers. I plan to get one for a new build sometime this year hopefully.

Do you think its possible to overskim an established tank with an oversized skimmer that is constantly adjusted to pull more and more?


I saw an roughly 110 gallon system that was skimmed by a skimmer rated for 500 gallons. It was lightly stocked and always had very low nutrients and pale corals. It also had cyano explosions often

Well my 9430dc is rated for a 270g full acro system.
The LifeReef is rated to 300+g's so no.
When I started the 150 I added 150lbs of live rock and ran the skimmer from day one. I added the second after a year.
I am running 2 skimmers together rated at close to a 600g system.
My 9410dc's are on a 50g and a 35g.

Makes me wonder if it was just due to the very light stocking.

 

[X-37B]

The only reason I ask this question is because im curious if adjusting the skimmer to pull more and more keeps lowering things below the levels most people want.

I wonder if an appropriately sized skimmer that is set and forgot about would maintain organics at the a desired level. It would skim until density is too low and than start skimming again when it rises.

I think the monkey wrench though is as a skimmer gets dirtier it becomes less efficient. So the same settings may not always correlate to specific output.

Also note I feed heavy in all my systems, minimum 4 times a day.
I control po4 with gfo when needed. I control no3 with daily Vodka dosing.
This is needed even when running 2 oversize skimmers in my 150 with 10 fish.
The 2 skimmers and carbon dosing keep my system within my established parameters.

 

[56longroof]

I run mine 24/7 set to skim wet. 99% of the time its flawless but every once in a while it will throw a fit and go nuts. I haven't figured out the cause yet.

 

[X-37B]

I run mine 24/7 set to skim wet. 99% of the time its flawless but every once in a while it will throw a fit and go nuts. I haven't figured out the cause yet.

What skimmer are you running?

 

[NanoSteam]

As dry and dark as I can get it which leads me to DC skimmers were a life changer first time I recently tried one.

 

[Aquadude1]

I run mine 24/7 set to skim wet. 99% of the time its flawless but every once in a while it will throw a fit and go nuts. I haven't figured out the cause yet.

Any particular reason you skim wet?

 

[ReefGeezer]

I feed my 90 mixed reef heavily to provide food and nutrients like nitrogen and carbon for the corals and other organisms in the system. This includes phosphate. While some is needed, I found that without a skimmer, the phosphate tended to rise too quickly. I use a Reef Octo 150 Ext with a 500 gph supply pump and set it to a dark wet output. This keeps the phosphate level stable but results in low nitrates. I dose ammonia to keep it above 0.

 

[X-37B]

Any particular reason you skim wet?

I skim wet in all systems. It pulls more running wet.
In my 150 I have to add 2tbs of salt around 2× a week to keep SG stable.
I run 1.026-1.027 and target 1.0265.
When sg drops to 1.026 I add 2tbs salt to the overflow and it brings it back to 1.0265.
Simple with no adverse affect to the system.

 

[NeedAReef]

I don't touch it as long as it is producing normally. However, I do use it to wet skim when I change water. You hook up your ATO to your new saltwater jug and the overflow line of your skimmer to a bucket or a junk jug. Wet skim flows a lot more than junk but it seems to help cut high phosphates which I battled a long time. Mind you the water change takes quite a while and you do need to monitor salinity but when done, you tend to pull a lot more junk. Also, during the process, I frequently stir up the tank but a turkey baster to make sure the junk is in the water column and gets into the skimmer chamber.