One of Ken Feldman's articles from Advanced Aquarist references the '35%' DOC removal number:
https://reefs.com/advanced-aquarist/
(under 'Author', scroll for 'Ken S. Feldman')
I see the skimmer as being potentially useful in large reef aquariums with a relatively heavy bioload. There is evidence that skimmers selectively remove certain types of bacteria and not others and also maintain bacterial counts around 1/10 that of natural reef levels, but whether this is potentially detrimental long term has yet to be established (to the best of my knowledge).
Many smaller systems run just fine without a skimmer. Not many run for a very long time (and the reasons are many), but it's certainly not due to any size limitation.
12g, 13 years (no skimmer or other mech/chem filtration):
https://reefs.com/advanced-aquarist/
(under 'Author', scroll for 'Ken S. Feldman')
I see the skimmer as being potentially useful in large reef aquariums with a relatively heavy bioload. There is evidence that skimmers selectively remove certain types of bacteria and not others and also maintain bacterial counts around 1/10 that of natural reef levels, but whether this is potentially detrimental long term has yet to be established (to the best of my knowledge).
Many smaller systems run just fine without a skimmer. Not many run for a very long time (and the reasons are many), but it's certainly not due to any size limitation.
12g, 13 years (no skimmer or other mech/chem filtration):
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