is my Protein skimmer overkill?

[Shibaken3]

I have a 60-gallon tank and planning on having a 20-gallon refugium. Just purchased a used protein skimmer Classic 152-s that is recommended for 200-gallon light stock. Is this overkill? It was a deal just for 200 bucks so I couldn't pass it. Was this a mistake?

 

[Dan_P]

I have a 60-gallon tank and planning on having a 20-gallon refugium. Just purchased a used protein skimmer Classic 152-s that is recommended for 200-gallon light stock. Is this overkill? It was a deal just for 200 bucks so I couldn't pass it. Was this a mistake?

The skimmer ratings are based on the amount of water they process per day. Your smaller system will be processed more per day but that is OK because once the organic material the skimmer removes drops below a certain level, the foam rate declines. You won’t over clean your water. On top of that, most people decide to dry skimmer which further reduces the amount of material the skimmer removes per unit of time. I believe your choice was OK.

 

[Rmckoy]

200 gal light load . But is there a capacity for heavy bio load ?

i believe you’re ok .
for example. I have a skimmer rated for min 300 gal on my 230 ,
The same skimmer I used on my 90 gal .

 

[leighton.bingham]

I have a skimmer rated for 300gal on my 110g system because I plan on stocking it very heavy. Your skimmer should work perfectly.

 

[Shibaken3]

thxs good to know I thought I was gonna kill the fish with too much cleaning.

 

[piranhaman00]

You can potentially strip all nutrients, fish won’t care and be happy but can be problematic for coral, I would rather over skim the. Under

 

[anthonygf]

I run an oversize skimmer myself, I let the skim output into the filter box. It filters the bigger stuff and allows the nutrients to go back in the water column. I have been doing this for 5 years now to keep my nitrates and phosphates from dropping to zero. For the last 5 years I have been maintaining 25-35ppm nitrate and 0.08-0.18 phosphates. I was doing 10% water changes weekly but now just did one after 2 months just to suck out some zoa polyps. Weird thing is my N03 and Po4 have dropped a little.

 

[legionofdoon]

I run a lifereef on around a 40b with a 40b sump. It is not overkill on mine.

 

[tehmadreefer]

Nope, my skimmer is rated for 300g and it’s currently on a 60 cube

 

[Scorpius]

A protein skimmer rated for your tank and bioload capacity will run more consistently than an oversized skimmer.

 

[Shibaken3]

It looks like most people have oversized skimmers, making me feel better about my purchase.

 

[Natural_Reefer]

I am running Nyos 220 on my Redsea S400 ( 400 litter or 105 gallon).
It is rated as:

• Heavy Bioload (Most Common) - 125 Gallons
• Medium Bioload - 250 Gallons
• Light Bioload - 500 Gallon

I am heavy stocked so the skimmer seems to work perfectly OK.

 

[Scorpius]

It looks like most people have oversized skimmers, making me feel better about my purchase.

Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't make it right, but you do you.