Is my protein skimmer too small??

[toi_ss]

Hi, im purchasing a 200x100x36cm aquarium (720 litres) plus a 200 litre sump. My protein skimmer is rated up to 900 litres but my total water volume is 920. Would I be okay? Im planning on having around 6-8 medium/small sized fish and a 30 gallon chaeto refugium. The reason im not sure is because I will have to be feeding 10-12x daily for a stethojulis wrasse. The skimmer I have is a bubble magus curve 7 and rated 700-900 litres. Could go with the next size up but its $160 more.

 

[Dan_P]

Hi, im purchasing a 200x100x36cm aquarium (720 litres) plus a 200 litre sump. My protein skimmer is rated up to 900 litres but my total water volume is 920. Would I be okay? Im planning on having around 6-8 medium/small sized fish and a 30 gallon chaeto refugium. The reason im not sure is because I will have to be feeding 10-12x daily for a stethojulis wrasse. The skimmer I have is a bubble magus curve 7 and rated 700-900 litres. Could go with the next size up but its $160 more.

I am pretty sure the skimmer rating is a theoretical approximation of 99% of the water passing through the skimmer per time period, maybe a day. Manufacturers don’t like to disclose too much about their products

Skimming is not a finely tuned operation where there is only a narrow range of operation. Also, most aquarist run their skimmers dry which is suboptimal for removing as much stuff per day. This all adds up to close is more than good enough.

 

[toi_ss]

I am pretty sure the skimmer rating is a theoretical approximation of 99% of the water passing through the skimmer per time period, maybe a day. Manufacturers don’t like to disclose too much about their products

Skimming is not a finely tuned operation where there is only a narrow range of operation. Also, most aquarist run their skimmers dry which is suboptimal for removing as much stuff per day. This all adds up to close is more than good enough.

So do you reckon if i wet skim it will be all good even if im feeding 12 times per day?

 

[Dbichler]

So do you reckon if i wet skim it will be all good even if im feeding 12 times per day?

There’s too many variables to give you a concise answer. Some tanks nutrients stay down some constantly increase. You have to try and see which one your tank is going to go and adjust.

 

[Pod_01]

Skimmers remove fish waste/ byproducts, so if you have huge tank with one fish you can use nano skimmers.

If you have corals they act like a filter so they don’t add to the waste.

Oversized skimmers do not develop foam because there is not enough organics in the water and tend to skim inconsistent. Most of the time they act like oversized air stone.

I read in the past that heavy load is 1/2” of fish per gallon of display volume. Again this is reduced by the use of other filtration methods. Also sump volume does not add to the overall volume.

Best bet is to contact the manufacturer and follow their suggestion. There is no standard for skimmer ratings so best advice/ suggestion would come from manufacturer, assuming they know what they are doing. I am not convinced that is the case with all manufacturers.

From my personal experience I had success with skimmers rated for the system (using display volume) or one size down.
This is based on Tunze and Bubble King skimmers that I used.


Good luck,

 

[Dan_P]

So do you reckon if i wet skim it will be all good even if im feeding 12 times per day?

I am saying not to overthink the skimmer selection.

If you are thinking along the lines of managing an overstocked aquarium with a “good” skimmer, a better perspective might be thinking in terms of additional methods for maintaining water quality. Skimming and GAC put the finishing touch on water quality by removing the small amount of organics remaining after the operations that remove the bulk of the organic waste, like heterotrophic bacteria and mechanical filtration.

 

[William Chiavetta]

Hi, im purchasing a 200x100x36cm aquarium (720 litres) plus a 200 litre sump. My protein skimmer is rated up to 900 litres but my total water volume is 920. Would I be okay? Im planning on having around 6-8 medium/small sized fish and a 30 gallon chaeto refugium. The reason im not sure is because I will have to be feeding 10-12x daily for a stethojulis wrasse. The skimmer I have is a bubble magus curve 7 and rated 700-900 litres. Could go with the next size up but its $160 more.

as big as you can. It will be worth it

 

[X-37B]

I would get the bigger one. You can always turn it down. I run a Tunze 9430dc which is rated for a 270g full on acro system. I ran it on my old 120, old 80, and current 150.
Tunzes rates it to 900+g's but they also state different gallon levels depending on whats in the system.
This is a big skimmer, wont fit in a 5g bucket.
Current fish load is 1 damsel and 1 hawkfish with 150lbs live rock. It can be set to skim wet or dry.

 

[Snoopy 67]

I have always been told NOT to include sump volume when sizing a skimmer.

 

[toi_ss]

as big as you can. It will be worth it

Yeah, I would also have to change my sump configuration as the next size up is 29 cm wide and the skimmer section is 25cm

 

[toi_ss]

Yeah, I would also have to change my sump configuration as the next size up is 29 cm wide and the skimmer section is 25cm

could go external

 

[toi_ss]

Skimmers remove fish waste/ byproducts, so if you have huge tank with one fish you can use nano skimmers.

If you have corals they act like a filter so they don’t add to the waste.

Oversized skimmers do not develop foam because there is not enough organics in the water and tend to skim inconsistent. Most of the time they act like oversized air stone.

I read in the past that heavy load is 1/2” of fish per gallon of display volume. Again this is reduced by the use of other filtration methods. Also sump volume does not add to the overall volume.

Best bet is to contact the manufacturer and follow their suggestion. There is no standard for skimmer ratings so best advice/ suggestion would come from manufacturer, assuming they know what they are doing. I am not convinced that is the case with all manufacturers.

From my personal experience I had success with skimmers rated for the system (using display volume) or one size down.
This is based on Tunze and Bubble King skimmers that I used.


Good luck,

Yeah, the fish stocking will be light for a 200 but I will be feeding alot. So should I not include sump volume when sizing a skimmer? Because my display is exactly 720 litres which is perfect for this size skimmer.

 

[X-37B]

You include the sump because thats how many gallons are running through your system.

 

[Pod_01]

Yeah, the fish stocking will be light for a 200 but I will be feeding alot. So should I not include sump volume when sizing a skimmer? Because my display is exactly 720 litres which is perfect for this size skimmer.

The way it was explained, sump only removes/ filters the water column, so it is not part of the selection process.
Now this was when I discussed skimmer selection with Bubble King. Different manufacturers may rate their skimmers differently.

Bubble King actually talked me into getting smaller and cheaper skimmer (go figure) by explaining that corals remove a lot of the particles and if you use fleece or socks you can downsize to smaller skimmer. For skimmer to work properly you need organics (fish waste) in the water or your foam will not form (lack of surface tension). You can always wet skim but that is considered not as efficient.

Good luck,

 

[toi_ss]

The way it was explained, sump only removes/ filters the water column, so it is not part of the selection process.
Now this was when I discussed skimmer selection with Bubble King. Different manufacturers may rate their skimmers differently.

Bubble King actually talked me into getting smaller and cheaper skimmer (go figure) by explaining that corals remove a lot of the particles and if you use fleece or socks you can downsize to smaller skimmer. For skimmer to work properly you need organics (fish waste) in the water or your foam will not form (lack of surface tension). You can always wet skim but that is considered not as efficient.

Good luck,

Cheers, I will be using a diy filter roller as well as a large refugium, carbon dosing and maybe a sulfur denitrator

 

[Pod_01]

Cheers, I will be using a diy filter roller as well as a large refugium, carbon dosing and maybe a sulfur denitrator

Just a question and a comment.
Are you planning to keep corals or is this fish only tank?

Just for reference with respect to filtration I only use skimmer and bit of GAC (2.5 tablespoons per 60 gal that I change every 4 weeks). I don’t have sock, fleece, fuge, reactors etc…
I know bit low tech but if you want to keep corals you can over filter by using all the filtration methods at the same time.

Couple of my corals:

Good luck,

 

[toi_ss]

Just a question and a comment.
Are you planning to keep corals or is this fish only tank?

Just for reference with respect to filtration I only use skimmer and bit of GAC (2.5 tablespoons per 60 gal that I change every 4 weeks). I don’t have sock, fleece, fuge, reactors etc…
I know bit low tech but if you want to keep corals you can over filter by using all the filtration methods at the same time.

Couple of my corals:

Good luck,

Will be keeping corals - mostly softies and lps but some stylophora, montipora and birdnest corals. I will have a regal angelfish so that might be a risk to corals. I'm just concerned about nutrients because of feeding once an hour