Turning OFF my skimmer

Basile

Well-Known Member
I feed twice and i dose 3 times.

I feed for the fist time around 10;00 and dose the first time ; i stop my return i don't need my food to go in my filter sock or be picked up by the skimmer. I restart in about 45 min the return pump.

The skimmer is ON from 04;00 to 16;00

I feed at 18;00 and dose the second time; skimmer closed, return stopped no need to feed my socks again.

I dose the last around 21;00 for the night crawlers , NPS, crinoides and such. all pump running this time the refugium getting some as well.

My parameter are ok, nitrates are good at 10ppm i can go 25, the macro loves that i have to fertilise sometimes, i almost lost the macro tank 4 months ago. Not enough food for them.

Same with the phosphates. 0.3 to 0.7 is fine, no ill effect on corals or inverts or the rest of the tank. I stoppe my GFO 4 month ago , 2 month completely.

My tank has some wonderfull microbidiversity in the sand principally. It moves at night. I don't touche it other than moving thing around sometimes, lol. For that i get a huge amount of little clams, and these

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A Cirratulid worm, the tank is full of them. Detritus eaters they also provide food for some fish and other inverts. I'm glad to have a picture of this guy, i guess their was no more room lol .

In fact the sand is so alive with bacteria and critters that i almost lost a gorgonian to it, because i let it lay on its back too long and they ate its skin off to the core. Thats how efficient the substrate has become. So i can imagine that any poo or debris in there don't last very long lol. I red in a few article to leave some decay to feed the bacterian population or they'll diminish and their action will be reduced, it was interesting to read.

Decay bacteria are according to the magazine are not the same as are tank one we go for ordinairely, they're part of another group. I'm no expert and the article was too advance for me lol but it was talking about big system like seaworlds and other aquariums where they had all these mysterious deaths at one point, and the article was very interesting.


I write big for my iphone friends.​
 

Basile

Well-Known Member
Its been 3 months now

Ok well i've been switching my skimmer OFF for periods of time between 4 to 12 hours , for the last 3 months now. I'm at 12 hours regularly now and my observations are as follows;


-My sponges seem to have regain better colors and a smoother surface.
-The damaged sponges have repared themselves.
-increase in filter sock changing, by 3
-Increase in Skimming in morning and day time. 04;00 to 16;00
-Increase in growth in all corals except zooz.
-Increase of hair algaes
-Nitrates 5ppm phosphate 0.5ppm (normal and desirable with and for my system)
-Skim cup emptied every day now not every 2 days.
-Water very clean and clear, no smell
-No particules or film on the surface
-Temp 74-75oF
-Gravity 1.026
-Cal 450ppm
-Mg 1500
-Alk 8.0
-Feeding twice a day
-Supplements Mix; 0009 ( Ultramin F;Ultra Clam,UltraOrganic,Ultra seafan, Ultra Reef Vitality, Reef-Roids, Ultramin S,Spirulina Powder, Iodine, Iron) in a 500ml bottle ; Dosed 3ml every hour 24/7


My new video almost a year in


[video=youtube;KW6FVujdAZw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW6FVujdAZw&list=UULnnCETzkTfNQ1xK2Ji7U9g[/video]
 

Frankie

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Sounds like you are having a great time with this buddy!
For the sponges, there is a product by zeovit called sponge power. Very good stuff. Sponge growth and colors are awesome after a few weeks dosing.
This is one of those zeovit products that you do not need to use there system to use.
Anyone can use it.
 

Basile

Well-Known Member
Sounds like you are having a great time with this buddy!
For the sponges, there is a product by zeovit called sponge power. Very good stuff. Sponge growth and colors are awesome after a few weeks dosing.
This is one of those zeovit products that you do not need to use there system to use.
Anyone can use it.


I bought it but it came with a broken dispenser.....lucky me so i'm trying to find a small dispenser about the same size with the same calibration. 0.04ml not easy. dollard store didn't have that drug store either.....
 

Frankie

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
What do you mean by dispenser? the bottle was broken itself? The eyedropper inside? Let me know I have spare bottles I can send you some
 

Basile

Well-Known Member
What do you mean by dispenser? the bottle was broken itself? The eyedropper inside? Let me know I have spare bottles I can send you some

Yes thats the word i was looking for the eyedropper but this morning i got a brain storm. I have 2 bottles of iodine. So i took the eyedropper from the iodine washed it and used it for it. And i had an empty bottle of something and used the cap for that to cap the iodine bottle , voila. so i'm good. I can just hope the droplets are roughly the same as the ones the original would let go, the dropper is the same size.
 

Basile

Well-Known Member
Comming out of Hybernation lol

Over skimming and stopping your skimmer a report on one year experiment: Last year i deciced to reduce my skimming due to the fact that my system and my tank style demanded extra nutrients.

Fed by gravity with a 75G refugium full of 37 different macro's.

The reef has a NPS zone demanding extra feeding and extra nutrients.
12 species of gorgonians with special feeding needs.
It has 13 diffrent species of sponges which requires bacteria and other
nutrients to survive, i have enough sponge matter for it to filter my whole system in 24 hours.

I also have 2 Crinoides, one is a baskets star the other a feather star. Both requires particules
in the water column to survive.

Today after 8 months of skimming only 12 hours a day and looking at my sponges growth and having found the ultimate prize
my crinoides growth, i can say with certitude that shutting down your skimmer half the time is not bad for a system it may help
in its growth. Depending of course on your bioload and what kind of system you have and its demands. No system is alike nor are its
needs. You have to know what your system needs. I knew mine. I also knew how much my sponges filter my water and by how much.





If you look at the video of the feather star and the last of my picture you'll see that the end of her legs have regrown. When sea stars starve the eat their own legs ; its a survival reflex. And in the picture you can clearly see that she's got a nice regrowth. Proof that she's doing ok. They're not easy to keep alive i feel very lucky and hopefully stopping my skimming has helped her get extra food. Any way just wanted to share the result of a year long skimming reduction and its impact on a tank.

DSC_0004.jpg


Sorry about the resolution its in the back of the tank and i had to over expose since it feeds at night. But she has more legs they can have up to 200 legs when they become large.

Minion-2014-quote-funny.jpg
 

Basile

Well-Known Member
This is my final report on this experiment.

I still have the tanks but i'm shutting down for a while . Need to regroup; lost my job and a tank without a job is not a healthy tank lol. So instead of letting things go i rather sell the stuff clean the tanks and wait till i get a stable income. I ran it without a job as long as i could and now its time to take a break lol Thanks for following.

Turning OFF the skimmer 12/h ( 4 pm to 4 am)permitted me to keep 13 sponges healthy and filtering the water crystal clear . They fed on the poop and its bacteria and polished the water very well. They even reproduced and spread in dark places.
 
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