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Rcpilot · 09-21-2007, 02:47 PM

Is it possible to over skim a reef tank?

When I first decided to get another fish tank (after 20yrs off), I went to a few LFS around town and asked questions. One woman told me that running a skimmer in a reef was counterproductive. She said the inverts and filter feeders are eating those organic wastes and that skimming them out of the water wasn't really a good idea.

Most everyone else is unanimous in preaching that a skimmer is an absolute "must have" in a reef. Water quality is critical and the skimmer can remove those organics before they actually break down and load the biological filter system.

So, I've got 2 opposing arguments that both make good sense.

I just recently upgraded to a HOB refugium with a MASSIVE skimmer (relative to my tank size). It went nuts and was skimming out all kinds of green goo. I had a small Current Fission Nano skimmer in the tank, and it was nothing but a problem. It wasn't skimming very well at all. When I put thie HOB fuge with skimmer on my tank, I was amazed at how much it was pulling out of the water.

I had a SERIOUS infestation of hair algae before. I was calling it "rope algae" because it was so thick. I have something in the neighborhood of 14 or 16 snails in my 30g tank. They weren't doing much to control the algae.

Well, as soon as I put this new skimmer on, it was belching out green goo and my hair algae started to disappear. Within a week, the hair algae is gone. Thats a good thing. But, my cheato in the fuge is starting to turn brown and shrink. I believe that my skimmer is so oversized for my tank--and so efficient--that it's skimming out just about everything orgainc. I don't have any organics to break down into nitrate. No nitrate--no cheato. No orgaincs for my zoa colonies to filter and feed on. No organics to promote growth of algae--my snails are starving.

Is this even possible?

I'm thinking about turning off the air inlet venturi on my skimmer. Just stop skimming for a couple days and see if it promotes algae growth. I'd at least like my cheato in the fuge to continue growing--not turning brown and shrinking. My goal was to have my fuge completely overgrown with cheato to help slow down water flow through the fuge. Right now, only 1/2 the fuge has cheato in it, and it's shrinking.

I'm confused. It seams really simple to me. Skimming out all the organics and nothing left to promote nitrate production--so algae production and cheato growth slows down. I NEED cheato growth in my fuge and algae for my snails. But sooooooooooo many people talk about using gigantic skimmers on their tanks and skimming 24/7 and getting ALL of those organics out.

Any advice?
Thanks

09-21-2007, 02:47 PM	#1 (permalink)
Rcpilot Has been struck by the ban stick Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Arvada, CO. Posts: 297 View Gallery Karma Komment	Over Skimming Is it possible to over skim a reef tank? When I first decided to get another fish tank (after 20yrs off), I went to a few LFS around town and asked questions. One woman told me that running a skimmer in a reef was counterproductive. She said the inverts and filter feeders are eating those organic wastes and that skimming them out of the water wasn't really a good idea. Most everyone else is unanimous in preaching that a skimmer is an absolute "must have" in a reef. Water quality is critical and the skimmer can remove those organics before they actually break down and load the biological filter system. So, I've got 2 opposing arguments that both make good sense. I just recently upgraded to a HOB refugium with a MASSIVE skimmer (relative to my tank size). It went nuts and was skimming out all kinds of green goo. I had a small Current Fission Nano skimmer in the tank, and it was nothing but a problem. It wasn't skimming very well at all. When I put thie HOB fuge with skimmer on my tank, I was amazed at how much it was pulling out of the water. I had a SERIOUS infestation of hair algae before. I was calling it "rope algae" because it was so thick. I have something in the neighborhood of 14 or 16 snails in my 30g tank. They weren't doing much to control the algae. Well, as soon as I put this new skimmer on, it was belching out green goo and my hair algae started to disappear. Within a week, the hair algae is gone. Thats a good thing. But, my cheato in the fuge is starting to turn brown and shrink. I believe that my skimmer is so oversized for my tank--and so efficient--that it's skimming out just about everything orgainc. I don't have any organics to break down into nitrate. No nitrate--no cheato. No orgaincs for my zoa colonies to filter and feed on. No organics to promote growth of algae--my snails are starving. Is this even possible? I'm thinking about turning off the air inlet venturi on my skimmer. Just stop skimming for a couple days and see if it promotes algae growth. I'd at least like my cheato in the fuge to continue growing--not turning brown and shrinking. My goal was to have my fuge completely overgrown with cheato to help slow down water flow through the fuge. Right now, only 1/2 the fuge has cheato in it, and it's shrinking. I'm confused. It seams really simple to me. Skimming out all the organics and nothing left to promote nitrate production--so algae production and cheato growth slows down. I NEED cheato growth in my fuge and algae for my snails. But sooooooooooo many people talk about using gigantic skimmers on their tanks and skimming 24/7 and getting ALL of those organics out. Any advice? Thanks