Can a skimmer remove beneficial bacteria?

[RaymondL]

Wondering if there's a possibility that a skimmer can do more harm than good and remove the 'good' bacteria thereby causing an imbalance.

 

[Jekyl]

Wondering if there's a possibility that a skimmer can do more harm than good and remove the 'good' bacteria thereby causing an imbalance.

The beneficial bacteria all live on the rocks.

 

[mfinn]

Wondering if there's a possibility that a skimmer can do more harm than good and remove the 'good' bacteria thereby causing an imbalance.

no

 

[AydenLincoln]

No!

 

[MikeCHI]

if you are dosing a starter I think most of them say to turn off skimming for a few hours while it settles, but after that, no

 

[bushdoc]

I will play devil's advocate and say that skimmer can remove beneficial bacteria and other organisms (pods) too but only from water column.
It doesn't differenciate between good or bad though.
Surely it only removes substances and organisms suspended in water column, so there should be no effect on nitrifying or denitrifying bacteria, which dwell on surfaces.
It can also remove amino acids and other coral food, so if you are dosing those, you should turn skimmer off during that time.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I will play devil's advocate and say that skimmer can remove beneficial bacteria and other organisms (pods) too but only from water column.
It doesn't differenciate between good or bad though.
Surely it only removes substances and organisms suspended in water column, so there should be no effect on nitrifying or denitrifying bacteria, which dwell on surfaces.
It can also remove amino acids and other coral food, so if you are dosing those, you should turn skimmer off during that time.

Yes! Agreed! It doesn't discriminate between which bacteria it's removing...however it's not going to remove anywhere close to all bacteria and they'll just reproduce naturally. If what you mean by "good bacteria" is limited to nitrifying bacteria then no, they live on surfaces...aside from pathogens, why would any other bacteria be considered "bad" in a balanced tank though?