DEBATE: Skimmers Yes or No

[Triggreef]

Not needed. And if you check the Battlecorals acropora growout contest from a couple years ago?? documented on R2r... There was skimmerless teams v. skimmer teams. You'll find the skimmerless team won by a landslide. Was not even close. That said...

I now use a skimmer. But only because my preferred po4 removal is using LC which the skimmer assists with. And the only time I clean it is when I use LC. So thats pretty much the only time it does anything.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

What do skimmers do?
-They remove organics, dissolved & particulate.
But not very well in comparison to activated carbon. A skimmer will remove around 30% of post feeding DOC where as GAC can remove up to 80%.

- They oxygenate the water?
No they don't. They inject air into the water. If that >>air<< happens to have high levels of CO2 (indoors co2 can get up to 3,000ppm), and/or pollution (supposedly fresh air drawn from outside can contain air borne pollution delivered from near & far), that's what they inject into the water.
Only photosynthesis creates O2, from CO2 - algae filtration for example.

 

[MrObscura]

Great question. I would be on the side of no skimmer. To me I would rather spend the money on other equipment, like lights and pumps. Here is a video of my tank:

Nice. May I ask how much you feed and what your no3/po4 levels are? And what export methods you use? Thanks.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

All I know is that when i dump my skimmer cup its brown so im gonna say yes.

Some of that brown was potential food and nutrients for corals to consume as a skimmer doesn't differentiate between good and bad.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I have 3 small tanks all running without skimmers, sumps or refugium 2 of which are nearly 3 years old and the 3Rd is an evo 13.5 that's a year nearly. In such small tanks I can't get an efficient enough skimmer that isn't massive. All tanks are run on natural sea water and I only do a water change every 6-8 weeks of 10%. The only filtration I have on them is a bit of filter floss and biohome media. No carbon or gfo.

The 1St is a 90litre,2nd is 35l and the 3Rd is an evo13.5.

 

[PirateDan]

Some of that brown was potential food and nutrients for corals to consume as a skimmer doesn't differentiate between good and bad.

Some yes but not all. Corals look great so I’m still pro skimmer. If no skimmer works for you that’s great.

 

[Tautog]

It’s a great topic of conversation, and I’ve seen success both ways.
I believe it’s a catch 22 situation.
When I started 4 yrs ago, I was always fighting high No3’s. Trying to correct, I was then starving my corals, and exporting all the good nutrients.
Thanks to this forum, I then understood the true meaning of “ I can’t feed my tank enough !” Building the bio-diversity in the tank is key. The skimmer took care of my over feeding until my tank caught up. Today, I’m still skimming, but nothing is starving. It’s that happy medium with feeding we all need to learn.

 

[Hulley]

What do skimmers do?
-They remove organics, dissolved & particulate.
But not very well in comparison to activated carbon. A skimmer will remove around 30% of post feeding DOC where as GAC can remove up to 80%.

- They oxygenate the water?
No they don't. They inject air into the water. If that >>air<< happens to have high levels of CO2 (indoors co2 can get up to 3,000ppm), and/or pollution (supposedly fresh air drawn from outside can contain air borne pollution delivered from near & far), that's what they inject into the water.
Only photosynthesis creates O2, from CO2 - algae filtration for example.

That's good to know, I always heard they help oxygenate the water and also raise PH levels.

 

[Marie7]

Do you believe a skimmer is a necessary piece of equipment for all systems? Or do you believe its system dependent?

Please explain your thoughts.

I'm a Pro skimmer all the times no matter how good the system can be,there's a lot of stuff that we don't see in the water but the skimmer pull it out of the tank, in order to maintain a good and healthy system I suggest it's good to have a skimmer...

 

[Fourstars]

Always on a newer tank, or if you tend to over feed. Also good if you have a snail or fish die. On a mature tank Run it dry, or on a timer.

 

[WVNed]

This is not a yes or no question. It depends on the kind of system you intend to run.

 

[EMeyer]

That's good to know, I always heard they help oxygenate the water and also raise PH levels.

The post you are responding to is incorrect on a fundamental level. Yes, skimmer oxygenate the water.

He's technically correct that the way this is achieved is by increasing gas exchange. This makes the oxygen levels in the water equal to the oxygen levels in the air (pO2), and the CO2 levels in the water equal to the CO2 levels in the air (pCO2). Which is an increase in oxygen levels. Oxygenation.

That said, an airstone and an air pump accomplish the same thing, and so does the drain pipe into the sump. I've never understood why people use oxygenation as justification for some of the absurdly overpriced skimmers out there.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

The post you are responding to is incorrect on a fundamental level. Yes, skimmer oxygenate the water.

He's technically correct that the way this is achieved is by increasing gas exchange. This makes the oxygen levels in the water equal to the oxygen levels in the air (pO2), and the CO2 levels in the water equal to the CO2 levels in the air (pCO2). Which is an increase in oxygen levels. Oxygenation.

What I said is completely correct on a practical level because the air being injected into an aquarium is often far from ideal. although oxygen levels may be fine if co2 levels are elevated, &/or there are pollutants in the air, it is a given, on a fundamental basis, that this cannot be considered as *aerating or oxygenating the water* in any way applicable to an aquarium.

 

[jda]

For me, the gas exchange and both organic and inorganic toxin (and metal) removal is paramount.

 

[doughboy]

just saying its not needed is not quite right.
you need a means to export waste, so if you don't use skimmer, you must use something else. You can't just run your tank without skimmer and not have any other means of waste export.

when my skimmer is off, my tank ph drops. so it is more than just a waste exporter.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Some yes but not all. Corals look great so I’m still pro skimmer. If no skimmer works for you that’s great.

Im not saying no skimmer is the way to go but for me it works. On the larger of the tanks I was running a skimmer for the first year and a half of it and I took it off line to clean it, I just haven't put it back on and not noticed any difference.

 

[MnFish1]

I use a skimmer. Do I think its 'necessary'? No - that said - if you dont have a skimmer, you're going to have to do other things for nutrient export. To me - its the most efficient way to get my tank the way I want it. I dont want GFO reactors, etc etc. I think a skimmer is a fairly simple effective and controllable way to maintain a lower nutrient tank.

 

[ZoWhat]

One very important thing a skimmer does is oxygenate the water.

Without a skimmer I would say it would be very hard to get pH above 8.1 without some other way of elevating it

 

[jda]

For the people who are skimmerless, how do you get rid of any metals that enter your tank from food, equipment, etc? Just curious. There are all kinds of shapes and forms that are not detected in IC/ICP testing.

 

[FishyDP]

I have never done it, but my guess is that it can be done. If I had to go without a skimmer I would utilize high par lights over a large fuge, and layers of fine filter floss/sponge changed frequently. With the efficiency of skimmers I dont see a reason to experiment without one. There are many ways to manage nutrients, to each their own.