How often do you run protein skimmer??

[Reduck]

24/7. More realistically 23.5/7 as it's off for 30 minutes at feeding time each day whether it's pellets or frozen foods. No socks, med fish load, mixed corals in a 75g.

 

[numsie]

I do run mine 24/7...but I have a 90 g heavily stocked mixed reef with lots of fish. My nutrients are low, phos around 2 to 4, nitrates 0, I use a sock with gfo in my filter sock and dose 20 ml daily of vinegar. I feed twice a day and all my corals seem happy but I do have a question, is a skimmer that is rated for a much larger tank not recommended? My current skimmer has a 7" body and I am considering getting one with an 8", could that cause more harm then good?

 

[Pola0502ds]

Everyday my skimmer shuts off for 4 hours from 6pm to 10pm so i can do my daily dosings, phyto, feed, etc.. and that way there is no chance anything will get sucked up by the protein skimmer. Plus it helps with my nutrients, mine tend to be on the low side.

 

[Salty1962]

24/7, not only to skim but to also oxygenate the water. At night to help Ph not crash too low.

 

[Reduck]

I do run mine 24/7...but I have a 90 g heavily stocked mixed reef with lots of fish. My nutrients are low, phos around 2 to 4, nitrates 0, I use a sock with gfo in my filter sock and dose 20 ml daily of vinegar. I feed twice a day and all my corals seem happy but I do have a question, is a skimmer that is rated for a much larger tank not recommended? My current skimmer has a 7" body and I am considering getting one with an 8", could that cause more harm then good?

fwiw, my opinion;
Reefing is a balancing act. One that is very difficult to maintain unless nothing changes. Every time you add a new creature, rebalance must be achieved. Also the growth of existing creatures tip that balance.
What works today may not work in six months. All we can do is test, test, test, and then adjust to compensate for changes we see in those tests and changes we see in the creatures.

So to answer your question..if your coral and fish all seem happy, and you are good with your parameters, leave it be. At least until you see the need to upgrade.

 

[jason2459]

I do run mine 24/7...but I have a 90 g heavily stocked mixed reef with lots of fish. My nutrients are low, phos around 2 to 4, nitrates 0, I use a sock with gfo in my filter sock and dose 20 ml daily of vinegar. I feed twice a day and all my corals seem happy but I do have a question, is a skimmer that is rated for a much larger tank not recommended? My current skimmer has a 7" body and I am considering getting one with an 8", could that cause more harm then good?

I would suggest a 6" body and 4" and under neck with around 600-900 lph of air draw if you're talking needle wheel skimmers.

Bigger is not at all better. Get to big of a skimmer and you'll end up under skimming.

 

[wattson]

3 days on ,,3 days off...water change day the skimmer is off all day...95% of my corals are zoas/palys which like the nutrients and have a fairly good load of fish too,,fish are fed 2-3 times daily..
i always leave skimmer cup half full,,just in case I over skim the water and make some corals mad,,,if so,,I just bleed some skimmate back into the flowing sump from the hose on the skimmer cup..

 

[Travous]

I don't run one at all

 

[Yuen]

66666666666???? what the heck Are you feeding? Not suggested to keep whales in a tank....

Why not ? The frequent is not the key issue, but what amount of food fed all 6 times.. when I am home with my Aquarium .. I feed more than tat with my 4 times scheduled auto feeder, but manual feeding only little amount (abt 10 pellet / fish) just play with them .... In fact in actual ocean, the fish are looking for food all day long..

 

[Yuen]

Back to the thread .. my sps 270liter tank are running 23/7 with BM curve 9 (one hour break for feeding), sump only PS + cheato refugium.. I actually want to run shorter timeline but my timer breakdown ..
my tank have:
1 yt
1 naso
1 angel emperor
1 angel blue face
1 fox face
1 damsel (from 6 left one becos internal fighting with own kind)
1 wrasser

Auto feed 4 times /days with 4 hours interval.

 

[GoVols]

Should I run skimmer during cycling or no?

I personally don't, but I'm old school...

I like to do a full cycle and like it run it's coarse with the exception of running and cleaning mechanical filters.

Plus when you first setup a new system your organics are too low to dial in a skimmer properly anyway.

After that she's running 24/7. I only cut her off for a couple hours while feeding corals RS Reef Energy.

JMO

 

[NY_Sea]

Only turn mine off when I'm doing water changes or cleaning the cup. Once I saw the dark muck a good skimmer can pull out I was sold and saw a huge benefit in running one all the time on an established reef. Any additional help taking out organics and increasing oxygen levels is a good thing as far as I see it. One time the owner of very popular shop in nyc told me he wouldn't run a skimmer on SPS systems all the time and felt it was beneficial. I thought he was crazy but this is obviously someone that has a lot of saltwater experience. So my point is whatever works best for you. More than one way to skin a cat as the saying goes. You might as well run it 24/7 even during the cycle stage so you can get used to the electric bill. Good luck!

 

[ricky5415]

24/7 for me too
Don't the skimmer pump get prematurely when on/ off too much like that?

 

[Donovan Joannes]

9 hours per day

 

[scardall]

24/7

 

[NanaReefer]

24/7/365

 

[jassimps]

10 hours per day.

75gal tank/105gal total vol mixed reef system. ***The skimmer & ato are off during 10hr photo period from 1pm to 11pm (tunze 9415). **Kalkwasser doser runs 30mins on then 30mins off 24/7 independent of ato.

corals including 7 easy SPS, majority LPS, two handfuls of mushrooms/ Zoas and one non-photosynthetic Sun coral.

3x dwarf-angelfish
3x clownfish
3x tail-spot cardinal fish
1x royal gramma basslet
1x purple dottyback
1x blue-green chromis

No filter socks
No refugium
No biopellets

monthly:
2cups of bituminous carbon (reactor)
1cup phosguard (passively in sump)
1/2 cup GFO (passively in sump)

I use frequency of glass cleanning as great indicator of water quality in between my 20gal water changes usually every 3weeks.

 

[Silence2006]

24/7 nitrates stay at 5

 

[ReefingwithO]

I have a 75 gallon display and about 91 gallons total in the system. I run mine 24/7. I read somewhere that a skimmer is only up to 50% efficient at removing dissolved organic compounds.

I live in an apartment with my wife and2 kids, if I don't run my skimmer then my ph drops too low because of high c02 levels. My skimmer pulls air from outside.

I only turn it off to feed certain typos if food like phyto, fish eggs, oyster feast and reef chili.

If you think your skimmer is pulling too much then tune it so that it skims really dry.

 

[ReeferDave01]

250g main tank mostly fish now but slowly adding softies, 60g fuge & 60g sump. Run skimmer 24/7/365. Turn it off only when I clean tank.