Is it possible to have too big a skimmer?

[bobman]

I got a 92 corner tank with a lifereef sv24 skimmer I modded to make it a external recirculating skimmer so I could save room in the sump for a refugium (not much realestate under a corner tank. The skimmer works great but I have been thinking of upgrading to a 180 gallon tank with 55 gal sump. Today I was offered a ASM G5 with duel sedra 9000 pumps with the recirculating mod and gate valve for 65 bucks. Pumps are not working but pretty sure they just need impellers but if not its still a good deal. I was thinking of running it on my 92 till I find a 180 for a reasonable price. Do you all think it would be overkill well I know its overkill but can a skimmer loose its effectiveness after a certain point. I would not think so personally but wanted to hear some opinions.

 

[jetmaker]

Imo it will work fine

 

[bairdimusprime]

It will be just fine

 

[rock_lobster]

Depends on the type of coral. SPS is fine. Softies will hate it and grow much slower.

 

[Pfisherman]

You can definitely have too large a skimmer. To put this shortly, a skimmer with too large a neck will not be able to keep a good stack of bubbles because there is not enough waste and surface tension in a smaller tank. I speak from experience, I have an eshopps snow cone skimmer rated for 150g on my tank with only 57g of water displacement and it didn't produce much at all until I added a healthy amount of biopellets and it is still finicky. There is a thread or 20 about this on RC (eww!) By someone named futuredoc I believe.

 

[DereksReef77]

I had a reef octopus xp5000sss on a 210 gallon with 75 gallon sump heavily stocked with a
Queen angel
Emporer angel
Flame angel
Sailfin tang
Blue hippo tang
3 yellow tangs
Powder blue tang
4 clowns
And 13 anemones . And i could never get a consistent foam head. I replaced with a reef octopus elite200 and bam foam head right away into the cup. So I say yes you can have to big of a skimmer in my experience.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

While I'd say there are certainly times when an oversized skimmer comes in handy, if you can't keep a steady foam head when the gate valve open a decent amount, then the skimmer is probably too large.

 

[jent]

This is the pain I am currently experiencing. I wish I had a smaller skimmer now. When I first upgraded it did great, but then it seems like it just removed everything from the water. And now I collect inside the neck of my skimmer than in my cup (despite having the gate valve fairly closed).

 

[bobman]

Yeah I guess I will get the skimmer and get the pumps working (or new pumps) and just wait it out till I find a 180 or bigger for the right price good thing its tax return time lol

 

[jetmaker]

I'm running a 110 gallon system I bought the best skimmer I've ever owned it's a aqua max c01 its rated 175 gallon it's skims like crazy awesome.

 

[NanaReefer]

This is the pain I am currently experiencing. I wish I had a smaller skimmer now. When I first upgraded it did great, but then it seems like it just removed everything from the water. And now I collect inside the neck of my skimmer than in my cup (despite having the gate valve fairly closed).

May be time to put it on a timer [emoji6]

 

[trido]

IMO the G-5 is worth the $65.00 on a 180 it should be fine. I had a G-3 on my 120 and it was fine. It was too small for my 210.

 

[jetmaker]

May be time to put it on a timer [emoji6]

Why would you put a timer on a skimmer

 

[jetmaker]

OK didn't see you had a tiny tank

 

[jent]

Maybe. But right now I am actually slowly increasing my bio load on the tank. Increasing carbon dosing, nitrate dosing, and increased feeding. Once I get my nutrients where I want them, I will see how the skimmer is doing and possibly put it on a timer if it it's still collecting almost nothing.

 

[bobman]

Thanks seems as though things are moving right along post a want to buy tank thread on my local reefer website and looks like I will be buying a 4 foot 150 gal next weekend. Was going to wait for tax return but he is only asking 200 and its a brand new tank dont have a stand but I have a cabinet that is solid and can hold a tank that I am going to measure up when I get home that it will fit on just fine. would just need some paint as I dont like the red and blue the stand is now (assuming it fits). Guess tax return will go to some mh lighting and building a canopy (and the woman wants a sea horse tank). Think I will actually do a build thread for this one. As far as bio load I have a light bio load in my 92 but it is creeping up there quickly few more fish and I will be there in no time.

 

[go29]

depending on your tank bioload (coral wise especially) I would try the timer approach. I know that I am one of those anal type A personalities, so having an "over-rated" skimmer is must on anyone of my tanks. To get around any issues with production though I typically would run large skimmers on previous nano tanks of mine only like several days a week, and the days it was off would be days that the tank would be heavily fed with coral foods (reef chili, etc) . Seems that once turing back on i always had enough waste in water to run for another few days then when foam head would slow down skimmer would go off and repeat. Personally I would use this time to explain to the significant other that you "need to upgrade to a larger tank in order to prevent having to try and find a new skimmer" but then again I'm always looking for excuses to upgrade Good luck

 

[slief]

depending on your tank bioload (coral wise especially) I would try the timer approach. I know that I am one of those anal type A personalities, so having an "over-rated" skimmer is must on anyone of my tanks. To get around any issues with production though I typically would run large skimmers on previous nano tanks of mine only like several days a week, and the days it was off would be days that the tank would be heavily fed with coral foods (reef chili, etc) . Seems that once turing back on i always had enough waste in water to run for another few days then when foam head would slow down skimmer would go off and repeat. Personally I would use this time to explain to the significant other that you "need to upgrade to a larger tank in order to prevent having to try and find a new skimmer" but then again I'm always looking for excuses to upgrade Good luck

The problem with putting a skimmer on a timer is that it continually has to go through a mini break in period every time it turns back on and never gets a chance to work properly. Putting s skimmer on a timer is counter productive. If you are that concerned about removing too much dissolved organics, you are much better off tuning the skimmer for dry skimming and living with the inconsistency or dry skim. If the dirty neck gets to be an issue than adding a neck cleaner/SCH will solve that. I never understood the idea of running skimmers on timers. It makes no sense at all.

Regarding having too large of a skimmer, as others noted, many larger skimmers have very large neck diameters. With the larger neck diameter comes the need for increased dissolved organics to maintain a proper foam head. In the absence of enough DOC's, the skimmer will skim for a short while (a few days) until it drives out the DOC's and then it will idle along (upwards of a week) until the DOC's build back up. The result in the tank is a perpetual cycle of organics going up and down but never staying at a consistent level. To overcome this, the skimmer needs to be tuned very wet and it often ends up right on the ragged edge where they tend to overflow if you look at them wrong. Of course this is also relative to how oversized the skimmer is in relation to the display size/load. The Life Reef skimmers have proportionately smaller diameter necks unlike many of the other skimmers such as Bubble Kings, Reef Octopus etc. As such, the Life Reef will perform marginally better even on a tank well below it's size rating.

 

[jetmaker]

The problem with putting a skimmer on a timer is that it continually has to go through a mini break in period every time it turns back on and never gets a chance to work properly. Putting s skimmer on a timer is counter productive. If you are that concerned about removing too much dissolved organics, you are much better off tuning the skimmer for dry skimming and living with the inconsistency or dry skim. If the dirty neck gets to be an issue than adding a neck cleaner/SCH will solve that. I never understood the idea of running skimmers on timers. It makes no sense at all.

Regarding having too large of a skimmer, as others noted, many larger skimmers have very large neck diameters. With the larger neck diameter comes the need for increased dissolved organics to maintain a proper foam head. In the absence of enough DOC's, the skimmer will skim for a short while (a few days) until it drives out the DOC's and then it will idle along (upwards of a week) until the DOC's build back up. The result in the tank is a perpetual cycle of organics going up and down but never staying at a consistent level. To overcome this, the skimmer needs to be tuned very wet and it often ends up right on the ragged edge where they tend to overflow if you look at them wrong. Of course this is also relative to how oversized the skimmer is in relation to the display size/load. The Life Reef skimmers have proportionately smaller diameter necks unlike many of the other skimmers such as Bubble Kings, Reef Octopus etc. As such, the Life Reef will perform marginally better even on a tank well below it's size rating.

I totally agree no reason for a timer ever. Depleats the purpose.

 

[jetmaker]

I use the kiss method. Keep it simple stupid.