Is my skimmer too big for my system?

Bustyraker · Jun 3, 2017

I have a 105 gallon DSA tank and synergy reef 36 sump. I have what I would call a medium bioload, 5 fish, two of which are tangs. I've had a hard time keeping nitrates in check and biopellets have not been helping much. I have to dose vodka along with the biopellets to keep my nitrates below 5-10ppm. I've been running an SRO 3000 SSS for a year or so now and I've never really been impressed with the performance. My SWC 160 seemed to skim better. The skimmate is very thick but does not produce much. After about 2 weeks of skimming there is only about 1/2 inch of skimmate in the cup. I noticed a few days ago that my return pump was restricted a bit so I opened it the whole way and I'm hoping that the increase flow through my sump will help the skimmer production. If it does not are there any recommendations for skimmers?

Fritzhamer · Jun 3, 2017

I used to be in the "bigger is better" camp with skimmers but in my opinion it leads to less stability overall. When you go big it rocks for a bit until it catches us to your baseline daily bio input. Then it just struggles to "idle" as a large skimmer is designed to handle more of a baseline bio input than you are providing. This causes you to have to skim wet (salinity variations) or just the neck gets gummed up. In the latter there is always some removed organic in the neck struggling to get up and out. When you cut the skimmer off (feeding etc) these go back into the water column (again causing numbers to swing).

I now keep skimmers rated for what I have, not what I may have or would like to have. If I go bigger I'll get a new skimmer.

After going through six or seven skimmers in the last year I'm very happy with my Deltec sca 1351.