Protein Skimmer run time and your tank!

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Wondering today how long do you run your protein skimmer?

Would also be helpful to have a few details about your tank.

• How many gallons?
• How many fish?
• Types of corals?

Thank you!

image via @aquavista99

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I'm skimming 24/7!
475G total water
400g Display
Only about 10 fish currently
Mixed reef

 

[andrewkw]

I take my skimmer offline for 1-2hrs once a year to give it a good cleaning.
112 gallon display I have 9 fish, 4 medium sized 5 smaller.
Soft coral dominated but mixed reef that includes nps, lps and sps. I do carbon dose so the skimmer cup needs to be cleaned and emptied one a week of dark dirty skimmate.

I have 3 other systems that are skimmerless (nano, frag and 90g with 1 fish only) The 90g will eventually get a skimmer, the frag and the nano will remain skimmerless indefinitely.

 

[Fourstars]

I only run a HOB skimmer and sock for a day after doing maintenance once a week or so. Three tanks SPS tank, Zoe tank, and the shrimp and mushroom tank.

 

[dansreef]

I am skimming 24/7!
I also have an Algae Scrubber 24/7
~220 gal total water
180g Display
I have about 12 or so fish.... which eat like pigs... and crap...well you can guess... 3 Tangs, 1 Rabbit...and a Blue Jaw that are all pretty large.
Mixed reef

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

I skim during the day.

150g water volume give or take.
I had six fish, but now I have two in QT from a Velvet outbreak.
SPS dominant

 

[madweazl]

24/7! Anything else is just limiting the potential of your fish/corals.

75g DT w/30g sump
10 fish
Acropora dominant

 

[Chris Villalobos]

I can't see a difference with skimming and not skimming, but I have a tank that has to be dosed with NO3 and PO4 everyday to keep them from dropping to zero. I currently do not skim.

 

[PEP12]

24/7 , 480 ltr inc sump, 14 fish, mixed growing coral, system 14 months old, I week added roller mat now making skimmer not working so hard.

 

[ca1ore]

Yes, continuously. Display is a 450 (holds 400 gallons of water), entire system volume is nominally 750 gallons. Over 100 fish and lots of large coral colonies. Skimmer is sized for 1,000 gallon system and I'm about to replace it with one rated for 3,000 (ish).

 

[tidefanjam]

65g DT 20g sump, clown, starry blenny, striped blenny, and a cardinal. Assorted corals mostly LPS, couple rock flowers, took mine off the tank a couple months ago and so far it’s looked better...although I have got some bryopsis popping up

 

[Lukas75]

Everything is in a "holding" tank pending the main system coming back up. Going wet this weekend (fingers crossed). The holding tank is a

• Deep blue 60 frag tank with a 40 breeder sump, 10 gallon mangrove forest plumbed in. The majority of the sump is a chaeto fuge lit by a Sunlight Supply 24 inch 4 bulb T-5
• Majestic Foxface, Desajardini Sailfin, Flamefin Tang, Yellow-Tail Damsel, Peppermint Hogfish (B. Sepiacaudus), X-Mas Wrasse (H. claudia), GSM, Harequin Basslet, Blood-red shrimp, Red Pistol Shrimp. I'm surprised the shrimp have not become a meal for the basslet or the hog yet.
• GSP, dull and neon, Frogspawn, Kenyan tree forest, 3x RBTA, Red Zoanthids (forgot the name)

I've been running an 8-inch reef octopus skimmer 24/7. I honestly never thought of shutting it off for any period of time outside of water changes.

 

[TommyMaples]

So I would also like to know how long to run my two reactors with Seachem Matrix Carbon & Phosguard in them along with whether to run UV 24/7 or not?

 

[KMench]

Running my RO Regal 150 on a 75G tank with a 30 G sump. Have ten fish in the tank and also run a decent size fuge. The skimmer has a DC pump, and I run it on 2/5 for the speed setting.

 

[Crabs McJones]

40 gallons
7 fish
Mainly sps with some lps and soft
Run my skimmer 24/7

 

[Geebs19]

120 gallons including sump. I feed pretty heavy and run it 24/7. Tank is mixed corals and 7 fish.

 

[beaslbob]

don't use a protein skimmer.

 

[Proteus Meep]

No protein skimmer either

 

[tnyr5]

40g total
heavy sps & fish load
Skimmer is an old Deltec AP600
Although Ken Feldman's research implies that skimmers don't need to run 24/7 to function properly (In his trials, they stripped the water of everything they could very quickly, then idled until there was once again enough to skim), I let mine run continuously out of habit and laziness.

 

[dantimdad]

93 customized marineland cube

bout 95 gallons total.

No fish yet. But feed small amounts anyway for the coral.

Running Curve 7 skimmer 24/7.