Removed Skimmer - Coral Coloration Increased

[Roscovitch]

In 1973 my very first job was in a local fish store here in Scotland. I remember the first ever (at least where we were) wooden air stone skimmers I ever saw that year. The guy who owned the place used to empty the cup every now and then but before he cleaned it out he’d take ice pop stick and scrape some of the gunk out. He’d then mix it back up in a tiny amount of tank water and use a syringe to shoot it gently of what I now know was Goniopora. I remember saying to him, “what’s the point in that”? To which he replied: “that coral eats it”! How do you know I said! “It’s still alive” he shot back. At that time he was the only guy I knew who kept them not only alive but thriving. No Gonipower or roids back then.

 

[atoll]

Struggling to get my NO3 above 1ppm with the result my cyno has got worse. I have upped my feeding and have now turned my skimmer off. Lets see what affect that may have before considering dosing nitrate.

 

[Roscovitch]

Struggling to get my NO3 above 1ppm with the result my cyno has got worse. I have upped my feeding and have now turned my skimmer off. Lets see what affect that may have before considering dosing nitrate.

Just dose some KZ Cyano Clear.

 

[atoll]

Just dose some KZ Cyano Clear.

Thanks but would rather defeat it without dosing but we will see.

 

[MnFish1]

Skimmers can help with oxygenation - as well as CO2 - depending.

 

[Subsea]

Ken Felderman peer reviewed research on protein skimming & carbon dosing. In his conclusion, he implies that skewed bacteria populations in the water column could account for “Old Tank Syndrome”. The paper is 10 years old and very relevant to this thread.

Bacterial Counts in Reef Aquarium Water: Baseline Values and Modulation by Carbon Dosing, Protein Skimming, and Granular Activated Carbon Filtration

Bacterial Counts in Reef Aquarium Water: Baseline Values and Modulation by Carbon Dosing, Protein Skimming, and Granular Activated Carbon Filtration - What are the bacteria populations in the water column of reef tanks, and how does that value compare with bacterial counts in authentic reef...

reefs.com

[Aquaria subjected to active filtration via skimming present water column bacteria populations that are approximately 1/10 of those observed on natural reefs. The consequences of this disparity on the long-term health of the tank’s livestock are not known. How do reef tank organisms adapt to such a bacteria-deficient environment? Is the whole food web in an aquarium perturbed, or are there compensatory mechanisms that maintain an appropriate energy transduction through all of the trophic levels? Is “old tank syndrome” related to possible nutritional deficiencies stemming from this bacteria “gap”? Alternatively, could “old tank syndrome” be symptomatic of a gradual decrease of bacterial diversity as a consequence of selective skimmer-based removal of only bubble-susceptible bacteria? At present, it is not possible to go beyond speculation on these points – further research is needed.]

 

[Lividfanatica]

Just dose some KZ Cyano Clear.

I am a fan of cyano clean - it is a bacterial product to my knowledge and over the course of several weeks - poof, cyano gone.

Overall this is an interesting topic - I am setting up a zeovit system with the intention of getting those "pale" pastel colors from my SPS. With increased nutrients, the zooxanthellae population beefs up in the coral tissue and results in darker colors. Guessing that is what Dana is experiancing. To someone else's point, beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

 

[atoll]

Skimmers can help with oxygenation - as well as CO2 - depending.

Yes I know but I run an Oxydator so no problem with O2 here.

 

[Wasabiroot]

In 1973 my very first job was in a local fish store here in Scotland. I remember the first ever (at least where we were) wooden air stone skimmers I ever saw that year. The guy who owned the place used to empty the cup every now and then but before he cleaned it out he’d take ice pop stick and scrape some of the gunk out. He’d then mix it back up in a tiny amount of tank water and use a syringe to shoot it gently of what I now know was Goniopora. I remember saying to him, “what’s the point in that”? To which he replied: “that coral eats it”! How do you know I said! “It’s still alive” he shot back. At that time he was the only guy I knew who kept them not only alive but thriving. No Gonipower or roids back then.

Cool little snapshot of history

 

[Wasabiroot]

I prefer to run my skimmer for aeration only. In my fuge the chaeto sucks up most of my nutrients. My goniopora seem to enjoy the increased particulates.

 

[Badfish405]

I have a 90 gal sps dominant, 60 gal softy, and 25 gal mixed nem... use unfiltered NSW for changes and no skimmers or filter socks. Caulerpa and Xenia in my 90 and 60 gal sumps which I harvest regularly. I have to dose nitrates as they bottom out. Phosphates around 0.08. Acros growing really well and getting good colour.

I prefer the minimalist route and trying to achieve an ecologically balanced system (as balanced as one can get in a closed system).

I'm interested to know what you think may be the cause of colour improvement.

Interesting, xenia in the sump sounds awesome. Do a lot of people do this?

 

[NanoBoxes]

I ran my 20g nano for a couple years with a HOB skimmer. It died on me so I removed it and didn’t replace it. May be coincidence but I’ve had nothing but issues in the tank since for the last year and a half.. A bunch of nasty brown hair algae popped up all over, Dino’s, and some cyano off and on. With the skimmer I did a 25% water change every three weeks and tank looked great. This tank was the fountain of youth for corals, I could put anything in it and it would thrive or heal up. Now, I need to do WC every two weeks and things still are rough looking. Prob should do a weekly water change. I may buy a new skimmer.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Interesting, xenia in the sump sounds awesome. Do a lot of people do this?

I had some accidentally make it way down there. It survived even though the sump was unlit for some time. It ceases pulsing and gets very skinny and small. I imagine xenia would do very well in a lit refugium.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Wondering if extra bacteria is now in the water collumn and a useful food source for the corals

Now that's a thought!

 

[Dana Riddle]

Ken Felderman peer reviewed research on protein skimming & carbon dosing. In his conclusion, he implies that skewed bacteria populations in the water column could account for “Old Tank Syndrome”. The paper is 10 years old and very relevant to this thread.

Bacterial Counts in Reef Aquarium Water: Baseline Values and Modulation by Carbon Dosing, Protein Skimming, and Granular Activated Carbon Filtration

Bacterial Counts in Reef Aquarium Water: Baseline Values and Modulation by Carbon Dosing, Protein Skimming, and Granular Activated Carbon Filtration - What are the bacteria populations in the water column of reef tanks, and how does that value compare with bacterial counts in authentic reef...

reefs.com

[Aquaria subjected to active filtration via skimming present water column bacteria populations that are approximately 1/10 of those observed on natural reefs. The consequences of this disparity on the long-term health of the tank’s livestock are not known. How do reef tank organisms adapt to such a bacteria-deficient environment? Is the whole food web in an aquarium perturbed, or are there compensatory mechanisms that maintain an appropriate energy transduction through all of the trophic levels? Is “old tank syndrome” related to possible nutritional deficiencies stemming from this bacteria “gap”? Alternatively, could “old tank syndrome” be symptomatic of a gradual decrease of bacterial diversity as a consequence of selective skimmer-based removal of only bubble-susceptible bacteria? At present, it is not possible to go beyond speculation on these points – further research is needed.]

I remember that article. With Eli's bacteria DNA testing we could get some answers.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Of course nitrogen is required for amino acid synthesis, but there are just a few AAs that constitute the fluorophore. I need to look at some references, but I think these are serine, glutamine, and valine. Don't quote me on this.

 

[LgTas]

Interesting, xenia in the sump sounds awesome. Do a lot of people do this?

I got the idea from a fellow reefer here in Hobart. Seems to work well but I can't say how much of that is the Caulerpa and how much is the Xenia. It does generate some pocket money so there's that benefit too. FYI I use a cheap 6500k Sunsun LED light for my fuge (about 300 par 3/4 up on the water column). Xenia grows like a weed and the Rhodactus offspring I store down there split like crazy

 

[Mellotang]

I don’t really care too Much what my skimmer pulls out as opposed to how much it Saturates the water with O2

I often think about selling skimmate for skin Care though

nutrient rich phytoplankton organic Seamud mask

maybe I could get 49.99/oz if I market it right?
Anyone want to partner up?

When used correctly it has the ability to “mask” wrinkles and stimulate collagen

 

[Mellotang]

Maybe add sustainable and non GMO to it too

 

[Wasabiroot]

Of course nitrogen is required for amino acid synthesis, but there are just a few AAs that constitute the fluorophore. I need to look at some references, but I think these are serine, glutamine, and valine. Don't quote me on this.

Sorry, couldn't resist.