Removing a skimmer

[Perthegallon]

So I have a 45 gallon display and I’ve found when I turned off my skimmer for a week and fed heavy my phosphates would stay at 0.04 I’m thinking about removing the skimmer as it seems to not offer much of a benefit

 

[robbyg]

So I have a 45 gallon display and I’ve found when I turned off my skimmer for a week and fed heavy my phosphates would stay at 0.04 I’m thinking about removing the skimmer as it seems to not offer much of a benefit

Your Kidneys can stop working for two days and you will be fine. Same thing without a Skimmer for a week! Eventually your Phosphates and Co2 levels will rise and your Oxygen levels will drop without a skimmer.
Some people can get away with it but if your feeding heavy I would not go that route.

 

[User1]

Your Kidneys can stop working for two days and you will be fine. Same thing without a Skimmer for a week! Your Phosphates and Co2 levels will rise and your Oxygen levels will drop without a skimmer.
Some people can get away with it but if your feeding heavy I would not go that route.

Lol - that escalated quickly! Right to the kidneys Just kidding but a good example.

OP - people do run successful tanks without skimmers. Very successful tanks. As @robbyg noted above some do but their system is designed that way and they know their balance. I turn my skimmer off a few times a month for a couple days but I'm not able to do it full time yet. Not sure that I want to anyway. I just do it when I'm feeding certain coral foods.

If you do want to try it out my recommendation would be to test parameters before stopping it for at least two days. Test at the same time say mid afternoon if you can. You have at least two data points. Then stop the skimmer and test daily at the same time for a week. Compare results.

If you see the parameters staying steady repeat. If they are holding then you can probably stop. On the other hand if after a few days they start to climb I think you have your answer. Whatever you do I do agree with Robby above, don't go cold turkey.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Run it on a timer for 6-12 hrs per day

 

[Duncan Tse]

Most successful reefers adopt the heavy import and heavy export method.

I would keep the skimmer and feed even more. You're corals would appreciate all the food you're putting in + increase oxygen levels.

What kind of skimmer are you running?