Skimmer question

[Reefaddict1979]

I currently have the nyos quantum 220 protein skimmer for my tank and dont think its enough.
my tank is about 600 gallons total heavily stocked/ ( 265 main tank, 3 -80 gallon frags, 57 refuge and 125 gallon sump. ) tank is heavily stocked with about 70 fish total and lots of corals.
Weekly water changes of 75 gallons are done and nitrates run 5-10 and gfo needs to be changed ever 4 days to keep at .05.

Love this skimmer, its quite and runs great. My question is should i sell it and get one monster external skimmer or just add another skimmer to my sump.
room and height isnt a problem.

is running 2 skimmers and different than running one
also what skimmer would you get?

 

[Crazydiamond]

I currently have the nyos quantum 220 protein skimmer for my tank and dont think its enough.
my tank is about 600 gallons total heavily stocked/ ( 265 main tank, 3 -80 gallon frags, 57 refuge and 125 gallon sump. ) tank is heavily stocked with about 70 fish total and lots of corals.
Weekly water changes of 75 gallons are done and nitrates run 5-10 and gfo needs to be changed ever 4 days to keep at .05.

Love this skimmer, its quite and runs great. My question is should i sell it and get one monster external skimmer or just add another skimmer to my sump.
room and height isnt a problem.

is running 2 skimmers and different than running one
also what skimmer would you get?

Wow - You’ve got a lot of livestock in your aystem and your water change schedule is serious @ 75 gallons a week. I’m not sure what your skimmer is rated for, but it sounds like that model maybe undersized for your set up.

I run the Reef octopus External 300 regal on a 500 gallon system (rated for 600-700 gallons) & it works good, but my system is not as heavily stocked as yours.

Have you thought about dosing vodka to keep your nitrates low and cutting back on the water changes and gfo replacement a bit? You may save a lot of money on salt and gfo

 

[Reefaddict1979]

I only use 2 cups of Gfo. I don’t want to sound like i am using that much. Tired vodka dosing nitrates go to zero while phosphates stay high. I am not so worried about my nitrates more worried about my phosphates. I am starting to change my tank back to sps. I don’t mind spending the money on salt. I feel water changes are the best thing Long term for your tank

 

[Crazydiamond]

I only use 2 cups of Gfo. I don’t want to sound like i am using that much. Tired vodka dosing nitrates go to zero while phosphates stay high. I am not so worried about my nitrates more worried about my phosphates. I am starting to change my tank back to sps. I don’t mind spending the money on salt. I feel water changes are the best thing Long term for your tank

Maybe bump up your skimmer size and incorporate another method of phosphate control. Either a refugium with some macro algae or a turf scrubber. 2 cups every four days is a lot of GFO to burn thru.

 

[Reefaddict1979]

I have a refugium and Macro in my sump. I know it’s a lot it’s why I want a bigger skimmer. I was asking if 2 smaller ones is as good as one big one.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I have a refugium and Macro in my sump. I know it’s a lot it’s why I want a bigger skimmer. I was asking if 2 smaller ones is as good as one big one.

I dont see why it wouldnt work, skimmers arent exactly this most complex piece of equipment. Except that they are water level dependent. If one sudenly draws more or less water will cause the water level to change on the other if in the same compartment. And might be adding into the complexity of your maintenance routine.
Emptying 2 skimmers, cleaning 2 skimmers getting both at their required water levels.

 

[LatinKing]

His Nyos Quantum 220 is rated up to 530 gallons. Great skimmer! Although I would definitely look into a larger bio load skimmer. Here's some information regarding skimmer bio load, hope it helps! go here

 

[Reefaddict1979]

His Nyos Quantum 220 is rated up to 530 gallons. Great skimmer! Although I would definitely look into a larger bio load skimmer. Here's some information regarding skimmer bio load, hope it helps! go here

Thank you.

 

[Reefaddict1979]

So 2 smaller skimmers is same as 1 bigger one and in case my water gets too clean I can take one offline

 

[GonçaloS]

That’s a great skimmer, but probably not enough for that bioload. I chose the exactly same skimmer for my tank, but it’s only 160 gallons. I followed Tunze’s rule when choosing, they say that for SPS only, your water volume should be 30% of the maximum capacity of the skimmer.. Which means, in your case, you could be using a skimmer rated for 2000 gallons. But I still can’t give you my input over that rule, the tank is only 2 months old, nitrates and phosphates are zero, but there’s also brown algae still growing..

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I agree its a great skimmer just not big enough. Check out Life Reef skimmers.

 

[Reefaddict1979]

Yes I know not big enough lol. I am basically asking. Should I just get another one if them or the 330 Or sell it and buy one monster external skimmer

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I would sell it and contact Life Reef. On larger systems the owners of these skimmers speak extremely highly of them, both in performance and quality. CS is great from what I hear as well.

 

[Reefaddict1979]

Thanks I might do that
Anyone else