Should your skimmer be run 24/7 , I have lost a lot of color in my corals and not even water changes have helped , it's going on two months now , my parameters are stable so all I can think is the skimmer is taking all the nutrients out of the system, I run a bh1000 on a 50gallon...
I am in the practice of turning it off for 30-60 min after feeding / dosing additives like reef energy. Just to make sure the corals a chance to benefit from the feeding before the skimmer starts trying to break it down and remove it. They pull many dissolved organics out of the water. If it can stick to the film of the bubbles it can be removed.
Other than those feeding periods though mine runs all the time. I have thought about putting it on a timer, but since waste is breaking down in the tank 24/7 I decided to keep it running. Even if it is not producing skimate all the time the bubbling action in the skimmer helps with breaking things down, It oxygenates the water and in my case the air intake of the skimmer is used for my CO2 filter helping me maintain PH.
Hopefully something in the above mess of rambling helps a little.
Other than those feeding periods though mine runs all the time. I have thought about putting it on a timer, but since waste is breaking down in the tank 24/7 I decided to keep it running. Even if it is not producing skimate all the time the bubbling action in the skimmer helps with breaking things down, It oxygenates the water and in my case the air intake of the skimmer is used for my CO2 filter helping me maintain PH.
Hopefully something in the above mess of rambling helps a little.
What's your Nitrate reading at?
I run a really clean tank with LPS and have zero issues with color or growth, I doubt it has anything to do with your skimmer however, are you feeding your corals? because i have little to no nutrients in my tank I do feed my coral regularly. I'd suspect it to be more of a water chemistry/lighting issue for you if you are feeding.
Bob Escher
Welcome to Saltwater
I run mine all the time except for feeding ( twenty minutes) and I feed the fish at different times I feed corals and different times I feed others. I also turn it off when I add my additives ( reef energy and ALK and calc ) as well
I have a co2 absorber on my air intake which helps tremendously with my PH.
I am also anal retentive when it come to trying to keep the tank clean ( nitrates and Phosphates) are at 0.0 and 0.25
So I clean my skimmer every two weeks, water changes every week
Things are good so I'll keep doing what I'm doing
I have a co2 absorber on my air intake which helps tremendously with my PH.
I am also anal retentive when it come to trying to keep the tank clean ( nitrates and Phosphates) are at 0.0 and 0.25
So I clean my skimmer every two weeks, water changes every week
Things are good so I'll keep doing what I'm doing
TheLadyCrash
Active Member
I'm currently running mine 24/7 aside from when I empty the cup and clean the heck or am doing a water change. I believe I've read multiple threads about how turning them on/off is bad for the pumps on startup which makes me hesitant to turn it off daily.
