I have, in the last six month acquired a Rea Sea 350. It came with a Red Sea skimmer, I do weekly 15-20% water changes religiously. I have a Brittle Star, a File fish, a Lemon peel Angle fish, a Maroon Clown fish, an Anemone, 2 Banggai Cardinal fish and one PJ Cardinal fish, snails, crabs, all in a "Reef " tank.
Here is my question, with the skimmer off, my glass stays clear for days. With the skimmer on, the glass gets algae in a day or so, I try and clean the skimmer out twice a week. With the water changes that I do, do I really need a skimmer, or at least full time??
Trying to learn..
“Do I really need a skimmer?” No.
I’m not the most experienced here and 90% of what we find on here is anecdotal so here we go….
A skimmer is doing something. After all…that isn’t magic muck coating the insides. It came from your tank and based on the look and smell, was obviously in some state of decomposition. So…huzzah! It’s out now.
Now, despite it getting full…is it doing enough to matter? Hard to say. What’s more, is it a good idea if it is?
If I’m pulling a pound of muck out each week but making 2, I’d look and say “boy this skimmer is really crushing it” but in reality…it’s not. Recommended sizes on websites aren’t really accurate because each tank is different. There’s so many factors here that no one could properly size a skimmer to your tank in a generic “good for x-y gallons.”
But let’s say you get it down as many do. Your skimmer is sucking up the perfect amount of nutrients. Everything is in beautiful balance. Life is good. Then your skimmer dies. …and now your tank is completely thrown off. Algae blooms, nitrates spike, it’s a mess. You’re yelling “hunny what’s the cvv on the credit ca?!?” and clicking “overnight delivery for $99” as fast as you can….or you come home from a lovely vacation to chaos. Clown fish and Dominos marrying, Tangs acting out the ‘Lord of the Flies’ in jungles of hair algae.
I do believe skimmers work. But I firmly believe they are a tool to help prop-up new tanks and should eventually be removed after a year or two. The more props and things you NEED on your tank, the greater the chance of failure or crash.
I have run very large and expensive skimmers because I overstocked and HAD to. I have run them because I thought it was best practices. In the end, after the 100th cleaning, I’ve pulled them around year 1-2 and seen no I’ll effect.
Gas Exchange. Ok, This actually worked for me and I couldn’t replicate it with commercial grade air pumps so I have to mention it. In the past, I have run a tube outside to fresh air and hooked it up to my protein skimmer air intake. It did positively affect my Ph.
