Skimmers useful?

[Ocdreef]

Yeah I personally tried the approach of 'fuge no skimmer' and I developed sps problems. I do feed a good amount of frozen to my fish so if you don't do that I think it could work, but I'm not willing to compromise on that so instead I pulled out my chaeto and skim dry now and things are a lot better. I feel that harmful substances weren't getting removed when my skimmer was off and it ticked off some of my acros. I do appreciate the idealism and convenience of the "all natural" approach but in this case it just didn't work, but I'm glad to hear some folks are having success with it. I'd be curious to hear more details on whether those people feed frozen or pellets and what their water change schedules are. I also don't change water a lot and have mostly sps with montis, lps, and zoas on the sand.

 

[JasPR]

I agree with many of the comments already made. Yet I see a skimmer primarily there for taking out excess bacteria, protein and fatty acids, gilvin and also free floating algae cells-- LOTS of algae cells. So although these cells are a good food source for filter feeders and waving tentacles, in a closed BOX these things would build up incredibility fast -- or require many more frequent water changes since all such life leads to decay, bacteria proliferation and ammonia issues. God bless the skimmer- a necessary evil? Or just a blessing with some unintended consequences?

 

[Shooter6]

Skimmers are helpful on systems but yes they do take nutrients out the water. I run a skimmer a little bit under rated for my tanks with large refuges.

X2

 

[Shooter6]

I

I am torn on needing a skimmer or not. My tank has been in operation since 1994, and due to my stupidity a few years ago I had a total meltdown of livestock in just a couple hours time while I sat there and watched in horror! I had just put some aftershave on getting ready to go out, and forgot to wash my hands, stopped to feed the fish and the rest is history, everything aside from a handful of mushrooms died.
The tank stayed in operation, cause I couldn't bear to tear it down. Since then it became heavily encrusted with hair algae, and recently I decided to get back into taking care of it again. Did loads of reading, mostly here, and have invested in some gear, GFO reactor, LED lighting (my old cool white fluorescents were pretty dim), and some additives to help reduce the algae. Bought a HOB skimmer which has only turned my water to milk with air bubbles, it does pull some gunk, but not much. But I'm thinking the best investment yet was the additives. Water is in good shape, algae is dissipating slowly, and new livestock seems to be doing wonderful. I'm keeping the skimmer hoping it will actually break-in some day and be useful if the bio-load gets heavy. I've seen pics of the gunk they pull out but also realize that's a drop in the bucket compared to ppm concentrations in the water. Dunno, guess I'll stay on the fence for now. My old DIY wet/dry system seems to be doing the job at this point. I do think the success or failure of skimmers on a system has loads of variables, other equipment, bio-load, etc.

i suggest you research wet dry filters and the benefit vs risk with them. Im sure you could easily convert it to a refugeum or at the least a sump.

 

[Shooter6]

I
i suggest you research wet dry filters and the benefit vs risk with them. Im sure you could easily convert it to a refugeum or at the least a sump.

I may not have worded this properly, i didnt mean to come across as a d!@k so i apologize it i did.

 

[Wiskey]

I tried to turn my skimmer off and ended up with PH issues, it seems like it's really useful in blowing off CO2. I run it dry now, and the flow through my sump is a little less than 1x tank volume per hour, this isn't perfect but seems to be a good ballance with my low fish load.

I use GFO at very low quantities off and on to manage P04, and find this (so far) to be a good way to keep everything happy.

Whiskey

 

[Pho Dac Biet]

That wasn't me.

It was Farley Holmes-Randy

 

[rock_lobster]

I agree with many of the comments already made. Yet I see a skimmer primarily there for taking out excess bacteria, protein and fatty acids, gilvin and also free floating algae cells-- LOTS of algae cells. So although these cells are a good food source for filter feeders and waving tentacles, in a closed BOX these things would build up incredibility fast -- or require many more frequent water changes since all such life leads to decay, bacteria proliferation and ammonia issues. God bless the skimmer- a necessary evil? Or just a blessing with some unintended consequences?

Skimmers aren’t mandatory at all. Many people have successful skimmerless tanks and also do very little to no water changes. Those things you speak of don’t build up in a mature tank. There are billions of bacteria that consume everything down to the basic elements which are consumed by coral and algae.

 

[CenlaReefer]

My goatfish might be a bit unhappy without a sand bed, true, but you missed the primary benefit of a sand bed... looks. No matter how I try, I just don't like the looks of a bare bottom tank.

I know what you mean. I run one softie-only sytem with a shallow sandbed. I am not crazy about that tank with the bare-bottom look. I also run a frag system with about 60% SPS corals that is bare bottom. I would like to transition the frag system into more of a dispaly system, yet I plan to keep that one bare bottom just to save on time for upkeep. I find it easier to maintain.

 

[ca1ore]

The general observation that a skimmer is not mandatory is true, yet one may be very useful depending upon the kind of system you run, the corals you keep and how much you feed your fish. One of the more sensible comments in this thread was to look at nitrate and phosphate levels as an indicator of whether a skimmer was needed or not. I would not personally run a large reef system without one, but I have over 100 fish and I feed them a lot! I also think the role of skimmers as aerator/dehasser is over rated. I measured DO on my system a few years ago, and the skimmer being on or off made very little difference.

 

[PranK]

Skimmers aren’t mandatory at all. Many people have successful skimmerless tanks and also do very little to no water changes. Those things you speak of don’t build up in a mature tank. There are billions of bacteria that consume everything down to the basic elements which are consumed by coral and algae.

Precisely. I'm now at 7 weeks with no skimmer. I have a heap of live rocks and algae and I'm seeing very little increase in nutrients (which was desired anyway as my corals were starving). I change 10% every other week but only so I can restore any consumed trace elements.

 

[Fourstars]

There are so a many variables it’s impossible to answer this question. I pulled the skimmer off my most murture tank and noticed better coral coloration and growth, but also better bubble algea growth. It’s back on that tank now. There’s more then on way to export, the secret is balance. I think I would of been more successful without it if I adjusted my feeding, and maybe added more CUC?