Skimp on the Skimmer?

Good post

I use my skimmers like I do heaters. Instead of one big one, I use two smaller ones.

I dont think you can over skim, and I agree it helps with your O2 levels.

 

Good points Craig! No you cannot over skim. Even if you have a top of the line skimmer and put a filter sock on its output, you will still see that it wont get every thing out thats in your system!
Go with a Recirculating skimmer design they are more flexible and will produce better results.

 

Agree with Craig...I don't think that you can overskim a tank...unless it's a softies tank and they kind of like the extra nutrients in the water. Also, depending on the brand, many skimmers are overrated while others are underrated. For example, a Coralife will likely be Calfo also recommends using two skimmers so that you can clean one and it can be recovering the buildup in the neck while the other is still skimming. Also, he recommends using two different types of skimmers (i.e. one pinwheel and one beckett) because each type produces a slightly different skimmate where one gets nutrients out the other does not. I thought that was very interesting. That being said, I only have one skimmer on my system...ASM G5 with recirculating and gate mods.

Also, if you plan to use Ozone...make sure to get an acrylic skimmer...Ozone will break down PVC.

--AJ

 

I think it depends on what your goal is for your tank. SPS, LPS, softies, fish only all have such different maintenance situations. I ran a basically softie and fish tank for 12 yrs and never owned a skimmer. Everything thrived very well and even though I THOUGHT about changing water frequently...I rarely did. No filter sock, no skimmer but I knew when the tank needed a water change and did it but didn't do it on a regular basis. I think it also depends on how much water and filtration you have in relationship to the corals/fish/rock/sand you have. Definately a smaller tank either needs skimmed or frequent water changes because things build up faster, IMO.

 

Interesting, what are most effectively. As Craig explained by have 2 skimmer, say you have 120g and you using at 60 g each skimmer. Is that most effectively? Or having little higher number for better results?

 

Other to add, what are Recirculating skimmer? How difference between this and regular skimmer?

 

In an ideal world, having two different style skimmers would be great for any system. However, most people can only afford one and probably don't want to maintain two skimmers if they didn't have to.

A recirculating skimmer has a pump(s) attached to the body and recirculates within the body of the skimmer. Recirculating skimmers have to be fed by another source such as a pump or fed by the drain of the overflow.

 

I don't think you can over skimm. But there comes a point when a bigger skimmer is just a waist of space and electricity. What I mean by this is that a skimmer can only skimm what is there to skimm. My personal experence with this is that I ran a octo ddnw 150 duel recirc skimmer rated for 350g for about 6 months. It was a great skimmer and worked awesome but half the time there was no foam head as the skimmer had skimed the tank clean. This skimmer had 2 otp 2000 recirc pumps and a otp 2000 feed pump wich were 38w apiece so a total of 114w total. I switched this skimmer out for a ATI bubble master 200 rated for 250g. this skimmer is shorter so takes up less space, has a bigger cup diameter so needs cleaned less, and has only one pump a sicce psk 2500 pump that only uses 33w. So that's a saveings of 81w. So I was waisting alot of space and energy.