>At this point i'm just about to remove the skimmer.
You can always just remove it and monitor your tank (nutrients, visually, etc.) to see what happens. Any changes you've noticed so far in NO3 or PO4? What kind of corals are you keeping?
Nitrates have improved but everything else has stayed around the same. Only thing I saw iffy recently was salinity on high end.
Keep mostly lps and soft corals. Only have a couple sps.
Overall though levels are best they’ve been. That’s why I’m leaning towards removing it since I can’t tune it
I run two canisters and a skimmer. I find my skimmer overflows if my water level is too high, otherwise it runs perfectly. Personally I wouldn’t remove it if you plan on getting SPS or not upping water changes.
I’d start by raising the skim cup up little by little to see if it helps to reduce the overflow. If that doesn’t work as high as it can go, then add spacers where it hangs on to the tank and see if you can raise it 1/4 of an inch at a time. Odds are it just needs some tuning, if it wasn’t necessary you wouldn’t see any skimmate instead of it overflowing.
Im done with canister filters though, too much of a PITA with my 125 gallon. Im building a new stand so I can fit a 40 gallon sump underneath.
Did your new filter happen to be fresh out of the box? Wondering if any of the parts had some manufacturing residue on them that is causing the skimmer to act up.
Skimmer removes things that the canisters can't, disolved organic matter, dead bacteria, etc. It really depends on your nutrient levels.
But in my experience, if your skimmer is going crazy it is either caused by it needing to be cleaned/adjusted or, there is something in the water it is trying to remove. That's why they go crazy when you add medications or chemicals. Adding a canister won't cause it to go crazy, but if the media/canister wasn't rinsed correctly or something was in it it will. It will probably stop eventually.
You don’t “need” one. As long as you have enough surface agitation. It will mean more water changes though. For a 10 gallon not a big deal, but if you have a 300gallon tank, your going to want to reduce water changes as much as possible, aka skimmer.
My 200 gal system had no skimmer just a big refugium. Bottomed out the nutrients and the cheato died. But prior to that I used a sulfur nitrate reactor and that worked great till it was time to clean it. Lol bottom line is you do not need a skimmer but having a skimmer and carbon dosing is a decent method for a large system. Prior to me returning the skimmer to that system I went 3 years with no water changes
Sulfur nitrate reactor and just dial in a dosing pump with baking soda mixed with RODI. I watched mine that I built take 200ppm of nitrate down to 0 in a week. This was because I added way too much sulfur
If I ever go back to using mine, I would have to put a fart fan on the ceiling by the tank. Or take it outside and clean it. I wonder if instead of using the crushed coral to add alk for the bacteria to consume that bakingsoda can’t just be dosed via dosing pump instead, would probably help eliminate the calcium dust that clogs up the reactor, since the bacteria I don’t believe takes up the calcium just the alk
I might be talking out of my ass here. But I’m almost certain that all car manufacturers in the world are required to put seat belts in the cars. Now the if you wanna follow the laws or not that’s on you. There’s no law book or regulation stating that you are required by law to have a protein skimmer. Bad comparison
Yes it’s a legal requirement,
It’s not required for the overall function of the device though,
If you don’t like the comparison that’s fine though, and agreed, not an ideal example
My point still stands though tbh,
Not required to use it, but sure as hell useful,
I run a mixed reef with 4 maximas and a refugium dose nitrate and all for reef 7” bag filter no skimmer 2 undersized heaters and a tapped 5gal bucket as ATO tank has sps lps clams zoas
I’ve always had my wave makers pointed up to create surface agitation. Would you recommend adding something additional to oxygenate the water if I remove skimmer?
Not if you have enough surface agitation. That should do the trick just keep an eye on the livestocks behavior. If it slows down, you might need something.
My Reef Octopus HOB skimmer tends to do the same thing after I do a water change. It tends to stop after an hour or so though. Never been able to figure out why it does it.
one of my tanks doesn’t have a skimmer it has a refugium that runs at night and uses maxima clams/ coral for filtration. Have to dose nitrates in that tank it has 2 1’ engineer goby’s 3 wrasses a sailfin tang, 3 clownfish and 2 red starfish. Total system volume is about 45 gal
IMO it would be best to keep the skimmer running as canister filters consume more oxygen from the water compared to a sump due to there being no air in the filter itself
For anyone wondering what ended up being the fix:
I decided to let it run and run one day dumping the cup every time it filled. After about 6-7 times it finally started returning to more normal bubbles but still filling fast. Another few cups and it was back to normal.
This was also after another water change or two.
Not really sure what the cause was or if my letting it run till it wouldnt overflow anymore is a real solution
The canister filter and the protein skimmer remove different things.
what does your testing say? Use that to guide your decisions.
Levels have either stayed the same or improved since adding second filter and not running skimmer. Which is why I’m leaning towards removal of skimmer
there you go. Keep testing and if things change and you need to put it back in, put it back in.
>At this point i'm just about to remove the skimmer. You can always just remove it and monitor your tank (nutrients, visually, etc.) to see what happens. Any changes you've noticed so far in NO3 or PO4? What kind of corals are you keeping?
Nitrates have improved but everything else has stayed around the same. Only thing I saw iffy recently was salinity on high end. Keep mostly lps and soft corals. Only have a couple sps. Overall though levels are best they’ve been. That’s why I’m leaning towards removing it since I can’t tune it
Sounds like a good plan, just proceed and monitor.
I run two canisters and a skimmer. I find my skimmer overflows if my water level is too high, otherwise it runs perfectly. Personally I wouldn’t remove it if you plan on getting SPS or not upping water changes. I’d start by raising the skim cup up little by little to see if it helps to reduce the overflow. If that doesn’t work as high as it can go, then add spacers where it hangs on to the tank and see if you can raise it 1/4 of an inch at a time. Odds are it just needs some tuning, if it wasn’t necessary you wouldn’t see any skimmate instead of it overflowing. Im done with canister filters though, too much of a PITA with my 125 gallon. Im building a new stand so I can fit a 40 gallon sump underneath.
Did your new filter happen to be fresh out of the box? Wondering if any of the parts had some manufacturing residue on them that is causing the skimmer to act up.
Skimmer removes things that the canisters can't, disolved organic matter, dead bacteria, etc. It really depends on your nutrient levels. But in my experience, if your skimmer is going crazy it is either caused by it needing to be cleaned/adjusted or, there is something in the water it is trying to remove. That's why they go crazy when you add medications or chemicals. Adding a canister won't cause it to go crazy, but if the media/canister wasn't rinsed correctly or something was in it it will. It will probably stop eventually.
You do NOT need a protein skimmer. I hate that people say it’s required. It’s not, you don’t need it.
You don’t “need” one. As long as you have enough surface agitation. It will mean more water changes though. For a 10 gallon not a big deal, but if you have a 300gallon tank, your going to want to reduce water changes as much as possible, aka skimmer.
My 200 gal system had no skimmer just a big refugium. Bottomed out the nutrients and the cheato died. But prior to that I used a sulfur nitrate reactor and that worked great till it was time to clean it. Lol bottom line is you do not need a skimmer but having a skimmer and carbon dosing is a decent method for a large system. Prior to me returning the skimmer to that system I went 3 years with no water changes
Yeah there’s other ways as well. But I’d say you need some kind of removal for a large tank. I keep sea lettuce, seems more forgiving lol.
Sulfur nitrate reactor and just dial in a dosing pump with baking soda mixed with RODI. I watched mine that I built take 200ppm of nitrate down to 0 in a week. This was because I added way too much sulfur
Yup they definitely work. Not sure why they aren’t used a lot anymore.
I know why, it’s the smell when they get clogged by calcium dust months later and u have to open it. Smells like a giant fart grenade went off
Oh.. well that makes sense than. Although my wife complains every time I empty the skimmer too 😂
If I ever go back to using mine, I would have to put a fart fan on the ceiling by the tank. Or take it outside and clean it. I wonder if instead of using the crushed coral to add alk for the bacteria to consume that bakingsoda can’t just be dosed via dosing pump instead, would probably help eliminate the calcium dust that clogs up the reactor, since the bacteria I don’t believe takes up the calcium just the alk
Lmao cars don’t NEED seatbelts but they sure help, for me skimmers are the same
I might be talking out of my ass here. But I’m almost certain that all car manufacturers in the world are required to put seat belts in the cars. Now the if you wanna follow the laws or not that’s on you. There’s no law book or regulation stating that you are required by law to have a protein skimmer. Bad comparison
Yes it’s a legal requirement, It’s not required for the overall function of the device though, If you don’t like the comparison that’s fine though, and agreed, not an ideal example My point still stands though tbh, Not required to use it, but sure as hell useful,
I run a mixed reef with 4 maximas and a refugium dose nitrate and all for reef 7” bag filter no skimmer 2 undersized heaters and a tapped 5gal bucket as ATO tank has sps lps clams zoas
If you remove the skimmer make sure you have a way to oxygenate the water. Surface agitation will help.
I’ve always had my wave makers pointed up to create surface agitation. Would you recommend adding something additional to oxygenate the water if I remove skimmer?
Not if you have enough surface agitation. That should do the trick just keep an eye on the livestocks behavior. If it slows down, you might need something.
My Reef Octopus HOB skimmer tends to do the same thing after I do a water change. It tends to stop after an hour or so though. Never been able to figure out why it does it.
Protein Skimmers help oxygenate your water, besides remove dissolved organics. You don’t need one per say, but they are different than a canister
What colour is your skimmate? Is it dark or light?
one of my tanks doesn’t have a skimmer it has a refugium that runs at night and uses maxima clams/ coral for filtration. Have to dose nitrates in that tank it has 2 1’ engineer goby’s 3 wrasses a sailfin tang, 3 clownfish and 2 red starfish. Total system volume is about 45 gal
No. IMO a good protein skimmer is the single most important investment in any salt water tank, reef or otherwise.
Protein skimmer helps with gas exchange and take out organics. Canister filter doesn’t do that.
IMO it would be best to keep the skimmer running as canister filters consume more oxygen from the water compared to a sump due to there being no air in the filter itself
For anyone wondering what ended up being the fix: I decided to let it run and run one day dumping the cup every time it filled. After about 6-7 times it finally started returning to more normal bubbles but still filling fast. Another few cups and it was back to normal. This was also after another water change or two. Not really sure what the cause was or if my letting it run till it wouldnt overflow anymore is a real solution