Anyone double up on skimmers?

[Cody Ray]

Do any of u use multiple skimmers on your systems? It just seems like a waste to have to upgrade a skimmer because of a larger system when u could purchase another skimmer to help pick up the slack (ex: instead of upgraded from an remora to a remora pro just purchase another reg remora and use the 2 smaller ones).

 

[yetti]

I'm wondering the same thing for when I go from a 55g to my new 125g. I'd like to add a second skimmer.

 

[Horace]

Ive read that 1 large skimmer is better than 2 smaller. Why, i cant tell you. It really makes no sense to me either. Espeically if they are both fed via the main drain so they are not taking in clean/semi-clean water from the sump.

 

[scarter]

I use two asm G3 on a 200

 

[getwood65]

look for a member named clkwrk,he just upgraded from 2 skimmers to one,and i believe he is very happy with the results.upgrading from a cheap skimmer to a better cheap skimmer probably won't make much of a difference,but one H&S or deltec with an Eheim pump will do better than 2 or 3 remora's.

 

[kozmo02]

I've always heard that it is not good to run two skimmers because they compete with each other and don't work as efficiently as they would independently, however, when I brought this up in another thread several people had arguments that went against this popular train of thought so I am not certain. Personally, I am a firm believe that one good skimmer is better for your system than running two smaller or equal sized ones, I really do feel like they won't run as efficiently despite what is said about the matter.

 

[Horace]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7997878#post7997878 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kozmo02
I've always heard that it is not good to run two skimmers because they compete with each other and don't work as efficiently as they would independently, however, when I brought this up in another thread several people had arguments that went against this popular train of thought so I am not certain. Personally, I am a firm believe that one good skimmer is better for your system than running two smaller or equal sized ones, I really do feel like they won't run as efficiently despite what is said about the matter.

Frankly I dont see how they would "Compete" and even if they did, why would this lower the total nutrient export???

The question really is, will 2 skimmers pull more skimmate than 1 of equal size. I cant imagine any situation where the total skimmate pulled from the two is the same or just slightly more. While I wouldnt expect the skimmate to double, Im sure it would increase. For that reason, i think it very well may be much more cost effective to just buy another smaller skimmer if you need more power but dont have $600 for a new very large skimmer.

 

[clkwrk]

The H&S I use now has the same exact body size as my old er 8-2 and it clearly pulls more than double what the old ER pulled . As a matter of fact the H&S pulls more than both my g-3 and er 8-2 did combined.

But I am still trying to get another skimmer back under there because I like running one with o3 and another without.

 

[kozmo02]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7997914#post7997914 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
Frankly I dont see how they would "Compete" and even if they did, why would this lower the total nutrient export???

The question really is, will 2 skimmers pull more skimmate than 1 of equal size. I cant imagine any situation where the total skimmate pulled from the two is the same or just slightly more. While I wouldnt expect the skimmate to double, Im sure it would increase. For that reason, i think it very well may be much more cost effective to just buy another smaller skimmer if you need more power but dont have $600 for a new very large skimmer.

I don't know the specifics behind it as I have never cared enough to study the matter, but I do know when o2manyfish did his skimmer competition one of the major concerns was having multiple skimmers on the same system because they would not perform as they normally would if run by themselves.

I think it has been mentioned before, however, that if you use two skimmers that run on different methods than you might be better off, but if you have two skimmers that perform the same, for example two downdraft skimmers your results would probably not be as well as they would if you were running one appropriately sized downdraft skimmer.

Personally, I don't see why anyone would ever want to run two skimmers, with the skimmers they make now and the sizes they are capable of handling running two skimmers should never even have to come up, you would just end up spending more money, do it right from the start and get a good skimmer that can handle your aquarium.

 

[Horace]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7999990#post7999990 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kozmo02
I don't know the specifics behind it as I have never cared enough to study the matter, but I do know when o2manyfish did his skimmer competition one of the major concerns was having multiple skimmers on the same system because they would not perform as they normally would if run by themselves.

I think it has been mentioned before, however, that if you use two skimmers that run on different methods than you might be better off, but if you have two skimmers that perform the same, for example two downdraft skimmers your results would probably not be as well as they would if you were running one appropriately sized downdraft skimmer.

Personally, I don't see why anyone would ever want to run two skimmers, with the skimmers they make now and the sizes they are capable of handling running two skimmers should never even have to come up, you would just end up spending more money, do it right from the start and get a good skimmer that can handle your aquarium.

Well it does make sense that adding another skimmer the same size isnt going to double your skimmate production...that seems pretty obvious to me. Unless your skimmer is grossly under skimming your tank, your only going to increase skimmate production to the point that your tank is putting out. Its not like there is an infinite amount of skimmate to pull out. Would one skimmer actually pull more skimmate than 2 smaller ones? I guess its possible, but if you have the room for a second skimmer, and you dont have the big bucks to buy a huge skimmer, then IMO there is nothing wrong with running an extra skimmer. Would I do that? Probably not, I would probably just build a bigger one. Im not one for paying several hundred dollars for a piece of plastic that I can build in my garage for less than half the cost.

 

[exoticaquatix]

does anyone know the "oregon reef" guys SN? i saw on his site that he ran 3 skimmers on his enormous tank! all of you who have seen pics of this tank, or in person for that matter, know his tank is/was doing quite well. would this "competition" between the skimmers increase with the number of skimmers used? or is the "damage done" once you go beyond the first skimmer?
i personally have always doubted the validity of this claim because the nature of a protein skimmer seems to be resistant to the available amount of dissolved organics. it only pulls more or less depending on its individual design.
if you were to feed each skimmer directly from the tank then would you by pass this competition? it seems that regardless of additional skimmers each one would just be doing its job and pulling as much or as little organics from the water as its design allowed.
just a few thoughts, sorry if i am derailing this thread.
-nick

 

[Horace]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8000232#post8000232 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by exoticaquatix
does anyone know the "oregon reef" guys SN? i saw on his site that he ran 3 skimmers on his enormous tank! all of you who have seen pics of this tank, or in person for that matter, know his tank is/was doing quite well. would this "competition" between the skimmers increase with the number of skimmers used? or is the "damage done" once you go beyond the first skimmer?
i personally have always doubted the validity of this claim because the nature of a protein skimmer seems to be resistant to the available amount of dissolved organics. it only pulls more or less depending on its individual design.
if you were to feed each skimmer directly from the tank then would you by pass this competition? it seems that regardless of additional skimmers each one would just be doing its job and pulling as much or as little organics from the water as its design allowed.
just a few thoughts, sorry if i am derailing this thread.
-nick

The issue would be that unless there is so much organics to max each skimmer out, its likely that the water would be cleaner as a result of adding another skimmer and thus each skimmer could not pull out as much as it used to because the concentration of protiens is lower in the water column. Thats my theory...however THIS IS A GOOD THING!

 

[Cody Ray]

Very interesting everyone. To be honest I think that if you run each skimmer extra dry or extra wet that you would be ok. Now if you run one skimmer wet and the other dry the dry one wouldn't skim anything.

 

[clkwrk]

Oregon reef is Steve Weast

 

[Serioussnaps]

they would compete and do the same job IMO...but the job would be done in 1/2 the time is how i am looking at it...so same job...but technically not same because it is twice as fast....

try posting this in another forumn i bet you will see alot more info...

try it in the chemistry forumn and see what Randy thinks

 

[Charlie Davidson]

How about a beckett and a N/W...? (Mo-better?)

 

[scarter]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8001112#post8001112 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ChinChek787
Very interesting everyone. To be honest I think that if you run each skimmer extra dry or extra wet that you would be ok. Now if you run one skimmer wet and the other dry the dry one wouldn't skim anything.

Completely not true. If you do some research on how skimmers work, organic bonds form as a result of the water and air mixing. this forms the bonds that make foam. There bonds are formed in the mixing chamber and there are many different types of bonds. some are stronger than others. the longer the surface to air ratio the stronger the bonds will be. the weaker bonds will be broken and replaced with organics that better fit the hydrogen ions. so in essence two skimmers on the same tank, if run one wet and one dry, pull out different types of organics. This is the argument that running two skimmers on the same tank may be better than one.

 

[yetti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7995275#post7995275 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
Ive read that 1 large skimmer is better than 2 smaller. Why, i cant tell you. It really makes no sense to me either. Espeically if they are both fed via the main drain so they are not taking in clean/semi-clean water from the sump.

Yeah...I have a dual overflow and was just planning on taking the second flow to a second sump. That way they wouldn't be competing from the same water. To me, that really woundn't make sense.

I think I'm gonna try it just for the sake of arguement now.

 

[Cody Ray]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8002930#post8002930 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scarter
Completely not true. If you do some research on how skimmers work, organic bonds form as a result of the water and air mixing. this forms the bonds that make foam. There bonds are formed in the mixing chamber and there are many different types of bonds. some are stronger than others. the longer the surface to air ratio the stronger the bonds will be. the weaker bonds will be broken and replaced with organics that better fit the hydrogen ions. so in essence two skimmers on the same tank, if run one wet and one dry, pull out different types of organics. This is the argument that running two skimmers on the same tank may be better than one.

Very nice, learned something new

Now if that holds true in the real world (in theory things sound good but don't always work) than maybe all skimmers should have 2 tubes one run wetter and the other dryer.


BTW I believe your disease has been diagnosed by someone, I think it was reef'tarded or something like that

 

[Frankysreef]

I run an aquac ev180 with mag 95 and a eu cs6 2+ . I run both dry, but it seems to work well.. I dont have the space for a super huge skimmer.