Are Protein Skimmers Overrated?

[that Fish Guy]

Are Protein Skimmers Overrated?

I was going to get one but was told that they are overrated and that I did not need one.

I asked why do so many people get them then?

I was told for a few reasons:

1. People are obsessed with equipment and feel they must have one (more is better philosophy).
2. They are OK for a FOWL tank but bad for a Reef tank because they take out all the good nutrients so a skimmer is bad for corals.
3. People get them because they overstock their tank with fish and think that a skimmer will take care of all the extra waste that should not be in there in the first place.
4. People think that getting a skimmer will get them out of doing water changes (lazy philosophy).

Are these reasons (or any of it true)?

I am confused.

 

[MARINECRITTERS]

No, they are not overrated. We are not obsessed with them, just because we take time in picking them and spend lots of money on them, does not been we are obsessed with them when they are not needed, they are needed.
For a reef tank, food, waste, and all the other pollutants are being introduced into our water, even if our tanks are lightly stocked, fish poop, and eat, that means waste. Skimmers remove undissolved material from the water before they have a chance to get broken down and go through the nitrogen cycle, basically they prevent nitrate.
Live rock, water changes, and a skimmer are all very important to the success of a reef tank.
BTW, corals do need a bit of nutrients in the water to be happy, sps, not so much.
If you do not have enough nutrient matter in the water, either tone down your filtration ( not remove ), or feed heavier.
Saying a skimmer is overrated is very incorrect.
The only time when a skimmer would not be needed is when you have a coral only tank, without fish you will not have sufficient amounts of waste/nutrient matter.

 

[Anemone]

Yes, you can certainly get by without a skimmer, but a lightly stocked tank, and an aggressive water change schedule and/or some other method of nutrient export will be needed (such as an algae-scrubber or algae harvesting/removal).

Skimmers aren't the be-all, end-all for having a tank, but they are a big help in controlling nutrients that otherwise would end up in slime or nuisance algae, not to mention browning corals.

As far as "overstocking" a tank - keep in mind that a single damsel in a 200 gallon tank is "overstocked" when compared to the ocean, so yes, most of us overstock our tanks.

Kevin

 

[Nator]

As far as "overstocking" a tank - keep in mind that a single damsel in a 200 gallon tank is "overstocked" when compared to the ocean, so yes, most of us overstock our tanks.

Kevin

Love it - exactly right. There are many tools for use at our disposal with considerations to them all. I think most people have found that a protein skimmer is worth the value. I need and want to decrease maintenance, and there is no problem in that.

The choice is up to you! You will save some $ - if your tank doesn't crash from nutrient overload - you would just have to be diligent like you said.

 

[Mike31154]

Well I run an old school wooden air stone driven diy skimmer. Considered by many to be obsolete when compared to what's out there today. But I like it, it's quiet, doesn't use a lot of power and when I look at the gunk that it pulls out of my tank, I don't think I'd want to be without it. Fish are fine, coral is not starving, it's all good.

 

[sirreal63]

You could say they are over rated, that is if you are ok with leaving this in your tank...

 

[HumbleFish]

You could say they are over rated, that is if you are ok with leaving this in your tank...

+1 The first time you see/smell the crap one takes out of your tank, you'll never want to go without one ever again.

 

[FTDelta]

Curious. Who is telling you that protein skimmers are over-rated? If it's your LFS, time to find another LFS.

 

[Drae]

^^^yes indeed.

 

[jahmic]

There are numerous effective methods of nutrient export....skimming is one of them.

If a piece of equipment can allow me to do water changes every 2 weeks instead of every week...why not? Less RO/DI to produce, and less salt gets used up.

It's not a question of being lazy...it's building your system to match your needs (time, money, space) and the needs of your livestock (nutrient levels, consistent parameters).

 

[Fryman]

You could say they are over rated, that is if you are ok with leaving this in your tank...

A big pet peeve of mine about skimmers right there. Just because something looks "yucky" (to us humans) doesn't mean a thing. Totally irrelevant. Skimmate looks like phytoplankton to me, which a lot of us dose on a regular basis.

That said IME skimmers make things alot easier, especially if you want SPS. If you stick to softies & LPS it's not as critical.

There are other methods for nutrient control, and plenty of people go without. But a skimmer is an easy, quick-start device that has a lot of history in the hobby.

 

[cap032]

Skimmers are overrated...........only if you are expecting them to remove all waste from your tank! You have to realize they dont remove everything, but as the picture above shows, they do remove some nasty waste that otherwise would be floating around in your tank. Personally I wouldnt go without one.

 

[jake koppen]

You may be misinterpreting. Skimmers are usually rated for tanks larger than they can really handle. So when you see a little skimmer and the manufacturer states that it can handle 500 gal, the skimmer is " overrated".


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[TimeConsumer]

Skimmers are arguably one of the best inventions in the reefkeeping hobby. They are highly effective at removing excess nutrients with very little effort. Sure, you can get by without them, but at a cost of increased effort. Yes, they do remove some food sources, but it all depends on the biotope you are trying to create. If you are doing an NPS reef, then skip the skimmer and spend your money on a very large ATS or automated waterchange system and give the tank more food than your children. If you are going for an SPS dominated ULNS then get the biggest baddest skimmer you can fit and afford. There is no guaranteed success formula for every reef.

 

[sirreal63]

A big pet peeve of mine about skimmers right there. Just because something looks "yucky" (to us humans) doesn't mean a thing. Totally irrelevant. Skimmate looks like phytoplankton to me, which a lot of us dose on a regular basis.

But a skimmer is an easy, quick-start device that has a lot of history in the hobby.

I don't dose phyto but yes a lot of people do. A skimmer by itself is not enough to keep a tank's water clean, it is one tool in conjunction with several others, all of which work together to help, but by itself it will rarely be enough. If you look at the AA articles on what skim is composed of, it makes sense to use one. The tank I ran when that skim shot was taken was heavily stocked, fed a lot of food daily, fish food and coral food, had a high fish load and I carbon dosed and ran ozone. The cup looked like that almost daily. I still did very frequent water changes, ran GFO, carbon and harvested Chaeto every few weeks.

The choice to run a skimmer or not is a personal one, but there is no compelling reason not to run one, and whatever you use for nutrient export needs to equal the nutrient import into the tank.

 

[biodegraded]

No. If anything, they're underrated.

 

[nbgen12]

You can get by without one if you religiously keep up with the maintenance and do not overfeed. If you get lazy on maintenance and have no skimmer, it becomes extremely difficult get the parameters back in check without the help a skimmer provides...

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[Squidmotron]

I've run skimmerless on a few occassions due to a broken skimmer situation. On the first, it was pretty terrible. Problem algae exploded in the tank in just about a week's time. Like I'd never seen.

In the second case, I barely noticed. But in the second case I believe my husbandry practices had vastly improved and my feeding was way more appropriate for the tank.

I could see you getting away without one, but why bother? It's one of the easiest things you can add to improve your water quality.

 

[faithenfire]

I find it to be a very useful item. even if mine is kinda loud. It helps remove "extra" gunk. some gunk can help keep the tank healthy but too much of anything is not a good thing

did that make sense or just in my head?

 

[coralsnaked]

All depends on a lot of things. Tank size Skimmers on closed system nano tanks are basically useless. Unless you have a HOB skimmer then you could suck the life right out of the tank.

What are you keeping

How much are you stocking.

How much do you feed

How much rock do you have in the tank.

How established is your tank

How often do you do water changes

How much water do you change

What works or doesn't work for one will not be the same for another