Fire up the skimmer?

[MrMikeB]

I did not think the skimmer would pull out all nutrients, but its the nutrients that need to be there to build the biological filtering process. I typically add a piece of table shrimp every couple of days to simulate a bio load, so that the tank does not crash due to a sudden lack of nutrients as the biofilter grows and the ammonia from the LR die-off completes. When fish and other items are added, the adding of an artificial bio-load is no longer needed.

I totally agree about needing to break in your equipment and test everything out, but just wanted to discuss the merit of the actual skimming during a cycle as it seemed counterproductive to me.

Damn, all this talk of 5 million pizzas has me hungry so late at night.

 

[dots]

An overly large disporportionate skimmer designed for 2000gals on a 12g nano probably would have the effect you are thinking of.

But in the end, its hard to quantify and measure the effect the skimmer would or wouldn't have. The rate of matter decaying and the amount in every rock varies which ultimatly controls the length of the cycle.

Pizza does sound good now that you mention it!!!!

 

[MrMikeB]

Ahh, I see... so the theory may be sound, I am just giving the good 'ol skimmer too much credit regarding how much of those nutrients its pulling out on the first place. The tradeoff, as you have described, being the benefit of tuning the equipment during the cycle period outweighing the potential biofilter growth benefit by leaving more nutrients in the system.

Very interesting take... thanks!

 

[Nu2SW]

I dont use a skimmer on my nano. the skimmer I have puts too many micro bubbles into my tank. Also I have to play with it way too much, it never stays constant.

 

[Brian Prestwood]

Run it 24X7.