Over skimming

[Aww7979]

What are your thoughts? 24/7. What are some signs of over skimming?

 

[animalkingdom]

you cant over skim...
you can over wet skim if you have a drain on your collection cup = drain all the water from your sump...lol

 

[elegance coral]

you cant over skim...
you can over wet skim if you have a drain on your collection cup = drain all the water from your sump...lol

I agree. You can under feed, but not over skim.

 

[reefgeezer]

I agree. You can under feed, but not over skim.

+1 - Over Skimming = Under Feeding

So... some signs of under feeding are: pale SPS; slow Coralline growth; inconsistent skimmer foaming; Zoas, mushrooms. etc. not open much; and 0 N&P.

 

[Aww7979]

Thanks, I think I have small combinations of all these symptoms but it could be other things causing them. I think I will set my controller to run the skimmer on for 6hrs then off for 6hrs for a week and then see what my parameters look like

 

[ptreef]

Just skim dryer.....the skimmer adds to the air exchange too

Also try adding some stuff like reef roids, reef chili, corals freenzy or add more fish or feed fish more if you think your starving.

Have GFO or carbon? if so I'd cut back on those first

 

[reefgeezer]

Unless you are happy with the population get more fish and feed em more. Increase the bioload slowly. You can pass the break-point quickly if you are not careful.

 

[rishma]

the biggest issue is often having a skimmer too large to perform well. If the neck is large relative to the tank volume, it takes a lot of organics to build a nice foam head. The concentration may be high in the tank, but if the water volume is too small for the skimmer size, the total amount of ogranics may not be sifficient to maintain a nice foam. This is why many people who oversize their skimmer end up disappointed in performance, even if the skimmer is a well designed model.

 

[JPMagyar]

We know from recent experiments discussed in several magazines that skimmers remove roughly 1/3 of the types of dissolved organic compounds found in our aquariums and do so rapidly, but we also know that success with marine aquaria took off with the advent of skimmer technology. What we do NOT know is exactly what it is about skimming that helps make reefs successful. Is it just removal of organics or is there some important element of aeration that is involved? Personally, the savings of a few pennies in electricity does not seem worthwhile and the number of successful tanks running skimmers 24/7 seems a good indicator of their importance.

Just one guys thoughts . . . .


Joe :beer:

 

[Jscott11]

so hard to know how to pick a skimmer. It seems most skimmer producers overrate there skimmers

 

[h.cordero]

if your skimmer uses multiple pumps you could turn off one pump at night