Skimmer and scrubber system?

[Badlands25]

I have a 93 cube with 40b display/fuge a 20" ATS lit on both sides by 4 17w cfl and a 40b sump with a vertex 100in skimmer. In display I have 1 purple 1 lavender tang. 1 fairy wrasse 1 leopard wrasse, 1 possum wrasse,2 snowflake clowns. With mixed corals all doing well. In fuge I have 2 snowflake clowns 1 purple firefish 1 blue chromis. ( all fish in fuge were recently given to me by a reefer who got out of hobby). I'm wondering if I'm not skimming enough as I get 1/2 full cup from skimmer every other day. Yet my scrubber is only requiring me to clean it every 10-14 days. 18h on 6 off photo period. I feed heavy pellets 2 day 3 cubes 1 day plus nori. Opinions please. Tank is 9 months old

 

[Timfish]

Well, having stopped using skimmers in the late 90's I'd say you're skimming to much. Are you happy with your tank? Are you happy with the growth you're seeing in your corals? What are your water parameters?

 

[jedimasterben]

Are you having water quality issues?

 

[Badlands25]

Not having quality issues just getting advice from the pros...lol
Getting decent growth from everything. Phos at .25 and that was after adding 40-50 live rock from someone else's system.

 

[jedimasterben]

I doubt your phosphate level is 0.25. If you're using an API test kit, throw it away.

 

[Badlands25]

Red Sea

 

[infusionluke]

I had a similar problem with my system a while back. The skimmer was working hard and the ATS was hardly growing. I had stopped rinsing my ATS in freshwater in hopes that I could increase my pod population. After a couple months of excluding the freshwater rinsing of the ATS from my routine, I started getting weak growth and increased PO4 levels (Also noted that the turf was yellowing as if it was burning). I believe that the pod population was increasing on the ATS, to a point that the turf was being consumed and re-released back into the water column faster than the turf could grow. Hope that helps.

 

[Timfish]

I use both the Elos Pro and API PO4 test kits. While there is not much change in color with the API where it overlaps the Elos they are fairly consistent with each other. For example, where I owuld say the API is roughly .25 the Elos is .34.

 

[Lavoisier]

Not having quality issues just getting advice from the pros...lol
Getting decent growth from everything. Phos at .25 and that was after adding 40-50 live rock from someone else's system.

I do not understand what your issue is? Are you wanting to change something?

 

[blueramSeattle]

I don't see a problem either. Both the skimmer and the turf are of the same type (mechanical filtering where protein is removed before it rots (skimmer) or assimilation (turf, the mechanical is when you harvest and remove the solids from the environment))

On a side note, protein should be a clear solution (well, it absorbs light at 280 & 240 mm) and most skimmate is brown and reeks. I think that skimmers are actually harvesting bacteria (particularly with bio pellets).

There was an episode of LA fish guy on you tube with a forest of RTBA and the camera guy was looking for a reason for the nutrients to be so low with the heavy feeding and low skimmate (the maintenance guy gets like 1/2 full skimmer cup in 2 weeks or so).

The question was never answered but I get the feeling the tank was just a RTBA turf scrubber...