Skimming Part-Time

[pbnj]

Nothing ground-breaking here, but I'm experimenting with shutting-down my skimmer during the night-time hours. This article seemed interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try. Anyone already try this and have any feedback?


The skimmer takes out carbon and bacteria. Both of these are food sources for corals and fish. Many skimmerless tanks have better polyp extension and growth rates. The problem is, these tanks can also have yellow water, turbidity (cloudiness) and nuisance algae problems. I have even had phytoplankton blooms (green water) in skimmerless reef tanks. Until we find a better way, a compromise between a natural and mechanical system is the safe route. Shutting the skimmer off half of the time is a good place to start. If conditions get better or worse, you know which direction to go; if they stay the same, it still confirms the limitation of protein skimming. Then you start to think if it was really worth it to upgrade your skimmer the last two times. I don’t see a benefit in any schedule other than 12 hrs on, 12 hrs off.

So now that we have decided how long to shut it down for (12 hrs/day), we need to decide on the best time. The fish and corals are most active during the day during photosynthesis, and at night the corals open their feeding tentacles to collect the plankton that come out when the lights go out. Shutting the skimmer off at night seems to be the smart move.

 

[jimmy frag]

well i would only guess your tank is in pristein condition to be able to risk shuting down a big part of your filter system. what about the guys running vodka or pellets. or minimal live rock ?

 

[Useful_Idiot]

Just be careful with your ph levels and a possible lack of oxygen. I strongly recommend running an airstone. my skimmer was down for a week and a made a huge algae mess out of my fuge. I'll leave mine running from now on. I do recall a guy in the sps forum that had his skimmer break when he wasn't home, when he did get home a few days later he said his colors were better than they ever had been. I would think if he cycled his it would be for the better I guess it depends on if you have high import/export of nutrients or a too clean of a system.

 

[pbnj]

well i would only guess your tank is in pristein condition to be able to risk shuting down a big part of your filter system. what about the guys running vodka or pellets. or minimal live rock ?

Good point, but I don't carbon dose and have plenty of established live rock, otherwise I wouldn't try it.

 

[SeabassSA]

Seems plausible, keep us updated. I was just wondering if my filtration is up to scratch or not.

 

[pbnj]

Will do.

 

[snorvich]

My greatest concern would be oxygenation levels.

 

[jamgar]

What about just removing the skimmer collection cup and letting the foam run over back into the sump...oxygenation would be the same but nutients would remain in the system.

 

[pbnj]

No way I'm removing/adding the collection cup every day.

 

[pbnj]

My greatest concern would be oxygenation levels.

I'm not too concerned there. I have very good flow and surface-level agitation. Plus, the water "crashes" pretty nicely when entering the sump.

 

[BBraker]

In aquariums with decent numbers of fish, skimmers go "off line" after a feed. Since you feed the fish during the day, and your skimmer is off at night, you could end up reducing skimmate more than you intended.

I would be concerned with low DO at night like the others mentioned.

To really fine tune this, don't just set it for 12:12 at some guessed-at time like 6pm, but rather, observe the corals and set to when their actual extension is observed. You may find that 16:8 might be a better ratio....

Bill

 

[DarrinSimon]

I read somewhere that someone spilled a little skimmate in his tank and his corals seemed to really like it. Skimmers can be sensitive especially right after a cleaning or powering on and off. They need a mini breakin period and I would worry about the mini breakin periods on a daily basis. Never heard of anyone adding some skimmate back into the tank to feed the corals but I guess it would be feasible. That way you keep the skimmer running all the time and you can experiment with how much skimmate to add back to your system. Sounds crazy and counter productive to me but hell if the corals like a little skimmate every now and then why not?:hmm3:

 

[Fryman]

It may be somewhat blasphemous to say, but I fully support this sort of controlled experimentation.

Many hobbyists stick to an arbitrary set of parameters and are very hesitant to change anything. If you never experiment, you never have any idea what's really affecting water quality.

The caveats of course, go slow and test often. IME tanks don't like sudden changes (actually explains some of the aforementioned resistance to experimentation). Good luck!

 

[pbnj]

Day 5....

No noticeable differences.

Skimmate production more/less the same, water quality good/clear, no visible algae issues.

 

[pbnj]

 

[Xavier613]

Tagging along to see how this goes. Having a problem with software corals not growing anywhere near as fast as they should so I think I might be over skimming or something along these lines.

 

[Mandragen]

excellent little experiment if I do say so myself!

 

[pallidamors]

interested as well

 

[aleonn]

Keep us updated. For me, I'd have to take the skimmer collection cup off, since I notice a significant pH drop when the skimmer is off for extended amounts of time, especially at night.

 

[izzy123]

Yep, tagging along for sure, I was actually thinking of the same thing.

So many people over here thinking outside the box, and helping each other and sharing their findings.... I love it!
That's why I think RC rules!

Good luck and keep us posted

Ivan