You can never skim to much .... I think not

[SPStoner]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7814630#post7814630 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
Good skimmers havent been commercially available for very long. I have skimmers that I wouldnt put on a 30g tank, that are rated for 250 gallons. 10 years ago, most skimmers really sucked.

Again, I gotta agree with you Rich. Check out this link from a 1995 usegroup on skimmers of the day. I had used 4 or 5 of these and most were horrible. I think SPS started to become "keepable" in the early 90's when we started to learn about some major, minor, and trace elements that theyr equired. There was a lot written about the addition of Strontium at the time, based, if I recall correctly, on the work of Peter Wilkins, amongst others. Also at about the same time came the more widespread use of RO water.


Since we started down memory lane, here's a little info about my first mini reef aquarium. This will give you an idea of how much has changed

year: 1991?
tank- Perfecto 33 flatback hex
filtration- Hagen Aquaclear power filter
Sanders Piccolo skimmer internal w. wood airstone
lighting 2x36" daylight N.O flo tubes


50 lbs of live rock mixed from Florida and Hawaii ( anybody remember getting rock from these places?)

My corals included Sarcophyton leather, hammer, Elegance (kept for 8 years!!), and a few others...first SPS ( brown stag) added in 1992.

Dang, I feel old now.....
Anyway, here's the link:
http://www.thekrib.com/Filters/skimmers.html

 

[oligotrophic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7814650#post7814650 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
Skimmers can't remove nitrates, but they can

1) Prevent them from every happening by breaking down things before they rot

2) Skim out things that consume nitrate, efectively removing the nitrate/phosphate

hi RichConley,

totally agree with that, there's no doubt about it. Thanks for adding that in

Cheers

 

[oligotrophic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7814850#post7814850 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SPStoner

Anyway, here's the link:
http://www.thekrib.com/Filters/skimmers.html

Hi SPStoner,

when I was reading this post coincidingly I was thinking about thekrib.com

you aren't the only one out there

in fact what got me started with this hobby (reef) was thekrib.com -- all that excitement from all that initial discovery from everyone sharing to further develop this hobby got me all fired up.... and there was no more turning back ...

 

[javajaws]

I'd like to share my experience in running a "nutrient-poor" tank for the last 8 months or so...

Tank description: 110g, BB, high flow, 2x250w 14k MH, H&S skimmer (not really oversized), CA reactor.

I've got around 100 lbs of live rock or so, most propped up off the bottom so detritus won't accumulate. The rocks cured in the tank for 3 months before I turned the lights on (but they weren't in total darkness).

I currently (and for awhile) have just 2 fish in this tank and feed approximately every other day (formula 1 and mysis mostly). No other feeding supplementation is added.

I've got zero algae, don't have to clean the glass but once every couple of weeks (even then its more of a bacteria film than an algae film). But I also have horrible SPS growth and have over the last couple of months lost a few frags.

Both nitrates and phosphates are unmeasurable.

SPS growth, color, and health was better when the tank was newer (rocks still decomposing?). I've known for a couple months what the problem was...not enough nutrients and food in the food chain. I've tried to alleviate the problem for awhile by being lax in my cleaning of the skimmer...but that just hasn't been enough.

So now that my little experiment in running a nutrient poor tank is over...I'm going to add some more fish, increase the feedings, and start supplementary feeding of oyster eggs/cyclopeeze/etc. and see how things go.


So to get back to the topic of this thread...you can overskim. But thats not the only problem you need to worry about. You can "normal" skim and still have a nutrient deficiency problem as well. And as far as getting a larger skimmer...I say go ahead if you can afford it. You can always de-tune it to run less efficient. Then when you have a clam spawn in your tank or something else traumatic you can re-tune it to give you increased skimming power until things get back to normal.

 

[RichConley]

Javajaws. YOur issue is you dont have enough fish. Plain and simple.

 

[twon8]

soon after i first started in this hobby three years ago, the guy at the lfs told me to only feed half a cube twice a week for 5 fish. a few weeks ago I was in there and saw that they were running a wet dry with bioballs on their 500g reef. When i asked one of the workers, "he still runs a wet/dry with bioballs?", the "yeah, of course" would have made me laugh if i wasn't so stunned.

 

[crypticghost]

Its all on what works for someone...everyone thinks there system is the correct way to go...People are feeding 4 times a day, that is crazy IMO...there are alot of major aquariums that feed once every other day...and they have professionals who went to school for this stuff and they feed every other day. I would not run my tank with out a skimmer nor with out carbon...but something else could work for someone else...this debate is pointless and not worth anyones time to argue...tanks work with out them and with them...there are succesful tanks that have never had a water change except every 4 or 5 months, tanks that have no source of filtration what so ever. It seems that everyone in this hobby has a huge ego and has to be right!! And when they are not it is like the world is coming to an end and if they do not prove their point, then they will fail and the world will die. Also no one pays enough attention to their tanks to really make an accurate claim to any of this success...there are just to many variables that would not allow for a true scientific study...You would have to test multiple different things over a long period of time with a skimmer on and then off, but then you run into the problem of the tank "maturing" and growing life that can sustain more "bad" stuff in the water, then that throws everything off. No one can deny the fact that a skimmer works, if you want to use one then do so, it could not hurt. Also all is in the eye of the beholder, one person may think corals are light in color while another thinks they are perfect...Also I am not sure if anyone has gone diving but alot of corals do not have the color in the wild that they do in our aquariums...agian this is due to light, but we tend not to like the "natural look" of the corals, so we use different lights to skew the color of coral to make it more pleasing, again all in the eyes of the beholder. There has also been numerous psycological studies done on people beleiving something and seeing it with their own eyes, but really nothing has changed. This is going to the fact that people add stuff or take stuff away from their tank and claim changes, when really there are none..or in that 1 months time something else has changed they do not know about, which has caused something to happen, i.e. lightening or darkening of corals...but no one does or can test to see if something else lead to that.