How many hours do you run your skimmer?

[Gracias]

Hey all, I asked the question of how many hours do you run your skimmer because my skimmer went down last week. It took me a week to find the right needle wheel and get it going. But for the week I did not have a skimmer running on the tank I saw the some more color and activity with corals. I did do 2 tests and did not see much of a change in the parameters.

I gratefully have a successful tank and MR input for many many years and I have always run the skimmer 24/7 with exception of feed, maintenance, etc.

I am considering maybe running the skimmer for 12 hours at night and I was wondering how some fellow MR members run their skimmer?

 

[roc5288]

24/7

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

May cause spikes in water colum chemistry! I run mine all day everyday

 

[masterswimmer]

24/7

I've always run all systems with the mindset of stability. IMO running a skimmer anything other than 24/7 will cause fluctuations. I do know some people that run successful reefs with on/off skimmer cycling, but I don't and won't do it that way.

Russ

 

[Reef Reaper]

never turn it off.

 

[BuGG]

I run mine 24/7. But once a week, I feed Reef Frenzy to my corals at night after lights are out, and I turn off the skimmer too. I noticed that if I don't do that, some of the food ends up in the skimmer cup. Then the next morning I turn the skimmer back on.

 

[Moneymaks24]

I saw a YouTube video where a guy compared 3 systems for a year with everything the same except the skimmer time.

The one that ran 6 hrs a day on a timer showed best results, especially for coral growth. It's not conclusive but that should tell you something about what's best.

I run 24/7 but I may change to 6 hrs once I get a timer.

 

[BaaMNYC]

Tagging along

 

[NYCEnglish]

I run 24/7 but I'm tempted to try the 6hr/day thing via my Apex.

 

[reefer4eva]

I run mine for 8 hours(34 gallon tank)reason being...a lot of the nutrients that are being exported thru skimming are being wasted,those nutrients could be utilized for feeding purposes that take place at night by corals.this is what promotes better growth for corals.ever look at your tank at night and see what goes on with your corals?the amphipods running crazy...all the nocturnal things looking for food that isn't there cause the skimmer is on all the time..if you think about it in a realistic way what is the soul purpose for a skimmer?

 

[SteveZ15]

This should be interesting,I changed my water the other day and shut the skimmer and forgot to turn it on for over a day and the corals looked brighter than usual.I was thinking of running a 6on 6off schedule for a week or too to see,but I want to hear more before I try.

 

[reefer4eva]

This should be interesting,I changed my water the other day and shut the skimmer and forgot to turn it on for over a day and the corals looked brighter than usual.I was thinking of running a 6on 6off schedule for a week or too to see,but I want to hear more before I try.

Do it for a week stevie!!and watch your corals at night you will be amazed!

 

[BaaMNYC]

I run mine for 8 hours(34 gallon tank)reason being...a lot of the nutrients that are being exported thru skimming are being wasted,those nutrients could be utilized for feeding purposes that take place at night by corals.this is what promotes better growth for corals.ever look at your tank at night and see what goes on with your corals?the amphipods running crazy...all the nocturnal things looking for food that isn't there cause the skimmer is on all the time..if you think about it in a realistic way what is the soul purpose for a skimmer?

thats a really interesting and logical theory. Tempting me to have my skimmer turn off at night hours. I wonder if anyone tried only skimming during light hours.

 

[reefer4eva]

Mine is only on from 10am till 6pm..most of the nutrients that are being produced from are thru lighting.and most of the corals feed from these nutrients at night

 

[Rob&Gab]

very tempting. must here more tho.

 

[SteveZ15]

Im gonna try it I am fairly confident that my water is good enough to do it,I like looking at the tank before I go to work,the lps look crazy flipped inside out with the feelers out.I gotta get a timer for the skimmer.

 

[arnaldolex]

i run mine during my white light cycle which is 8hrs i have a euro reef rated at about 800gallon tank on about 150

 

[BaaMNYC]

my pump that oxygenates the protein skimmer is already hooked up to my RKL so i can easily just set it to turn off and on.

There is argument from some preliminary research that the skimmer being off at night will reduce oxygenation of the water and further lower PH and may impact the tank negatively. im still not ready to do something. maybe have it off in the beginning of my lights out.

 

[FocusReefing]

i run mine during my white light cycle which is 8hrs i have a euro reef rated at about 800gallon tank on about 150

Yea I would think success would be contingent on a skimmer big enough to make up for the time that it was off. But then what would be the point of turning it off in the first place? It sounds like the idea behind this theory is by having the skimmer off your letting dissolved organics & food linger in the water column so corals can feed over a longer period?... But then arent there way to do this without shutting the skimmer in the first place? Maybe I dont understand.

 

[lnevo]

Interesting...may consider this...would like to hear more results.