A
Anonymous
Guest
I dont think over skimming is possible..I dont even think there is even evidence to support the overskimming theoriesnarny":3no7ak47 said:
..
My Goniopora isn't opening...Any help pls?!?!?
- Thread starter Panzz
- Start date
..
A
Anonymous
Guest
Are you joking?
A
Anonymous
Guest
No show me where...Ive heard of overskimming, i didnt think it was possible.. Ive never seen or read any proof... How could I be joking, this isnt the sump, i rarely kid topside...
A
Anonymous
Guest
P.S. the only time i ever hear of overskimming is on RDO (I dont visit other reef sites) but ive never read this...
By saying do not overskim, i'm telling you that the green variety (as this is the variety i have experience of) does not do well in water that has been skimmed by one of the big bad boys, ie a large deltec. I had this arguement months ago with bangbang, the pricier skimmers are more effecient (yes bangbang you were indeed correct) and therefore remove more from the water. I'm saying in my experience the green's do not like this, there is somthing that get's removed that eventually starves and kills them. I don't proffess to know what it is, but i know since i tuned my skimmer correctly (deltec MCE600) my green now flourishes. By correctly i'm reffering to backing it off slightly. The manual says to set the needle valve to 2 o clock. I'm setting to 1 o clock. My green loves it. I also feed live phyto and kent zoo, but with skimmer at 2 o clock, it'd be dead within a couple of months. I dunno, go figure it. Just saying it works is all.
I'd like to know how people can say things like "it's not possible to overskim..."
That's like telling someone that they will need to add gas to their cars gastank once a month. Really? How the heck do you know how far they drive? Needs clarification.
I believe most of us do not have the time to target-feed our corals three or four times a day. (Well, okay, I do at work but not at home.)
I would prefer to ask someone something along the lines of this: How do you know exactly how much food is being circulated in your tank? How do you know how much of that food is being taken up by your corals? And which corals are benefitting while others starve? How can you guarantee that the certain animals are not being starved?
The reason skimmers are added to our tanks is to remove organics. Food, as I recall from a long-ago article I read, was the cause of the highest percentage of organics found in skimmate. Basically, we add food, then it is remove via waterchanges, skimmers, corals, algae, etc. In short, we need to feed our critters, but we cannot leave the food in the water column, too much feeds the algae and leads to bad water quality.
My question has always been, how do we know if we have enough food in there? Better yet, how do we explain to others how much food to use? How do we know our skimmers not are working soo efficiently that there is simply not enough left in the water to feed our corals? We all know that target feeding feeds the whole tank. How do we control that?
We DO know when overfeeding occurs, usually algae outbreaks occur in tandem. So, we cut back, and cut back some more, to the point where our tanks are so pristine that the corals are literally starving. But someone said they only need light! Oh really??
What we DO need is some clarification on the entire thing.
Skimmers remove the excess. Let's assume most corals are like cattle (LOL), whereby they need to extract nutrients all day long. We feed once in the morning. The skimmer removes all extra food (assuming the skimmer is doing it's job). The placement and flow of water moves the food to certain corals, others are unable to pick up the food leftover. Eventually algae gets it. The coral requires more food than what it's getting. Hence, "overskimming".
I do not happen to run skimmers. It's a hell of a lot more work to do weekly 10% waterchanges, and switch out the Purigen, and clean the goop out of my powerheads, but my corals eat well
I guess the idea is to find the point in any given tank where the corals take up food, but nothing is left over for the algae. Ha. Each tank is different, and would require a different feeding and maintenance schedule. Skimming just removes everything and lets the owner add more food when he/she deems it necessary. Too risky, most people, first of all, don't have the time to target feed corals 3-4 times a day. Chances are that their skimmers are not adjusted properly and are never actually skimming at 100% efficiency anyways.
Sorry, I rambled.
That's like telling someone that they will need to add gas to their cars gastank once a month. Really? How the heck do you know how far they drive? Needs clarification.
I believe most of us do not have the time to target-feed our corals three or four times a day. (Well, okay, I do at work
but not at home.)I would prefer to ask someone something along the lines of this: How do you know exactly how much food is being circulated in your tank? How do you know how much of that food is being taken up by your corals? And which corals are benefitting while others starve? How can you guarantee that the certain animals are not being starved?
The reason skimmers are added to our tanks is to remove organics. Food, as I recall from a long-ago article I read, was the cause of the highest percentage of organics found in skimmate. Basically, we add food, then it is remove via waterchanges, skimmers, corals, algae, etc. In short, we need to feed our critters, but we cannot leave the food in the water column, too much feeds the algae and leads to bad water quality.
My question has always been, how do we know if we have enough food in there? Better yet, how do we explain to others how much food to use? How do we know our skimmers not are working soo efficiently that there is simply not enough left in the water to feed our corals? We all know that target feeding feeds the whole tank. How do we control that?
We DO know when overfeeding occurs, usually algae outbreaks occur in tandem. So, we cut back, and cut back some more, to the point where our tanks are so pristine that the corals are literally starving. But someone said they only need light! Oh really??
What we DO need is some clarification on the entire thing.
Skimmers remove the excess. Let's assume most corals are like cattle (LOL), whereby they need to extract nutrients all day long. We feed once in the morning. The skimmer removes all extra food (assuming the skimmer is doing it's job). The placement and flow of water moves the food to certain corals, others are unable to pick up the food leftover. Eventually algae gets it. The coral requires more food than what it's getting. Hence, "overskimming".
I do not happen to run skimmers. It's a hell of a lot more work to do weekly 10% waterchanges, and switch out the Purigen, and clean the goop out of my powerheads, but my corals eat well
I guess the idea is to find the point in any given tank where the corals take up food, but nothing is left over for the algae. Ha. Each tank is different, and would require a different feeding and maintenance schedule. Skimming just removes everything and lets the owner add more food when he/she deems it necessary. Too risky, most people, first of all, don't have the time to target feed corals 3-4 times a day. Chances are that their skimmers are not adjusted properly and are never actually skimming at 100% efficiency anyways.
Sorry, I rambled.
I live in the Sump. I'm a professional thread hijacker
I disagree that it's a different topic. I believe that skimming has a great deal to do with it. And I don't want to "tell" anyone anything, I am here to learn and grow as a reefkeeper, like all of us are.
I want someone to tell me whether or not overskimming is can be the reason people's corals do not survive well. I have never read anything telling me this. Common sense dictates that corals need food, our skimmers remove food, so...?
My post was to describe my theory on overskimming. And to leave the question, which is, when all the nutrients have been removed by aggressive skimming, is there enough left to feed our organisms over a set period of time?
It depends on SO many variables, that's why I said that I would like to know how people can say such generalizations as "It's not possible to overskim"...how can anyone tell me if someone's tank is overskimmed or not, without having all the pertinent info?
Not apples to steaks, you miss my intent by a mile. Just the fact that no one can tell us how often to re-fuel our cars, therefore no one can tell us what's going on in our tanks.
I agree with Jim, the green flowerpots seem to do worse than the reds. Still, I've seen both kept alive for quite a while, the red up to a year. I have not kept them in an unskimmed tank, however.
I disagree that it's a different topic. I believe that skimming has a great deal to do with it. And I don't want to "tell" anyone anything, I am here to learn and grow as a reefkeeper, like all of us are.
I want someone to tell me whether or not overskimming is can be the reason people's corals do not survive well. I have never read anything telling me this. Common sense dictates that corals need food, our skimmers remove food, so...?
My post was to describe my theory on overskimming. And to leave the question, which is, when all the nutrients have been removed by aggressive skimming, is there enough left to feed our organisms over a set period of time?
It depends on SO many variables, that's why I said that I would like to know how people can say such generalizations as "It's not possible to overskim"...how can anyone tell me if someone's tank is overskimmed or not, without having all the pertinent info?
Not apples to steaks, you miss my intent by a mile. Just the fact that no one can tell us how often to re-fuel our cars, therefore no one can tell us what's going on in our tanks.
I agree with Jim, the green flowerpots seem to do worse than the reds. Still, I've seen both kept alive for quite a while, the red up to a year. I have not kept them in an unskimmed tank, however.
Sponsor Reefs
We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.
Click here to sponsor $10:
