A
Anonymous
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Well?
shavo":3l28weih said:
Well, my opinion is that my skimmer is not going to draw very much electricity. I don't feel it is a sufficient enough draw to make me not want to skim. Besides that, my memory is not the best, so more than likely if i had to remember to turn my skimmer on every day or so, it would not happen. So maybe I am just lazy, or maybe it is just that it is not hurting anything.
This is just one of those age old debates i guess. Just like science and religion...
you don't need to skim all the time. i skim about 2 hours a day actually. i have no troubles at all. it's just a waste of electricity, and it will also remove the trace elements you just added to the water, which seems like nonsense to me.
if you turn your skimmer on and it is pulling scum like crazy, then you have issues that need to be addressed. i turn mine on and it pulls stuff for a while, then stops (this is the opportune time to shut it off IMO).
watch your tank and pay attention to it. you'll know what you need to do in a short time. check your parameters regularly, and you'll know when, and how much to skim. after all, you may feed alot more or less than me, or i may have a larger bio load than you, so, it's an individual thing, but all in all, i really don't think you can humanely stock a tank enough to warrant using a skimmer 24/7.
if you turn your skimmer on and it is pulling scum like crazy, then you have issues that need to be addressed. i turn mine on and it pulls stuff for a while, then stops (this is the opportune time to shut it off IMO).
watch your tank and pay attention to it. you'll know what you need to do in a short time. check your parameters regularly, and you'll know when, and how much to skim. after all, you may feed alot more or less than me, or i may have a larger bio load than you, so, it's an individual thing, but all in all, i really don't think you can humanely stock a tank enough to warrant using a skimmer 24/7.
shavo":tmk80gh9 said:
Yet another vote for 24/7. Two reasons, common sense and experience. If you understand why and how a skimmer works, it makes sense to run it 24/7. I've tried over the years running skimmers less with noticable (bad) results.
As far as a skimmer pulling out all the trace elements, that's total bunk unless you are skimming extremly wet foam and not doing water changes. How do I know that? Because I have tested my water for those elements while running a high powered skimmer 24/7 and doing weekly water changes with positive results
In all fairness you can run a successful system with out a skimmer at all. If you doo you need to keep the bioload down and do large volume water changes often. You may be getting the good results you are now because your system is lightly stocked. As you system gets more heavely stocked the benifits of having a skimmer and running at all the time become more important.
The idea behing having a skimmer it to pull the waste products out before they have tim to decompse. The more fish the more waste the more that has to be removed. Skimmers are not 100% efficent and need to process the water many time to get as much as you can.
Personally I would not run a system with out one. I even over size mine. On my 160 I have a skimmer rated for 250. I plan on having a high stocking level and do not see where not having or only running it part of the time would benift me.
If you are worried about spending a litte extra on electricity this may not be the hobbie for you.
As far as the trace element thing is concerned. I think it is not true. Skimmers pull out dissolved organics. They are not filters that pull out chemical compounds. If you are worried about pulling out trace element do not run carbon. You would more than likly get a bigger depletion in trace elements that way.
The idea behing having a skimmer it to pull the waste products out before they have tim to decompse. The more fish the more waste the more that has to be removed. Skimmers are not 100% efficent and need to process the water many time to get as much as you can.
Personally I would not run a system with out one. I even over size mine. On my 160 I have a skimmer rated for 250. I plan on having a high stocking level and do not see where not having or only running it part of the time would benift me.
If you are worried about spending a litte extra on electricity this may not be the hobbie for you.
As far as the trace element thing is concerned. I think it is not true. Skimmers pull out dissolved organics. They are not filters that pull out chemical compounds. If you are worried about pulling out trace element do not run carbon. You would more than likly get a bigger depletion in trace elements that way.
hmm
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm ... cleid=2825
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_skimmer
http://www.marineland.com/articles/15proteinskim.asp
http://www.netpets.com/fish/reference/r ... mers2.html
all of these articles say that protein skimmers remove trace elements. this is where i got my opinion from. :?
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm ... cleid=2825
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_skimmer
http://www.marineland.com/articles/15proteinskim.asp
http://www.netpets.com/fish/reference/r ... mers2.html
all of these articles say that protein skimmers remove trace elements. this is where i got my opinion from. :?
yes. i saw that. i was pointing at the trace element issue, not the run time. easy to replace or not, trace elements are removed. i'm going to run mine longer and see what happens, but in order to do this, i have to drill a drain in my collection cup, and i'm not so sure that i will have a massive difference in skimmate. i certainly was interested in the idea of having it running in the case of a spawning event or death in the tank while i'm away. this has been a good poll so far!
I agree with Waz that you don't need a skimmer at all. But I didn't buy it to use it for a very small fraction of the the day. There's no doubt that my tank is a little "closed up" when the skimmer stays off for a while! Plus, it aerates the water all the time, like Chris mentioned. 24/7 for these and several other reasons. 8)
"When I notice my corals are starting to die" is a funny option, though. :lol: :lol: :lol:
There's no doubt that my tank is a little "closed up" when the skimmer stays off for a while! Plus, it aerates the water all the time, like Chris mentioned. 24/7 for these and several other reasons. 8) "When I notice my corals are starting to die" is a funny option, though. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Here is a good article that exlains how some trace elements are skimmed out. It also states the many of the organics that are skimmed out are some of the ones that wouls cause out tanks to yellow if not skimmed out. Kind of long, but worth the read.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-08/rhf/index.php
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-08/rhf/index.php
Well after all this debate . I have been running my new skimmer 24/7 and it seems to pull out protein or as I call it crap all the time. So I guess it's up to your own personal preference. I believe after experince. That you can run it 24/7 or just 2 hours a day. I don't think it makes any difference except for the fact that I would forget to plug it back in and 3 days would pass by, Then you might have a problem.
Thanks for all the feed back
Ps The conversion from my old 55 Gal to my new 95 Gal has been complete for 4 day's now. I'm building the link's now. I will post once I get them in order
Thanks for all the feed back
Ps The conversion from my old 55 Gal to my new 95 Gal has been complete for 4 day's now. I'm building the link's now. I will post once I get them in order
Water purification and aeration are two huge items in successful reefkeeping. I cant see why anyone would want any thing less than as much as possible. Regular water changes are thought to replace any trace elements that the corals and skimmers remove that arent tested for. I notice my corals are more colorful when I do WC weekly as opposed to bi-weekly.
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