Do you need????

[brently78]

Do you need a protein skimmer while your tank is cycling? or do you add it after it's done?

 

[joker_ca]

its ok to add a skimmer while ur tank is cycling, most skimmers have a breakin period that take up to around 2 weeks so its better just to get it running before u add any animals

 

[alyssia]

I didn't get mine till after my tank cycled, but as mentioned before you can add one during the cycle.

 

[dmjordan]

i started using my skimmer while my tank was cycling however there are people who have sucessful tanks without ever using a skimmer. after seing the stuff my skimmer pulls out of the water i am going to keep on using a skimmer on any new tanks i get.

 

[hatessushi]

From most of the research I did including from the archives in this site I found that it was not a good thing to use a skimmer during cycling since it pulls about everything out of the water and also not to use one for about a month or 2 after the cycle. Also not to use charcoal until after the cycle.
I didn't start using mine for about a month and a half and started working right away. I still don't wuite get the break in thing since most skimmers I have seen don't have any moving parts to "break in" . So why would you need to break in something with no friction generating moving parts? There's mostly just tubes with a pump blowing water and air creating bubbles that carry gunk to the cup.