How often do I run my protein skimmer

[stern]

I have a HOB Octopus 1000, for my 75 gallon FOWLR tank, I usually run it for a couple of hrs at night after I feed my fish, I also installed a on/off switch to the power cord so I don't have to keep unplugging and plugging it back up. I don't keep it running cause it make a little more noise and was wondering if that was good enough?? I currently have 10 fish in the tank and a few hermit crabs. 4 clowns, 2 damsels, 2 dwarf puffers, 1 chromis and bi-color angel

Thanks

 

[pegasus]

I would run it all day long, at minimum. I have 13 fish in my 125 and 7 fish in my 40, numerous inverts, and several LPS and SPS corals, so I run my skimmer 24/7. If yours is a new skimmer, the pump may not be broken in yet. It can take up to a month to fully break in, and it usually quiets down once this happens.

 

[mandy111]

I run mine 24/7 and I only have 6 fish in a 7 footer. the crap it pulls out is amazing.

 

[flower]

Hi,

To be honest folks with reef tanks over skim, the skimmer pulls out the coral food you feed the tank. So if you have a reef and feed the tank once a week for the coral, I always turned off my skimmer for 24 hours after I fed them. Most do run it 24/7, just because it's a pain in the butt to have it on a schedule. It won't hurt anything to run it, the only problem is if you feed the tank coral food, it's just a waste IMO to feed the tank and run the skimmer at the same time.

With a fish only tank you don't NEED a skimmer at all, it won't hurt it, but it isn't a must have piece of equipment either. So if you run it a few hours once a week...that's fine too.

 

[2014FishKiller]

 

[snakeblitz33]

One of my pretty tanks had a refugium only and tons of coral. The problem I had was that nitrate and phosphate was relatively high and as a result, coralline and SPS corals had a very low growth rate.

As you can see in the video, even though the tank is nine years old, it doesn't have much coralline - and some of the rocks look fuzzy and red.

I run my skimmer 24/7 because I don't want all that dissolved organic molecules in my tank that causes reef building organisms to grow so slowly- if at all.

Soft coral and LPS coral tanks are fine without skimmers and can function well on just water changes or in a combination with a refugium.

That's just my opinion.

 

[mandy111]

Hi,

To be honest folks with reef tanks over skim, the skimmer pulls out the coral food you feed the tank. So if you have a reef and feed the tank once a week for the coral, I always turned off my skimmer for 24 hours after I fed them. Most do run it 24/7, just because it's a pain in the butt to have it on a schedule. It won't hurt anything to run it, the only problem is if you feed the tank coral food, it's just a waste IMO to feed the tank and run the skimmer at the same time.

With a fish only tank you don't NEED a skimmer at all, it won't hurt it, but it isn't a must have piece of equipment either. So if you run it a few hours once a week...that's fine too.

Hi @flower I contacted Seachem regarding turning skimmer off during feeding. Their answer was that the skimmer will only ever skim what hasn't been consumed by corals which is a good thing. The dosage recommended takes into account the small amount that will be extracted by the skimmer before coral consumption. It would seem to me left over nutrients would be a lot worse in a mixed reef tank. So I don't believe a reef tank can be over skimmed at all. I need to keep nitrates below. 0.02. & phos below 0.03 for happy mixed reef tank. I honestly think I would struggle with those numbers without skimmer running 24/7. Can I ask what size reef tank you run , stocking of fish, what type of corals & numbers you run it at. ? It seems you are very successful , I would Love to learn your secrets ! P,S. A pic would be great too. Thanks.

 

[pegasus]

One of my pretty tanks had a refugium only and tons of coral. The problem I had was that nitrate and phosphate was relatively high and as a result, coralline and SPS corals had a very low growth rate.

As you can see in the video, even though the tank is nine years old, it doesn't have much coralline - and some of the rocks look fuzzy and red.

I run my skimmer 24/7 because I don't want all that dissolved organic molecules in my tank that causes reef building organisms to grow so slowly- if at all.

Soft coral and LPS coral tanks are fine without skimmers and can function well on just water changes or in a combination with a refugium.

That's just my opinion.

I'll continue to run mine, as my tank is normally high in nutrients. I'd rather remove the nutrients before they break down, than have to deal with it after they do.

I'm curious as to how mom's tank ran for 9 years without a skimmer... with a closed lid.

 

[flower]

Hi @flower I contacted Seachem regarding turning skimmer off during feeding. Their answer was that the skimmer will only ever skim what hasn't been consumed by corals which is a good thing. The dosage recommended takes into account the small amount that will be extracted by the skimmer before coral consumption. It would seem to me left over nutrients would be a lot worse in a mixed reef tank. So I don't believe a reef tank can be over skimmed at all. I need to keep nitrates below. 0.02. & phos below 0.03 for happy mixed reef tank. I honestly think I would struggle with those numbers without skimmer running 24/7. Can I ask what size reef tank you run , stocking of fish, what type of corals & numbers you run it at. ? It seems you are very successful , I would Love to learn your secrets ! P,S. A pic would be great too. Thanks.

It takes filter feeding corals a full day to feed. it's indeed true the skimmer will only remove what the corals don't consume...but you have to give the poor slow feeding corals time to do that. Most folks who run a skimmer 24/7 and only feed once a week, won't have fast growth on their corals, as long as they have the light needed and whatever little bit of food, they will live...but if you want a nice colony, try turning off the skimmer for the day. For a single day there is no chance to pollute your tank, so you wouldn't have to deal with PO4 and NO3 being out of control, you wouldn't have any change at all from what you are seeing now, except increased coral growth.

Coraline is just a crusty algae, all you need to have it do well is a little light, and Calcium within 450 to 500 range, the amount of ammonia, nitrates, nitrites or phosphates won't bother it at all....

I had a 90g and 30g long mixed reef. I crashed my computer and lost the pictures of my reef (there might be something in SWF.com but I wouldn't know where to begin a search), now all I keep are seahorses. I lost the reef when my heater broke and electrocuted it. I lost about $1500.00 in coral. I priced it at that amount when I wanted to replace what I lost, in the size I had when they were killed. I could have restocked it with frags, but I just didn't have the heart to watch the tiny stuff take years to develop. I did not however keep SPS coral. I loved mushrooms, and I was told the two types could not get along in the same tank, so I never tried my hand with them. My favorites were the fox coral and xenia.

Every tank is different, the secret of success is to stay on top of things, water changes and testing... and tweak the tank as it develops. I even added a nano power head just to keep my chili coral happy with enough flow. I also lost corals that just didn't do well for me, such Pagoda cup and clover corals. I killed one coral off because I just didn't know better, a beautiful huge yellow brain coral I dipped, nobody said not to dip them, and back then I dipped everything, it's been 10 years at least, and I still feel bummed about that.

 

[mandy111]

Thank you @flower for you answer,
I think i must meet your ideas in the middle. I feed my corals at night 3 x a week, turn wave makers down to a slower flow and turn my skimmer to dry skim for that night and wet skim in the morning. I have amazing growth on corals (frag them regularly ) and also have good color
. I am how ever very guilty of overfeeding my stupid fish, so skimming 24/7 is a must for me, i cant stand their hungry little faces. which in turn also feed the corals as well I am sure.They love grabbing those extra mysis and brine.
I also have a range of corals that although do filter feed, also gain a lot of their food from photosynthesis and run 8 x 80w T5 globes. So they once again are getting what they need regardless of how much I skim. I actually wet skim and takeout about 3litres of waste every 24hrs.
I am so sorry to hear about your disaster, its horrid when things like that happen, heart breaking.
I used to dip every coral before going in my tank too, but also lost a coral doing this so I haven't dipped since. Luckily i have had no issues with corals. I do water changes every 21 days, and find that's enough to keep a very healthy tank. Your very right about the money spent on corals , think thats were most our money has been spent, the tank, stand equipment is the cheapest part the actual livestock is worth a fortune.

 

[mandy111]

One of my pretty tanks had a refugium only and tons of coral. The problem I had was that nitrate and phosphate was relatively high and as a result, coralline and SPS corals had a very low growth rate.

As you can see in the video, even though the tank is nine years old, it doesn't have much coralline - and some of the rocks look fuzzy and red.

I run my skimmer 24/7 because I don't want all that dissolved organic molecules in my tank that causes reef building organisms to grow so slowly- if at all.

Soft coral and LPS coral tanks are fine without skimmers and can function well on just water changes or in a combination with a refugium.

That's just my opinion.

Agreed 100%. I don't think coraline can thrive in high nitrates and phospates either. I have mostly LPS a few SPS so their is a fine balancing act between the requirements of both. That is the the hardest thing I find.
I know our skimmer motor needed replacing and we went without a skimmer for about a week, the increase I saw in nitrates and phos was actually very scary, i wouldn't even contemplate not running a skimmer 24/7 .
I don't feel that a tank can ever be over skimmed.

 

[snakeblitz33]

An alternative to skimming is an algae scrubber, but even then proper water changes would have to happen because even hair algae pull out trace elements that need to be replaced by regular water changes.

I really do think that coralline needs more than just calcium in order to grow - and for that matter, SPS corals even need more. But, if you look at example systems that are on other forums, all SPS dominate tanks seem to run with protein skimmers and a high fish bioload. I guess there really is a very fine balance that needs to be maintained.