Skimming 24/7?

[megadon]

I run my skimmer 21 hours a day, shut down for 3 hours during feeding. Does it need to be running for 21 hours a day everyday? I am pulling out a green liquid, is it the phyto, and Marine snow i have been feeding? Does the constant skimming strip the water of vital nutrients or minerals too much?

 

[druluv]

Here a good example of the protein stripper doing a heck of a job.
Don't worry megadon just add more trace and phyto to the tank.
Good Luck - steralizing your water

 

[pacopetty]

Thanks Kip I have been wondering what to do during feeding time and now I know.

 

[druluv]

I noticed, people with protein strippers always have hair algae or green algae blooms. Any one knows why?

 

[fender]

I have a skimmer and no hair algae or green blooms, and my clean up crew is extremly modest by most standards -less than a dozen snails, half dozen hermits and a LMB.
I suspect any aquarium with hair algae and green algae blooms suffer from a an excess of nutrients - either from source water, too much food/bioload or poor maintenance.

 

[footbag]

I noticed, people with protein strippers always have hair algae or green algae blooms. Any one knows why?
I disagree. Protein skimmers don't add any nutrients to the tank. BTW the nicest tanks I have ever seen all had protein skimmers.

 

[druluv]

That looks like steve's tank. He has a fuge, and multiple skyscrapper po4 reactors. Rememer before he added some of these items he was battling hair alage.

 

[maverick005]

druluv,
remeber Leboeuf's reef that runs skimmerless? i posted some pics of it a week or so ago. although i love his reef and it always looks good, he has had cyano and green bubble algae for at least the last 3-4 months. it isnt taking over his tank or anything but he does have it and it doesnt seem to be going away.
-brandon

 

[druluv]

Kip your tank doesn't count because you have a fuge connected to it.
This is my second year in the hobby. I broke down my other tank to establish this one. most of the live stock came from the other tank. I really like tangs and could not keep them in a 60 gallon hex. I will use that 60 for a frag only tank when i feel comfortable with the 180.

 

[pacopetty]

I only run a skimmer and don't have any problems with algae. I have a seperate fuge for pod and algae farming but its not hooked to my display tank.

 

[fender]

For the record - I don't have a fuge/refugium.
Only filtration is a Bak Pak skimmer and a DSB/LR.

 

[j-cal]

i have a tank and i have a small hair problem, but i think the skimmer is helping to remove the problem rather than cause it. I dont see how skimmer could possibly add to an algae problem. the notion just seems rediculus to me. as simple as it sounds once i started chaning my carbon weekly my algae has been in recession. anything that is taking crap out of the water helps control algae, not contribute to it imo

 

[shoreliner11]

Personally I have been in the hobby for about a year and I currently run a cpr bakpak skimmer as my only filtration on my 20gal reef. I have never had any large algae blooms to speak of and all filter feeders are doing great. A protein skimmer can only work so effecient, if you bioload is to high, a skimmer will only slow the process of algae growing in a tank. I do know that with a skimmer the algae on the glass grows a lot slower than when I was skimmerless. I think that a skimmerless tank can be done, but the pros of a skimmer far outweigh the cons imo.