Sudden removal of protein skimmer causes Ammonia Spilke?

[chshwong]

I'm almost done cycling my 30-gallon fish with live rock tank.
Doing it fishless
I'm new with saltwater, and i have a question about protein skimmer.
I read that protein skimmer removes the organisms which could go into the nitrogen cycle.
So to me, that means protein skimmer could largely reduce ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Am I correct?
In this case, the beneficial bacteria would also be reduced as well, as there are now less food for them (less ammonia and less nitrites).
So does that mean the sudden removal of the protein skimmer could cause Ammonia to spike? And then Nitrite to Spike?
Thanks!

 

[srfisher17]

A skimmer removes organics, not organisms (stuff that is alive.) A skimmer does not LARGELY reduce ammonia/nitrate, & nitrate: it removes compounds that can turn into these. I doubt that the sudden removal of a skimmer would have any immediate effect on any of the 3 compounds; it takes time for organic material to decompose and produce ammonia. Skimmers also remove (IMO) other tank wastes that may be harmful, yet never enter the nitrogen cycle. In any case, I wouldn't run the skimmer during cycling; there shouldn't be anything that the skimmer can remove at that point. When you start your skimmer, it will take a while to pull anything from a new tank.