[Smitty91]

Hey gang.

I'm here to pick your brains on skimming. What do you feel the advantages / disadvantages are?

Smitty

[golfish]

Hey Mike,
I'm a skimmer fan and have been for some time. I have to admit that I use a undersize skimmer on my 150 ( ETSS Reef devil 2)

I hope Monty doesn't see your topic. He might think your a trader

Mark

[orion25]

I use a Berlin Turbo on a 55g. After seeing the nasty junk it pulled out of my water when a Kole Tang died and I was out of town, I will never have a reef without one. The body was in there at least 2 days and pretty much decayed. Everything else in the tank is still alive, even a "water quality sensitive yellow tang."

JMO

Ryan

[Smitty91]

Ryan

Knock on wood, it's actually been quite some time since I've experienced a fish fatality. I remember the last time I did, there were absolutely no remains left, before I even discovered the fish had died. This was within 24 hrs. I coulda swore I had marine termites in the tank!

What do you mean by "water quality sensitive yellow tang"?

Mark

LOL I was skimmerless before I met Monty. It's been said that I was skimmerless, even when I had a skimmer! (SeaClone)

Just pondering some ideas here as some people swear their corals responded to the switch from tap to RO/DI water, while others say the corals responded to a skimmer. I think I just feel the need to tinker with the tank some.

My corals are, IMO, doing great. So I ask myself, what kind of response should I expect if I switch to RO/DI or a skimmer? Is it worth the extra $$$$ and the trouble of having to adjust, clean, replace cartridges, empty collection cup, etc. etc. all the extra work that goes with either piece of equipment, only to notice a little difference? Not only that, everyone is always complaining their skimmers are noisy. I spent a lot of time with trial and error, just to get my tank as quiet as it is now. The 90 sits right next to the dining table, so minimal noise is preferrable.

I've read a lot of discussion about using under-rated skimmers for tanks, as over skimming is said to create problems. What kind of problems? I don't know! I'm skimmerless. If under skimming is better, why not throw something like the SeaClone on my 90?

Smitty

[orion25]

Smitty,

That was meant to be kind of sarcastic. Some say that Yellow Tangs are very sensitive to water quality and will perish at the first sign of a problem. I personally disagree! I have had three and NONE of them have ever had so much as Ich. (I gave one away before each move and have one now). In fact they are the only fish I consider a must have. I guess I learned my lesson about keeping two tangs in a 55g (it can never happen to me - yeah right ). I should have listened to everyone else on that one.

[Smitty91]

Ryan

LOL, I shoulda seen that one coming.

Tangs do have specific needs, which I feel is where the common misconception comes from that they are Ick magnets. It's not the water quality that matters from my experiences, but it's the environment. If the environment is wrong, one can expect to be constantly battling Ick. I agree, pristine water has nothing to do with it. Me and my skimmerless tank with a hippo and a yellow is sufficient proof to me.

I am by no means an expert on surgeon fish, but I did write my own little info page on Hippo Tangs, sharing my Ick free experiences with my hippo. If you're interested, you can check it out here.

Smitty

[orion25]

Nice Site Smitty!!

Good info on your Hippo page. Although I do not agree with all of Fenners comments (he says to use ozone - do they still make those things ) he makes a few good points also.

Ryan

[fishpoo]

i'm a believer is skimming. even with a refugium full of caulerpa.
i changed over to dsb from plenum two weeks ago. i've done ten gallon water changes, so many i finished a 200 gallon bucket of salt due to a dinoflagellates bloom. ( i'm sure that started when i went wild with pruning all the grape caulerpa back in the tank).
even with all those water changes and all readings A1 i still got a lot of skimate.
i've used the turboflotor, Prism, Coralife and homemade but none can compare to my modified ---- see pic

[SPasse]

Hi All,

The following thread regarding protein skimmers on the ReefCentral Board. http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...threadid=14937

This is Dr. Ron’s forum, and you need to be a member of ReefCentral to view it.

I would like to say that my postings are not in any way intended to “take a shot” at the protein skimmer camp, but just an attempt to re-examine a concept that most reef keepers take or have taken as an article of faith.

All comments welcome.

Regards,

Scott

[Smitty91]

Ryan

Thanks! I also do not agree with all of Fenner's thoughts, especially on apatasia eradication. He is a heavy advocater of butterfly fish, Copperbands to be specific. We all know, butterfly fish are like peppermint shrimp. Some will rid the problem while others won't even look at your aptasia, let alone eat them. Then, there comes the challenge of getting a butterfly fish to accept prepared foods.

Scott

Much thanks for sharing. I'd like to respond to that thread as I feel [i]Ironreef[/b] is making an assumption on the whole skimmer theory based on 1 or 2 particular setups. He knows about the many testaments on AL about successful skimmerless tanks, but alas, doesn't mention them. I suppose if I did respond, that would kinda blow his theory out of the water, as I only contend with microalgae, never hair algae. I do feed my tank and do have the thickest hippo tang, yellow tang, and lawnmower blenny I've seen personally.

Smitty

[Ironreef]

I didn't read all of the link but hair alga ALOT of ppl who have had problems rid it with a simple skimmer. as for overskimming without over doing it I doubt it would be a problem in a well fed tank. I have 3 types of snails that breed tube worms pods ect.ect. For me I would always run a skimmers. I like refugiums also. I've seen a few ecosystems with the mud go to crap. Same with skimmer systems. theres a few LFS that local ppl have seen the same systems that are ridden with hair alga and only have 1 fish. IME its husbantry not how you run it. meaning skimmerless ,skimmer you still need to balance it. If you run youer tank without a skimmer and like it I wouldn't worry. If you add a skimmer to get rid of caulerpa doubt it will happen. I prefer skimming cuz I have a mixed reef. I feel the softies release toxins and the skimmer helps so it doesn't bother my sps. I never or rarely run carbon and my water never turns yellow. Most ppl I know who are skimmerless use alot of carbon. That can cost alot over time but it doesn't make noise.

[Smitty91]

Absolutely, a skimmer alone will not rid a tank of caulerpa, but merely slows it down as it skims most of what the caulerpa needs.

Naw, if you want to get rid of caulerpa, simply dose your tank with Phosguard. That will take care of it.

Smitty