Too big of a skimmer?

[bakbay]

I’ll step down. Everyone’s results can vary and a huge impact is the bio load and stocking of the tank

I have no skin in the game. Took my skimmer offline around January and have not looked back

I did that for 3mos in my frag tank but turned it back on for several reasons:
1. More oxygenation
2. Higher pH since I run a CaRã, related to #1
3. Skimmers are cool!

 

[VintageReefer]

I did that for 3mos in my frag tank but turned it back on for several reasons:
1. More oxygenation
2. Higher pH since I run a CaRã, related to #1
3. Skimmers are cool!

1 and 2 are handled by an oase oxymax 200 running 24x7

2 is also handled by a algae turf scrubber running reverse photoperiod 18 hours a day

Ph is consistent 7.9-8

3 yea but noisy and my tank is now basically silent. And that stuff the skimmer pulls…more food for my corals. Anything leftover is converted to nitrates and phosphate and the scrubber directly consumes the excess nitrate and phosphate from the water.

 

[Tide2water]

I’ve never seen this in all my 30+ years of reefing, granted that I feed heavily and nutrient is always high.

orp over 800 and skimmers start making crazy colors if there is nothin left to strip. Certainly a woops, but looks cool on 10' tall 3' diameter skimmers

 

[00W]

Regal 150INT 6" Internal Protein Skimmer (VarioS)

BRS Recommended for tanks up to: Heavy Bioload (Most Common) - 100 Gallons Medium Bioload - 150 Gallons Light Bioload - 210 gallons Reef Octopus In Sump 10" Protein Skimmer from Reef Octopus - with a controllable VarioS DC pumps to process more or less water, depending on your setup...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

If the time comes to upgrade my skimmer, I am wondering if I should go bigger, in the case that I also upgrade my tank by 30 gallons. I am currently running a 65g tank. Would a skimmer this size be TOO big? Would I run into problems or does it make sense to go bigger? Love the float switch and of course, the reviews.

Good skimmer.
I ran it for 2 years adding 2 neck extensions along the way.
Quiet, pretty consistent, easy to take apart.
Too much?
IMO no.
Ran mine on 110 gallons total volume and recently upgraded to one twice as big.
I'm a skimmer fanatic, never seen one strip too much out or create space aged foam.
I feed 3 times a day though, light fish load but their big.
This one is good for 65-70 gallons all day long.
This is just my opinion.

 

[00W]

Regal 150INT 6" Internal Protein Skimmer (VarioS)

BRS Recommended for tanks up to: Heavy Bioload (Most Common) - 100 Gallons Medium Bioload - 150 Gallons Light Bioload - 210 gallons Reef Octopus In Sump 10" Protein Skimmer from Reef Octopus - with a controllable VarioS DC pumps to process more or less water, depending on your setup...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

If the time comes to upgrade my skimmer, I am wondering if I should go bigger, in the case that I also upgrade my tank by 30 gallons. I am currently running a 65g tank. Would a skimmer this size be TOO big? Would I run into problems or does it make sense to go bigger? Love the float switch and of course, the reviews.

It's just sitting in my cabinet cleaned and ready to go.
I'm not going to use it again and it needs a new home.
Hit me up if you're interested.
Joel

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

It's just sitting in my cabinet cleaned and ready to go.
I'm not going to use it again and it needs a new home.
Hit me up if you're interested.
Joel

thanks joel but i think it will be too big, as someone else said

 

[bakbay]

orp over 800 and skimmers start making crazy colors if there is nothin left to strip. Certainly a woops, but looks cool on 10' tall 3' diameter skimmers

True but how many of reefers have this “problem”! Ha

 

[Charles Zinn]

Regal 150INT 6" Internal Protein Skimmer (VarioS)

BRS Recommended for tanks up to: Heavy Bioload (Most Common) - 100 Gallons Medium Bioload - 150 Gallons Light Bioload - 210 gallons Reef Octopus In Sump 10" Protein Skimmer from Reef Octopus - with a controllable VarioS DC pumps to process more or less water, depending on your setup...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

If the time comes to upgrade my skimmer, I am wondering if I should go bigger, in the case that I also upgrade my tank by 30 gallons. I am currently running a 65g tank. Would a skimmer this size be TOO big? Would I run into problems or does it make sense to go bigger? Love the float switch and of course, the reviews.

Biggest skimmer would be big enough to handle load of a heavy loaded tank.

 

[Charles Zinn]

I’ve never seen this in all my 30+ years of reefing, granted that I feed heavily and nutrient is always high.

you can also adjust return nozzles to protect overflow to reduce nutient export

 

[bakbay]

you can also adjust return nozzles to protect overflow to reduce nutient export

Sorry - what do you mean?

 

[Dan_P]

Regal 150INT 6" Internal Protein Skimmer (VarioS)

BRS Recommended for tanks up to: Heavy Bioload (Most Common) - 100 Gallons Medium Bioload - 150 Gallons Light Bioload - 210 gallons Reef Octopus In Sump 10" Protein Skimmer from Reef Octopus - with a controllable VarioS DC pumps to process more or less water, depending on your setup...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

If the time comes to upgrade my skimmer, I am wondering if I should go bigger, in the case that I also upgrade my tank by 30 gallons. I am currently running a 65g tank. Would a skimmer this size be TOO big? Would I run into problems or does it make sense to go bigger? Love the float switch and of course, the reviews.

No, not too big.

Skimmers are rated likely on the water processed per unit of time, such as 99% of the aquarium water processed in 12 or 24 hours. No matter aquarium size rating,, skimming stops once the level of foam forming material is depleted. The notion of a skimmer stripping an aquarium of nutrients is a myth.

 

[Charles Zinn]

Sorry - what do you mean?

In my tank there is a center overflow. The original LFS owner had set up tank with 2 of 4 return nozzles crossing in front of weir. 'Heard a podcast that that might affect nutrients. moved nozzles opening more flow to weir in overflow, nutrients went down some. opened a little more nutrients went down again. Am now 0 to 2 in nitrates . not sure with your setup but hopr you have similar luck experimenting

 

[Charles Zinn]

No, not too big.

Skimmers are rated likely on the water processed per unit of time, such as 99% of the aquarium water processed in 12 or 24 hours. No matter aquarium size rating,, skimming stops once the level of foam forming material is depleted. The notion of a skimmer stripping an aquarium of nutrients is a myth.

first part I agree with. With eco-tech mp pumps set on nutrient export you can take nutrients down ( nitrates) to 0. R equires fine tuning of of system

 

[bakbay]

In my tank there is a center overflow. The original LFS owner had set up tank with 2 of 4 return nozzles crossing in front of weir. 'Heard a podcast that that might affect nutrients. moved nozzles opening more flow to weir in overflow, nutrients went down some. opened a little more nutrients went down again. Am now 0 to 2 in nitrates . not sure with your setup but hopr you have similar luck experimenting

This is the context — I’ve never seen aquarists’ skimmers that can overskim to a point of stripping out the tank.
bakbay said:
“I’ve never seen this in all my 30+ years of reefing, granted that I feed heavily and nutrient is always high.”

I’m not sure how your LFS said that directing nozzles to overflow will reduce nitrates - unless you have zero surface agitation and food/detritus are not making their way down to the sump for the skimmer to work. If it were me, I would find another LFS - again, just me. Also, I don’t really test for nitrate - care about phosphate more. My 150g SPS tank’s nitrate is 75+ and things are thriving!