Why a powerful skimmer?

[Sk8r]

several reasons. 1) the skimmer aerates. a really good skimmer aerates more.

2) it keeps crud out of your water. A really good skimmer keeps out more, but...soft corals do like richer water, meaning they do a lot of work themselves, and may need the nutrient.

3) if you have to use a treatment to kill something off in your tank and have a really good skimmer, it helps pull the badness out ASAP. What won't hurt a tank with a really good skimmer can harm a tank without much skimmer power.

How much is enough? For a very small tank with a good maintenance schedule, you're ok without much power. A moderate skimmer can handle a tank up to about 50 gallons.

If you go for 100 gallons, you're going to want to look at better skimmers, the ones that produce a thick froth in their column, almost like the head on beer. That's a lot of aeration and some pulling power; and if you couple it with a treatment of any kind, it will help you.

This is why it's not an 'of course!' kind of answer when somebody asks whether some particular treatment is ok for the tank (and there are a few select ones that can help various infestations) --------the answer is, most properly, 'How good is your skimmer?' Generally if you're careful and keep a clean tank, you can get by with less, but if you have ghosty problems, crud buildups, or a condition in which you do need a treatment of some sort, the answer changes to: you need a good skimmer.

My own theory is, get a skimmer rated for twice the gallonage you have. But the good ones are spendy, and you can't buy everything at once. So try to keep things clean, do your water changes, don't overcrowd your tank, and get by as you can. And when you see your tank getting more complex, this is when you need to look at the good skimmer. The good news is---they don't wear out easily, and somebody else's used skimmer might do well for you. Don't be afraid of a used one, in general. They clean up pretty well.

[ThRoewer]

Generally, recirculating skimmers with dedicated pumps for bubble generation are better than the ones where one pump does the water throughput and bubble generation. Not necessarily that they ultimately remove more, but they are easier to adjust and might remove more in just one pass. If you plan it right and let gravity do the throughput by plumbing the skimmer into the tank overflow line you can still get away with just one pump for the skimmer.

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[monkeysee1]

....I have a Reef Octopus 110INT.....amazing skimmer....takes a licking and keeps on ticking..

[Sk8r]

I have a 105 gallon, and an EShopps pretty-big-one. I could use bigger still, but it is adequate for those wanting to know what's 'enough' versus 'killer.'

You can always run the skimmer part time to make it's time working more effective. Just hook up the skimmer pump to a timer.

[Sk8r]

On a new tank, you don't have much to skim, and you can go a long time waiting for more than tea-colored skimmate. As your tank matures, that cup fills much faster and the skimmate goes over to greenish black. What that is---is what the ocean does when it washes froth up onto the beach. Ocean foam may sound romantic, but once you've washed skimmate cups, you gain a different opinion. There are photos of people playing in head-high waves of foam---and marine hobbyists are saying---"oook."

[xlayedoutx]

IMHO be careful of going too big. I had a Curve 5 on a 40 breeder and it stripped my water too clean of nutrients. My SPS started to fade and die. Turned off my skimmer and corals started coming back, even those I thought were dead.

[Sk8r]

A good rule of thumb is get one rated for 2x the water volume you have in the system. That seems to work out pretty well for everything but sps corals---and if a skimmer is too much for sps, (the colored sticks) that's one heckuva potent skimmer for that size tank! I use an Eshopps on a 105 gallon, which works pretty well.

It's also REAL helpful in hammering down your nitrates and other waste-related readings in your water chemistry. Stony coral generally likes a level under 5, where some tanks untreated can get up to 50.

[five.five-six]

Love my trusty Euroreef

[five.five-six]

Originally Posted by doylelewis

You can always run the skimmer part time to make it's time working more effective. Just hook up the skimmer pump to a timer.

I have solar and I turn my skimmer off for 5 hrs every day during “ultra peak” billing hours.