To Skim Or Not To Skim That Is The Question

[spamula]

I have 48x18x18 foot tank, with a 24 x18x18 sump below with various alage and bio balls.

This week I have installed a skimmer as my ammonia levels were still showing around 3ppm to .5ppm . The nitrite and nitrate readings are basically zero.

Should I let the tank mature without the skimmer and wait for the levels to go down or shall I run the skimmer to help it out ?

Any ideas?

[Jthomashort]

Run a skimmer after a month

[spamula]

Whats the point if my readings are at 0 anyway, I would be taking good stuff out.

Leave it, then if reading go up I will turn the skimmer on

[tombsc]

Can you move the tang to another tank while your tank cycles? Otherwise you might lose him....Ammonia levels that high are pretty dodgy.

Skimmers don't remove ammonia...but are always a good idea anyway, although I see you have MM which I believe can replace a skimmer although I don't know enough about MM to provide advice.

[kneival]

How old is the tank?
What test kit are you using? (could be faulty)
Is the tang showing any kinds of stress?

[ickypimp]

skimmers dont remove ammonia, they do , however remove proteins, which are degraded by microbes to liberate ammonia... i say skim...

[sgl101]

Skim,

Even MM now recomend skimming now

Regards Steve.

[spamula]

Originally posted by sgl101@Nov 9 2005, 12:03
Skim,

Even MM now recomend skimming now

Regards Steve.
To be honest I am currently skimming for 8 hours a day on a timer.

Basically the water seems much clearer and has not got a slight yellow tinge to it when skimmer has been on.

I also mixed some garlic in with the fish food, I think this keeps the fish healthy and helps prevent white spot.

[nasotang]

IMO always run a skimmer! :thumbsup: Nick

[steve rochford]

In my opinion i would not be without a skimmer, but some people do have good success without one

[gio]

:ph34r: the bigger the beast the better it is i say skim 24/7

[fire999]

Why would you not use one.. /?????? why put extra loading on the LR when the skimmer takes out most of the rubbish ....

[chris@bluzoo]

Originally posted by fire999@Nov 17 2005, 22:40
Why would you not use one.. /?????? why put extra loading on the LR when the skimmer takes out most of the rubbish ....
mud systems work well ,and ther's no need to skim. Gonioporas and most lps's do better in tanks with no skimming. it just depends on what you are stocking :thumbsup:

[zimreef]

the bigger the beast the better it is i say skim 24/7

Not sure this is right - Fossa and Nilsen, Volume 1 of "The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium" state a point of concern being the frequently seen tendency among aquarists, particularly in Europe, to select over-sized skimmers. They go on to say that while they are convinced a skimmer is the very best equipment for a coral reef aquarium, overskimming has the potential for creating problems. They don't however then say what these potential problems are, which is a bit annoying to say the least :angry: - I would guess the eradication of most planktonic life forms in the water column and stripping out of trace elements. :blink: :unsure:

I ran a skimmerless mud-based system for over a year very sucessfully and will be setting up again soon, still without a skimmer. :)

John