How do you know your skimmer isn't big enough?

[Anonymous]

I have recently upgraded tanks and was wondering how I would know if my skimmer isn't big enough to handle the larger volume of water. What are the signs to looks for. I am worried because I have increased the bioload without a significant amount of increase in output from my skimmer.

 

[Anonymous]

This is a tough question, one I doubt anyone have an answer for and back it up with scentific proof, same kind of questions are, How do you know how many pounds of Live rocks I needed per gallon? where do these people get 1 inch of fish per gallon of water?
If I attempt to even suggest an answer the furs would fly with all the hobbyist on this board.
So I'm just going to qoute "The ultimate test for how well the protein skimmer is doing its job is the health and condition of the animals in the aquarium"
Richard Harker

Cheers
Wilson


opps, I just have to add, constant high nutrient, pest algae bloom are sign of under power skimmer.

[This message has been edited by Wilson (edited 17 May 2000).]

 

[Anonymous]

I think you might slowly start to see some yellowing of the water, relatively more algae growth, and larger daily pH swings.

 

[Anonymous]

thats a good question, i'm starting to wonder about those skimmers myself, especially since i upgraded from my 75g to a 180g and have been using the skimmer from my 75 on the 180, it is still pulling out all kinds of crap and my water is crystal clear.

my bioload consists of 15 fish and two cleaner shrimp, a sponge and a leather coral

i've had no swings in ph, tested last night and got 8.2, corraline algea growing like crazy, no algea. go figure.....

------------------
My 180 Utopia: Updated 5/16/00

 

[Anonymous]

Frisco, yellowing water and swinging PH has nothing to do with skimmer, skimmer can not remove everything,thus water turns yellow, that's why we use carbons, PH swings because your alkalinty is low.

 

[Anonymous]

How do you figure? A skimmer seems to serve two primary purposes in my mind - organic compound removal and gas exchange.

Dissolved organic compunds are fairly well known to alter the appearance of otherwise clean water. I'm not arguing that carbon use doesn't play a role in the degree of yellowing or the net concentration of all organic compounds. But I think you'll agree that a skimmer removes some organic compounds... right? In my mind that implies that when a skimmer isn't large enough for the job - residual organic compounds will build up and yellow the water. Here's an easy experiment to convince yourself- dump your skimmate back into the tank and you should see the water yellow a bit! (Thankfully, I haven't tried this one)

Nocturnal-diurnal pH swings are known to be dominated by the concentration of dissolved CO2 gas in the water. An undersized skimmer will do little to offset this buildup, resulting in lower nightly pH values. In heavily stocked tanks this becomes more pronounced, as the net respiration rate increases. (I've seen the effect with stable 12dKH alk values in my tank)

Turn off the skimmer for a while (under the right circumstances of course) and you should see what I've observed.

 

[Anonymous]

On my tank, a 75g reef, one indicator that the Skimmer isn't doing it's job, e.g. the intake gets clogged, is an accumulation of Red Algae on the piece of live rock I have placed a few inches below the sump return. I assume that this is caused by the excess Proteins not being successfully removed by the skimmer. If I remedy the problem on the skimmer, the Red Algae goes away in a few days.

 

[Anonymous]

I think we all know what a Protein skimmer does, what most of us don't know is how much of all the different kind of proteins a skimmer can remove,let me quote some articles I've read.
According to Chen,S 1991 Theoretical and experimental investigation of foam seperation applied to aquaculture.
"Proteins make up a large part of surfactants-the molecules adsorbed by air bubbles. However,the proportion of proteins that are surface active and therefore can be removed through protein skimming represents only 11 percent of the protein found in aquaculture."

"this points to the need to use other methods of chemical filtration, such as activated carbon, in addition to protein skimming"
Richard Harker 1998

Now protein skimming does help reduce the yellow but not as major as you think it would be.

I know what cause the PH to drop at night but what I'm trying to say is with the alklanity high you would only see 1 to 2 PH swings during night time,and with a fan in the sump, you'll hardly notice any swing at all.
Lets say if this person has a PH swing of 2 at night with a dkh of 12, how much more swing if his dkh is 3 or 4?

ack, I hate to have this debate, don't want any furs flying now, so this is my last post on this thread.

 

[Anonymous]

Relax! No ruffled feathers here!

I'll try to get this back on topic by saying that I would also expect that the skimmate production rate will cease to increase with the increased load; specifically, if you've started having to empty the thing much more often, it's (probably) not reached its capacity. Obviously that can be a hard thing to gauge, but it might be an additional clue...

What type of skimmer is it anyway?

 

[Anonymous]

Hehe ok, this is not a debate question

) I'll answer it, but I hate to mention it cause I got one maybe up for sale

Cyoul8 have a SR4 and he is using it on his upgraded 125 Gallon, the skimmer according to CPR is rated for a 120 Gallon Tank, I'll say it's rated 1/2 of that or 75 gallon tops.

Cheers
Wilson

 

[Anonymous]

So I'm probably in trouble then. If it's rated for a 75 tops.

 

[Anonymous]

with good skimming u wont need carbon I never use carbon and my water isnt yellow and para meters are good. I keep it on hand just incase.

 

[Anonymous]

Check the GPH on the pump, your volume should go through the skimmer at the very least once an hour but more is better. What your looking for is quick pump and a longer mixing chamber, the more contact time the better.