Protien Skimmer Do you need 1 constant ?

[Pinkfish]

I know I have tooooo many fish in my tank .... but I havent lost anymore fish yet been over a week now I think. Newbie syndrome plus bad advice from LFS :( (lost 3 fish, 2 clowns and a firefish)

Still have - 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Salfin, 1 Regal, 1 Firefish, 1 Fairy Wrasse, 1 Strawberry Gramma, 2 Yellowhead Jawfish, ´4 Chromis ...think thats all.
Ohhh and a scooter blennie (thats what the guy in the shop told me it was, i think its a Stellate/Starry Dragnet)

1 Leather Mush, A cluster of Hairy Mush, Cluster of Other Mushroms, Some zoas growing from a piece of live rock, Large finger coral, and a large 3inch Umbrella Mush, Pulsing Xenia (which has doubled in size) Candy Coral, Hammer Head Coral + my Fav .. a large Pineapple Coral.

30 Hermit Crabs 32 Snails and 2 Conchs (Cheers James ... all doing well and solving my Algae problem)

... My tanks only 1month and 2 weeks old

I ask as im a newbie and have all this livestock, but I never ever run my protien skimmer constantly. I turn it of during the day, sometimes for a whole 24 hours or more.

Am I nuts here and risk my whole system crashing ? or do other people do the same with their skimmers ?

Also when I turn the skimmer off for a long period of time I notice a spur in growth in the tanks inhabitants.

What do you guys think?

Mike

[Tetley]

Hi Mike,

I have answered your other post regarding the snowflake's.

As to the question of skimming - short answer YES - run it 24/7.

If you don't then IMO you will have a problem sooner or later (sooner IMO).

With your current fish load a skimmer 24/7 is a MUST IMO.

HTH

Ian

[flying Jock]

Hi

Looks like you have stocked too fast too quick:(

The problem you will have encountered is that the biological system in your reef will have struggled to keep up with the bioload that you have put on it.

DO NOT ADD ANYMORE FISH!

You must give your system time to stabilise and let it catch up.

Please do not put anymore livestocks lives at risk.

Patience is the key!;)

Now with your present condition you would be a fool not to run your skimmer 24/7 as with your bioload you will need as much oxygen and as less carbon dioxide in your tank as possible.

At night your skimmer will keep co2 at minimum while increasing o2.

This will stabilise your PH and will stop your fish gasping in the morning (thats if they are).

I would not say that you are overstocked (i have 45 fish) but i would say that you have stocked far too quickly.

I would post as much as you can on this site to obtain an honest answer rather than trust your LFS who a lot of the time will just be after your hard earned cash!

Good luck

FJ

[moorish]

hi,iwould run your skimmer 24/7 otherwise you could lose a lot of stock. it is best to stock over a 6 to 12 month period to give the water a chance to mature.make sure you have a good skimmer because some of the smaller ones are not very effective.i use a deltec 902 which keeps the water very clear.derek

[Kev]

Hi

For my tuppence, I would never switch off either. You may be courting big problems in respect of your new system running skimmerless for long periods. Particularly with your curent stock levels.

Kev:)

[oakwell]

IMO skimmer is most important piece of equip 24/7!!

[www.ro-man.com]

Hi

Looks like you have stocked too fast too quick:(

DO NOT ADD ANYMORE FISH!




A lot of people would not have put any fish in at 6 weeks!! The systems would be maturing, its not fair on the fish to put them through the cycling process, did your retailer know your tank was new when he sold you any of the fish?

My skimmer is on for 24 X 7 I have a big AP902 (http://www.deltecusa.us/proteinskimmers/ap902.php), its a big beast, it did not pull anything out of the tank untill I started loading up the Fish stock, the inverts did not make any and skimmate.. I think its the most important bit of kit except for the correct lighting although my tank seems to be slowly going to fish only system..

Martyn

[Reefer]

You seem quite determined to kill off all your stock in your tank mate.
Leave your skimmer on and whoever gives you all your duff advice STOP talking to them immediately.
Dont mean to sound harsh fella but you have been well and truly led down the garden path by someone along the way.