Removeing skimmer!

Is it ok for me to take my skimmer off my tank?

I have always had very very light skimate if any at all, but i know my skimmer is very good, because of the time i added slime remover, when i turned the skimmer back on it went into overdrive, and was produceing thick dark sewage...

So is it ok to remove it and just use it whenever i use some treatment, or for say 12 hours a week, i really don't see any point on it being there at the moment its produceing nothing?

 

Well its not a nessacity to use a skimmer on a reef, just highly recommended. If you feel like you dont need then dont use it. Its entirely up to you. Altho bare in mind they oxygenate the water so if you use a hood, i would replace the skimmer with an airstone (or remove the hood)

 

Im a skimmer fan to be honest , but I do know many run skimmerless reefs, and many run less skimming than would be considered normal as they feel over skimmed water is to clean and deprives corals etc of food stuffs

You seem to have a handle on water testing and parameters based on your other posts so you could always reverse a desicion if conditions meritted it.

I wouldnt do it myself, as I love the insurance my Deltec affords me. but you would not be the 1st and only person to remove a skimmer from a reef set up

Steve

 

:LolLolLol if u smell the skimmate that comes out of my tank..i think you will change your mind


anyway, back to the question. You can turn off the skimmer for a little while if you have to. I do that when i have to clean my skimmer or have to clean the meshed pinwheel.

 

If you are going to run one, run it. If you aren't, then don't. But trying to run one a few hours a week/month is a bad idea. Every time you shut it down and it dries out, it will have to go through a semi-break in and then you have to get it adjusted all to break it down, wait a week, and do it again. A lot of wasted time/effort.

 

what do you have to remove nitrates? if its nothing or only some thing that cant do much i would leave it.

you bioload is what i could consider moderate, maybe a bit high depending on feedings. really the only skimmerless tanks that succeed are lightily stocked(for the filtration present) with other means of nutrient removal

edit: also you may want to change your skimmer as tmc's are suppose to be finicky. personally if you tell me it doesnt pull good skimmate in your tank i would tell you it doesnt work.