Skimmer down!!!

Hi quick question....

The pump on my skimmer is broken and im waiting on a replacement being sent, how long is safe to have the tank without skimmer running?

Live stock wise i only have two common clowns and an algae blenny,
blue hermits and a sea hare.

i have a few small coral frags too,
some clove, some zoo's nothing major.

Its looking like its gonna be down for around 4-5 days!!

Advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

colin

 

That amount of time you should be fine. Just feed a little less if your worried

 

in your opinion whats the max safe time a skimmer can be turned off for?

 

I went a week with mine off when I went on vacation, with no problems but I didn't over feed and have a lot of surface agitation

 

it really depends on each tanks situation. If you run a heavy bioload, i wouldnt run without on for more than a couple days. if you have a light bioload, a week-week and a half is fine.

 

my bio load is small (well i think its small)
my tank is the red sea max 130 so its 130 litres around 35 gallons.
i only have three fish ( 2 clowns and an lawnmower blenny) and a sea hare.
i feed the fish very little around twice a week.

Is this In your opinion a big or small bio-load????????

 

also should i do an extra water change? i did one last weekend and not due till next weekend, if i do one this weekend would that help??

 

A skimmer actually isn't a MUST. It is just very strongly recommended and is very difficult to maintain pristine water quality without a skimmer. I'm sure there are a few reefers here that still run a skimmerless system. I ran a 24 gal nano for 3 years without a skimmer.

You will be fine and shouldn't worry. JM2C

 

K+ the above post. you can run your tank for a long while without the skimmer. like the above have stated, feed a little less and doing more water changes and everything will be fine.

 

ive been running my tank without a protein skimmer since day 1. i don't have the water quality that i would prefer but what im getting at is i wouldn't worry about it to much. you should be completely fine