2 skimmers?????

have a 30gal dt with 10gal sump and am running a skimmer that's rated for 80gal. am upgrading to a 130gal dt with a 30 gal sump and was wondering if i could buy another smaller skimmer to make up the defernce.... would hate to just get rid of the one i have now n am wondering if running 2 would be that bad.. thanks guys!! ;D

 

Its usually recommended to get a skimmer that is double the tank size. So an 80g skimmer isn't really going to cut it at all, even with the addition of a smaller one.

Best to bite the bullet and get the larger skimmer and not have to worry about it later down the track.

 

Sell yours and get one suited for the task. There is no guarantee you can fit two in your sump.They take up a bit of room. There is nothing saying you "can't"... but what is best is to get one rated for your tank.

Pros are if you have two and one dies you still have some skimming. You could alternate cleaning. You save some money on what you have already spent.

Cons are making sure both are getting dirty water to work their best. Sometimes one works better and robs the other of what it needs and it does not work well. (You have 2 skimmers working, but not ideal performance of both). Room and power to run two.... possibly wasting money getting the other... then having to but a bigger one anyway.

If it get's you by that's fine.. but my moto in this hobby is "always buy once". Get the right tool for the job the first trip to the store.

 

I've done some reading one this since I stepped up to my 225 and want to do a aggressive tank with dirty eaters which generally recommends a way over size skimmer. For me that's a 300+ skimmer and they get expensive quick! So my thought was 2 180 rated skimmer since they aren't that much. I did a lot of reading and googling and for the most part the general consensus recommends against it. First up your talking more electricity. It normally takes more juice to run two skimmers of equivalent size than one big one of the same gallonage. Next up most people that have tried this have come to find that the skimmers will basically begin to compete with each other. One will run real heavy and one will run real dry and neither will be easy to adjust sufficiently. I have read where some people have had success with basically two matching systems meeting the return in the middle. meaning 2 drains going into opposite sides of the sump to 2 skimmer chambers into the return in the middle. Basically mirror images. Even doing it that way there was still people having competing skimmers as well. Since my tank is slow on the go and piece at a time I'll save my pennies and just go for one big skimmer.