I think my skimmer is overkill

I reacently aquired a reef octopus extreme 300 for my 150.This skimmer is rated for 300 to 400 gallon tank. I was wondering if this much over skimming would be over kill or not?

 

I disagree with the notion that one can "over skim". The skimmer can only remove the organics that are present in the water. The worst effect you'll see is the higher energy cost for operating an oversize model.

 

ok just wasnt sure if that would be pulling vital stuff out of the water or not had me a lil worried id be taking stuff my corals need out of the water

 

If it's way too big, you can not produce a reliable foam head and then it won't skim enough.

 

i have a warner marine MF161 on a 40 Breeder. this is bascailly a skimz sm161 which is rated for 300 ish gallons max.

I see no issues whatsoever with this skimmer being too large. Also, it only uses 15 watts.

 

I have a 130 Gallon Skimmer going onto my BioCube..

Haven't set it up yet but I wanted to join the skimmer club

 

Sorry Grim, but I need you to elaborate. Saltwater is saltwater, and the skimmer has no knowledge what size tank it's on, so I can't conceive how it would fail to produce foam if it's set up correctly. OTOH, a low amount of skimmate would be the direct result of lower levels of organics consistent with a smaller tank...

 

+1. I have actually read this a few times before. I believe it has to do with the size of the skimmer/collection cup. If you don't have enough skimmate, then it cannot collect properly. If you had a skimmer the size of your house, think it would collect from a 10g tank properly?

Not sure where the limit is though..

 

I do think you have a operating range that is wider than most people think there is. IMO you don't want your skimmer producing skimmate 24/7, you want a idle period, Otherwise the skimmer will never catch up to the bioload, and if there is a situation in your tank that something needs to be removed very quickly a weaker skimmer can't do it.

When rating a skimmer its just not water volume but the bioload. I like to set up my skimmer so its water processing is equal to the water flow through the sump or close to it. Depending on the skimmer style the pump is the most important part of a skimmer. I would look at a down draft style if the tank is large and has a large bioload, they dont do so good with smaller tanks and lower bio loads.Down draft style skimmers also produce inconsistent bubble size that can make them a PITA to dial in properly

 

Exactly. The smaller tank won't have near the amount of organics as a very large tank. A skimmer designed for a very large tank needs that level of organics to skim consistently and produce the foam head or else it will collapse prior to making it to the collection cup. Of course, tank size isn't the real determining factor here. Organic levels are, so you could always throw a ton of food in daily like you would for a NPS tank, and it'll work fine.