Skimmer to big?

[RAV-65]

Hi all,

after much consideration, decided to get a H&S 150-F2001 rated for 850L to turbo-charge my skimming... but my tank, currently about 450-500L ( including sump ), izit a little too big a skimmer to use? Heard about over-skimming, but wonder am I over-doing it?

Any experts to advice?

Vincent Ho

[Achilles Tang]

IMO, there is probably no such thing as overskimming in an SPS tank.

A few corals do better in nutrient-laden tanks like Goniopora and carnation corals... a lot of other corals do demand better quality water.

Anyway... unless you use a large beckett skimmer in a tiny tank.. I doubt if the any other skimmers can really 'overskim'... heh.

[RAV-65]

Hmm... still got a couple of gonioporas in my tank... does it mean dat if i upgrade my skimmer, these fellas gonna suffer? Any solutions to this? Intening to dose about 10ml of DT and feed GPs daily after I change my skimmer would dat help?

Vincent Ho

[typrobin]

wat AT said is quite true....unless u are worried that good stuffs like planktons might get skimmed off...maybe u can try target feeding and at the same time switch of your skimmer when feeding corals.....this way food won't be wasted also....

[typrobin]

juz curious, since flower pots can survive and usually survive in lousy water condition, y issit so difficult to maintain them??

RAV, don't feed to much planktons as they add to your bio-load as well, think u should know this too....

[RAV-65]

hmm... have hesard about people who cultivate the plankton and dosing some 500ml of their home made plankton....

I believe dat my dosing 10ml of DT a day would do more good for my corals and harm...

Hence the skimmer, coz I still like keeping fishes and would love to accomodate more fishes...

Vincent Ho

[Achilles Tang]

Gonioporas and carnation corals require frequent feedings of phytoplankton/zooplankton/bacterial flocs on a daily basis yet they demand good water quality, which is almost impossible to replicate in an enclosed system, unless you get piped in seawater.

The ocean brings lots of food & oxygen to corals yet whisks away wastes products/respiratory byproducts all in the same block/wave of current.

There are very very low levels of nitrates & phosphates in a natural reef.

These are present in much larger amounts in our captive reefs and the lack of control of these nutrients in our captive reef means you'll be inviting trouble.

Its possible to keep Gonios and carnation corals in a species only tank but you'll probably need to overskim the tank yet maintain a very high phyto & nutrient count.... without crashing your tank. Very hard to do even by advanced reefers.

The odd specimen or two that makes it long term in a reefer's tank could be just a fluke.

But the general consensus is not to keep Gornioporas as its a more responsible thing to do.

[RAV-65]

Hmm.... come to tink of it... maybe i should do away with my gonioporas....

AT, would GPs be sufficient if I feed everyday?

Vincent Ho