Skimmers

[Phang]

Hi Reefers,

There hav been some topics and threads that involved whether a reef could go with skimming or

not....

eg... some believe with the addition of a refugium that skimming could be avoided as the macroalgae in the refugium would be substantial enough to reduce the waste generated...

some are in the school that skimming although reduces the nutrient levels in the reef but also reduces much of the wanted trace elements required by corals to strive....

And there are different opinions on what type, pricing wise, efficiency.... of skimmers are good choices for reefs.....

With reference to a SPS reef, I was wondering that whether overskimming will result in the better health of such kind of reef??

Cos, among the cost of a good skimmer, another thing would come to mind, and that is efficiency...

simply... how much gunk you collect in your skimmer cup with regards to the amount of time and wattage required to fired up such procedures...

IMO, the ability to drawn up black junk at the expense of high power consumption is something that I won't be interested in.... when your bills are already high due to the MHs and chiller.....

As I was reading the previous threads, I was in the process of completing my Beckett Skimmer and while firing up the Beckett with a Hailea 6540, begin to realise that it might not have the potiential to render it effective... due to too low litres per hour flow rate. My next option would be a higher powered pump, which must be also pressure rated and that would mean high initial cost and long term cost in running it.....

I'm currently running a very simple and cheap model skimmer, actually a Macro (Taiwan made).. it's the smallest model but this little guy is drawing out black coffee type skimate everyday.... in fact lots of it..... it might mean that I have a high nutrient rate in my reef or simply my skimmer is undersized.... but I'm definitely happy that its removing this black stuff.....

Due to the above, I'm thinking of running a few of these skimmers, in fact adding another 2 more due to their compact sizing rather than a large Beckett that requires lots more power consumption....

So guys out there with so much more experience in Skimming, I'm ready for your opinions.....

[Achilles Tang]

Cool! Finally we have a thread to talk about skimmers!

With reference to a SPS reef, I was wondering that whether overskimming will result in the better health of such kind of reef??

For an SPS reef tank, high quality water lacking in dissolved nutrients is recommended. That means overskimming has to come into the picture, because the water around coral reefs are usually free of dissolved nutrients, unlike areas near mangrove swamps or lagoons which have limited water flow.

High nutrients in water tend to make colourful SPS corals turn brown.

Cos, among the cost of a good skimmer, another thing would come to mind, and that is efficiency...

simply... how much gunk you collect in your skimmer cup with regards to the amount of time and wattage required to fired up such procedures...

IMO, the ability to drawn up black junk at the expense of high power consumption is something that I won't be interested in.... when your bills are already high due to the MHs and chiller.....

True... the German brands of skimmers are usually efficient in design, in terms of concept, maintenance and pump efficiency. The US brands tend to be also good, but like American cars, tend to be big, noisy and consumes huge amounts of fuel... in this case, electricity...

As I was reading the previous threads, I was in the process of completing my Beckett Skimmer and while firing up the Beckett with a Hailea 6540, begin to realise that it might not have the potiential to render it effective... due to too low litres per hour flow rate. My next option would be a higher powered pump, which must be also pressure rated and that would mean high initial cost and long term cost in running it.....

Were you not aware that Beckett-styled skimmers require a pump of substantial capacity to run properly? The Hailea 6540 is a copy of the Aquamedic Ocean runner 6500.... but uses so much more electricity. Best bet is to get an Iwaki pump. Too bad the Oceanrunner pumps are not being brought in anymore.

I'm currently running a very simple and cheap model skimmer, actually a Macro (Taiwan made).. it's the smallest model but this little guy is drawing out black coffee type skimate everyday.... in fact lots of it..... it might mean that I have a high nutrient rate in my reef or simply my skimmer is undersized.... but I'm definitely happy that its removing this black stuff.....

At least, its working well! Your concern now should be whether it's working fast enough.

Due to the above, I'm thinking of running a few of these skimmers, in fact adding another 2 more  due to their compact sizing rather than a large Beckett that requires lots more power consumption....

It may be better to get one good and efficient unit of sufficient capacity than a few smaller units of your current kind. Coz if I am not wrong, you need to get three powerheads for another 3 units? Or x 3 amt of airstones? And take up 3 x as much space? If you lack headroom, the 2 good German brands like Schuran and H&S are designed to be short in height but that doesn't compromise their skimming efficiency.

[Phang]

As I was reading the previous threads, I was in the process of completing my Beckett Skimmer and while firing up the Beckett with a Hailea 6540, begin to realise that it might not have the potiential to render it effective... due to too low litres per hour flow rate. My next option would be a higher powered pump, which must be also pressure rated and that would mean high initial cost and long term cost in running it

Were you not aware that Beckett-styled skimmers require a pump of substantial capacity to run properly? The Hailea 6540 is a copy of the Aquamedic Ocean runner 6500.... but uses so much more electricity. Best bet is to get an Iwaki pump. Too bad the Oceanrunner pumps are not being brought in anymore......

Was actually told that the 6540 was enough.... but now must settle for a much higher capacity... the Iwakis looks good... but do take note of the power consumption... the last one that I noticed ran on 170W ..... imagine running it on 24/7.....

I'm currently running a very simple and cheap model skimmer, actually a Macro (Taiwan made).. it's the smallest model but this little guy is drawing out black coffee type skimate everyday.... in fact lots of it..... it might mean that I have a high nutrient rate in my reef or simply my skimmer is undersized.... but I'm definitely happy that its removing this black stuff

At least, its working well! Your concern now should be whether it's working fast enough......

Think if I add another 2 of these.....

Due to the above, I'm thinking of running a few of these skimmers, in fact adding another 2 more  due to their compact sizing rather than a large Beckett that requires lots more power consumption

It may be better to get one good and efficient unit of sufficient capacity than a few smaller units of your current kind. Coz if I am not wrong, you need to get three powerheads for another 3 units? Or x 3 amt of airstones? And take up 3 x as much space? If you lack headroom, the 2 good German brands like Schuran and H&S are designed to be short in height but that doesn't compromise their skimming efficiency.....

Well, my current Skimmer is running on a 1500 l/hr Pump....

Was thinking if I employ the 6540 which is roughly 2880l/hr and tee them off... should be able to run another 2 of these... for space wise.... should be enough cos these skimmers are pretty compact and if they would draw gunk out jus like the first........

Well, did see those Schuran in their site.... but will definitely gonna cost me dearly jus to buy them.......... however... if you got a good lobang.....

[Achilles Tang]

Bro... you already went so far to have 400 watts x 2 and 250watts x 2 lightings... what's another 150watts of pumps? Hee hee!

Your skimmer is as important as lightings... so dun skimp too much on the right equipment.

Reefing is an expensive hobby....

[Phang]

Bro... you already went so far to have 400 watts x 2 and 250watts x 2 lightings... what's another 150watts of pumps? Hee hee!

Your skimmer is as important as lightings... so dun skimp too much on the right equipment.

Reefing is an expensive hobby....

Yap.... agree with you.,..... so I gonna skimp on my breakfast, lunch and dinner 24/7?????

and for water..... drink skimate.......??

Well, jus to add on a though that I was thinking about.....

that is ... "having a good skimmer doesn't neccessary mean that it would work efficiency..... it also means that it must go with some good fine tuning to get its fullest potiential...."

I think with proper tuning, a reefer can always get a skimmer to work its very best.......

Hmmmm... and WHen did I ever run so much wattage for lights.........

[robe]

Phang,

How's the blue acro doing?

[Phang]

Phang,

How's the blue acro doing?

If you are refering to the sky blue tips.... they are growing....

The small frags have encrusted are showing excellent growth and branching out...

The large colony have growth that simply amazing.... would be ready for fragging soon.....

And remember the purple frag that you gave me... and also to Morgan... Its encrusting and colouring up.....Yeah!!!!!

Now jus wondering if strong skimming would improve the conditions for better growth....

[nivlac]

Hi Reefers,

There hav been some topics and threads that involved whether a reef could go with skimming or

not....

eg... some believe with the addition of a refugium that skimming could be avoided as the macroalgae in the refugium would be substantial enough to reduce the waste generated...

some are in the school that skimming although reduces the nutrient levels in the reef but also reduces much of the wanted trace elements required by corals to strive....

And there are different opinions on what type, pricing wise, efficiency.... of skimmers are good choices for reefs.....

With reference to a SPS reef, I was wondering that whether overskimming will result in the better health of such kind of reef??

Cos, among the cost of a good skimmer, another thing would come to mind, and that is efficiency...

simply... how much gunk you collect in your skimmer cup with regards to the amount of time and wattage required to fired up such procedures...

IMO, the ability to drawn up black junk at the expense of high power consumption is something that I won't be interested in.... when your bills are already high due to the MHs and chiller.....

As I was reading the previous threads, I was in the process of completing my Beckett Skimmer and while firing up the Beckett with a Hailea 6540, begin to realise that it might not have the potiential to render it effective... due to too low litres per hour flow rate. My next option would be a higher powered pump, which must be also pressure rated and that would mean high initial cost and long term cost in running it.....

I'm currently running a very simple and cheap model skimmer, actually a Macro (Taiwan made).. it's the smallest model but this little guy is drawing out black coffee type skimate everyday.... in fact lots of it..... it might mean that I have a high nutrient rate in my reef or simply my skimmer is undersized.... but I'm definitely happy that its removing this black stuff.....

Due to the above, I'm thinking of running a few of these skimmers, in fact adding another 2 more due to their compact sizing rather than a large Beckett that requires lots more power consumption....

So guys out there with so much more experience in Skimming, I'm ready for your opinions.....

Hey Phang, me not running a skimmer at all for the past one year. Just a refugium sump based on ecosystem concept. Zero nitrates, and macroalgae is doing well. Works for my LPS, but I don't keep SPS save for a couple of brownish cup corals that came with the LR.