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sterling18 
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 Topic: Turning off my skimmer for 8 hours over night
Posted: September 03 2010 at 10:00pm |
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My tank is mostly zoo's and palys with a few pieces of SPS and LPS.
I'm planing on feeding right before light off and I'm thinking about turning off the skimmer overnight to see if I can keep the nutrients in the water stream longer. I think I'll add the command to turn off the skimmer from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM.
The main return pump will still circulate the water. My ph stays around 8.2ish overnight.
My MP10 goes into night mode (50% flow) at 11:00 PM and comes back to full strength at 8:00 AM.
My only concern is the lost of oxygenation of the water by the skimmer.
oh yea, I run the carbon pellets from Warner Marine but they are isolated in the skimmer chamber. Will that be an issue overnight?
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Chris Scott
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Posted: September 07 2010 at 12:12am |
I turn my skimmer off for 6 hours in the evening because its loud. Considering I didn't have a skimmer before this, i figured it wasn't a problem. Some people run 24x7, but I like the idea of having it off to leave nutrients in the water for some time.
Do you have powerheads in your tank? If they are pointed up toward the water, there should be plenty of oxygen in the water.
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55g Bowfront Corner Reef
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Ryan Thompson
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Posted: September 07 2010 at 8:52am |
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I have read into this a little in the past and have come to the conclusion that it really isn't all that beneficial.
Most skimmers lose their foam head when you feed. Depending on the skimmer, it takes about an hour if not longer to even build that foam head back up. So that will leave nutrients in the tank already.
I also read somewhere that it takes a skimmer 2-3 days to filter through all of the water in your tank. That is why I go with a slow moving sump, maybe 5x turnover. This allows my skimmer to get to the water before rushes back in to the main tank.
So turning my skimmer off every night for a little bit sounded like it would have more impact on the pump then my tank. My tank is in my room and you can't hear the skimmer at all. The only noise you hear from my tank is the slight winding up and down of my Vortech.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: September 07 2010 at 10:19am |
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The idea of turning off the skimmer at intervals comes from comments by some experts that many people have huge skimmers that run 24/7. They are overskimming. Since many of us run skimmerless, the thing seems to be an idea of moderation. For what it's worth, you might consider turning it off for an interval during the daylight hours, that way it would not detract from the nighttime aeration benefits.
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MadReefer
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Posted: September 07 2010 at 12:34pm |
I few years ago I set my skimmer to turn off over night because of all the life that comes out at night. I didn't want to skim out all that night life. I saw no negative side effect and the skimmer cup was filling up about the same as when I had it on 24/7.
The aeration is the only real consideration, in my opinion, so if you have good water movement otherwise, I say give it a try and see what you think.
When I did this I had it go off in the evening and I would feed after it turned off. It would turn back on in the middle of the night.
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BobC63
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Posted: September 07 2010 at 1:24pm |
If you are feeding at lights out I would say turning the skimmer off is fine, but maybe for only 4 hours or so.
I don't think you need it off for a full 8 hrs to see any feeding benefit.
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- My Current Tank: 50g Starfire Cube Reef
* Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 *
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sterling18
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Posted: September 07 2010 at 2:02pm |
Humm, I like the idea of 4 hours. I think I can live with that.
I've got an MP10 going at 50% power but I still have my return pump a Mag 3 going so I feel it should be ok.
I agree about the life that's out and about when the lights go out.
Thanks,
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