Heavy Skimming, Heavy Feeding

Kanga

Retired Moderator
Joined
7 May 2007
Posts
4,576
Reaction score
27
Location
In the Koeberg blast radius
OK since I have been feeding my corals more with (bought from my LFS) homemade food, they have noticeably increased in size.

So this got me thinking, I could add another skimmer so that I have 6 x my tanks skimming capacity.

Obviously increase flow, although I already have 30-40X flow, so that no detritus gets trapped.

Would this be good for my system or am I heading for disaster?
 
adding another skimmer IMO could never be a bad thing, but why are you wanting to feed so heavy in the first place?
 
A quesion, is there still a thing like " over skimming " or not and if there is , at what stage would that happen? I know that when I last had my reefs, the guys in the trade were always warning about overskimming.
 
Sanders, I dont think anything less than this would be overskimming :D:D
galaxy202000.jpg


I just think the more food the corals and fish get without degrading water quality the better
 
A quesion, is there still a thing like " over skimming " or not
no such thing as over skimming, i asked calfo about that before
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sanders, I dont think anything less than this would be overskimming :D:D
:arghhhh::eek::notworthy:


I just think the more food the corals and fish get without degrading water quality the better

Yea ...i tried the low feeding/ nutrient concept. It sucks. Dismal failure for me. Will never go back to it. IMO if you do plan on pushing the bio load envelope, skimming heavily is vital. Go there slowly and just observe. I was gob smacked. I still am
 
:eek::notworthy::arghhhh:



Yeah I thought so too:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


Yea ...i tried the low feeding/ nutrient concept. It sucks. Dismal failure for me. Will never go back to it. IMO if you do plan on pushing the bio load envelope, skimming heavily is vital. Go there slowly and just observe. I was gob smacked. I still am

Mhh yip thats my thinking
 
I have one TS3 and just added a AM 1000, But the idea is to go to another TS3 or a DNW 250
 
Whats the specs on the TS3...I have a DNW200 and a AM1000...I think it would be nice to have one in sump and one rec...
 
I think that you can overskim. But only if you are using a really , really overrated skimmer. Very few people will ever do this. You also have to be underfeeding at the same time.

The heavy feeding heavy skimming option is in my opnion , the way to go.

The reefs are full of food, while the water itself remains nutrient starved.

If you go the Zeovit thought route of low feeding and very active nutrient removal, you run the very real risk of starving your corals, its a real tight-rope situation as the corals are always on the brink. if anything goes just slightly wrong with any perameter, it can send them over.

Heavy feeding with aggressive nutrient removal gives a far more robust system, where corals are able to weather the fluctuatons that they are at some point likely to encounter in our tanks.

Photosynthesis is good for providing energy but not for providing the other building materials needed for robust growth and colour. Corals get ths from food.

So the heavy feeding heavy skimming route for me is way better, giving healthy colourful, vigorously growing corals, with far less chance of sudden livestock deaths and recession.
 
Whats the specs on the TS3...I have a DNW200 and a AM1000...I think it would be nice to have one in sump and one rec...
TS 200mm Diameter, 2 x reef octo/King 3 pumps Rated 1500L

Really nice skimmer IMO
 
Ok that's the one I was thinking about...

Bob it's good to hear that from a guru, I find it cruel to starve my livestock, I rather have a bit of green stuff then have thing unhappy fish. In my new tank I have too much rock, far too much sand (dsb's) and I will add skimmers rated for 4x my system. Then my fish car get fat :)
 
Yeah, good to hear Bob, thats what I was hoping the answer would be.

What would the consequences be of increasing the bio load with regards to a heavily stocked tank?
 
Before adding a third skimmer, is there a need? Are you starting to have nutrient issues with the water? Have to agree that it is very difficult to over skim.
 
Before adding a third skimmer, is there a need? Are you starting to have nutrient issues with the water? Have to agree that it is very difficult to over skim.

Skimmer 2 will run on the Nano, no nutrient issues with the TS3 on it own, but if I increase feeding? I dont know.

But good point
 
think that you can overskim. But only if you are using a really , really overrated skimmer. Very few people will ever do this. You also have to be underfeeding at the same time.

The heavy feeding heavy skimming option is in my opnion , the way to go.

The reefs are full of food, while the water itself remains nutrient starved.

If you go the Zeovit thought route of low feeding and very active nutrient removal, you run the very real risk of starving your corals, its a real tight-rope situation as the corals are always on the brink. if anything goes just slightly wrong with any perameter, it can send them over.

Heavy feeding with aggressive nutrient removal gives a far more robust system, where corals are able to weather the fluctuatons that they are at some point likely to encounter in our tanks.

Photosynthesis is good for providing energy but not for providing the other building materials needed for robust growth and colour. Corals get ths from food.

So the heavy feeding heavy skimming route for me is way better, giving healthy colourful, vigorously growing corals, with far less chance of sudden livestock deaths and recession.
Awsome stuff there BOB!!
 
No Alan at this stage no need for another skimmer but as I start to stock I will add it, I tend to overfeed...
 
Back
Top Bottom