Skimmer not needed anymore?

[runamukus]

My skimmer isn't pulling stuff out anymore. When I first placed it in the tank months ago, it was pulling a cup full each week. I noticed that over time, the cup full dropped to a half a cup, then on down to just a little bit. Now its not pulling out hardly anything. The LFS told me that in a mature tank with lots of good Live Rock, etc. that I may not need the skimmer as much anymore.

So where did all that wonderful grunge go that the skimmer once pulled out?

[pilot_bell777]

I would keep the skimmer.....take it apart and clean it, then keep it adjusted.

Ya, it is natural for you skimmer to slow down at pulling skim mate, but it will be way more work without it.

just my 2 cents

[Marlin]

I have the same thing happening with one of my skimmers. When I first set up the tank more than a year and a half ago, it skimmed like crazy. The last two months I hardly get anything out of it. I have followed the manufacturer's directions and tried fine tuning it but still very little skimmate. I did add an ozonizer a couple of months ago and maybe this is keeping the water cleaner and reducing the skimmate. I feed the ozone directly into the skimmer reaction chamber.

[don-n-sa]

runamukus

To better answer your question I have a few for you...

How long has your tank been running?

What kind of livestock do you have?

Was your liverock fully cured?


The reason I ask you is this....

A skimmer pullls out dissoved organics from uneaten food, fish and coral wastes, and decaying matter. If at first it was pulling a ton of gunk and now it is slowed down considerably then that could be because a number of reasons.

1. as pilot stated the first thing to do is clean it , because a clean skimmer works better. Just clean it with water ( no soaps )

2. check the settings on the skimmer

3. I dont buy the theory that the LFS gave you UNLESS your tank is VERY lightly stocked...because I would asssune that you feed your tank and that your fish poop just like all fish do... :)

HTH

[runamukus]

Tanks been running for about a year. plenty of fish (4 of them in a 29 gal along with some softies). Live rock is all fully cured.

I took the skimmer apart as soon as I got home and re-cleaned it. Lo and behold I found a small clump of I don't know what in the column slowing the air flow into the skimmer. After I put it back together and fired it up...all I can say is my tank ain't that mature! I'm getting my gunk again. I cleaned it last week thinking that it was just dirty but I guess I didn't clean it good enough.

Thanks for the suggestions to keep and clean the skimmer. From now on, I'm going to be more careful as I clean it.

The reason I was wondering about not needing the skimmer is that I have some friends that have lots of LR and no skimmer...but I failed to notice that there was very little livestock.