Over Skimming?

[Rcpilot]

Possible? I'm starting to think I may be overskimming my reef.

I was running that silly Nano skimmer. Long story short--no good for my needs.

So, I got this new HOB refugium with the built in skimmer. Drop it on the tank and it's going like nuts. It's only been going for a week. I went from the KING of the AFT club to no algae in a week. My algae has literally disappeared. All the skim in my collection cup has been a nasty green color.

I'm beginning to think that my snails may be starting to starve. They are moving around a lot more. They are in search of food. There isn't much algae on my glass or rocks anymore. The small hermits are always busy too.

I don't have much of a bio-load in this tank. I only HAD the DAMsel, goby and wrasse. Well, the wrasse is gone. The DAMsel got caught in a net and got sent on a 1-way trip to the LFS. So, I got one fish.


I got WAY too big a fuge here. It barely fits on the back of the tank. That's okay, because it increases the total volume of the system. But it's got a MASSIVE skimmer box on it. That skimmer box went nuts for a week and now all the algae is gone. The skimmer slowed down to almost ZERO production in the collection cup. I CAN move the collection cup lower in the water and get wet foam, but it's really pretty clear. I probably have next to zero organic wastes in the tank. My cheato is turning brown on one side and starting to loose mass. It's shrinking. Thats because there are no nutrients in the water for it to eat.

I'm really afraid my snails and crabs are going to start starving here. I actually had a lot of food in the tank up until about 2-3 days ago. I'm thinking about turning the air intake tube OFF on my powerhead for the fuge. That will allow the fuge to just pump without actually injecting air and skimming. I'm starting to wonder if I need to let some of that waste remain in the water. That's what zoas and polyps and other filter feaders eat-right?

I have to disclose:
I did run about 2.5--3grams of Phosban in a media bag, just hanging in the tank, for 24hrs. That was Tuesday. Took it out.

Am I crazy? Am I overskiming my tank? Can skimmers remove trace elements too?

I can't re-grow a food source for my snails overnight. How should I supplement their diet? Seaweed on a stick?

 

[d.french]

nope not at all supposed to be algae free and clean.

 

[joeman]

Sound like you've done agreat job to me!!!

I have heard talk of overskimming, but I don't think it is possible - skimming will remove organic waste (which would in turn decompose and end up as Nitrates if left in the tank) so getting rid of it is a good thing.

The large Fuge sounds terrific.

I would think that the Phosban took away the Nutrients that were feeding the algae. As a result of the algae breaking down, the skimmer went ballisitc... now everything has found a happy balance at zero algae it's all slowing down. I would stick with your current setup: don't induce 'wet' foam as this is just removing water as well, leave it set as it was and it will lift out organic waste as it is produced. I would also keep the Phosban.

 

[bobby]

WOW I think this the first thread I read were someone wanted some algae.LOL I would just keep the skimmer going. It sounds like you had way too many nutrients in your tank and the skimmer went nuts to remove all of it, now just keep it going to keep up with the reat you will get.

 

[Rcpilot]

I will leave the skimmer alone, but I still need to find a food source for my snails.

My water is so clear. It's squeaky clean clear. I've never seen it this clear before.

 

[Bifferwine]

Pick up some dried seaweed sheets from Petco, Petsmart or your LFS. The snails and hermits will eat those.

 

[yote]

First time I ever saw a post complaining about not having any algae.,lol
All I'm gonna say is never look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

[Bifferwine]

Oftentimes, people get too many snails and crabs when their tank is done cycling, and they have this massive algae bloom. Then when the cycle is done and the algae goes away, the snails and crabs starve to death. You can always bring them back to your LFS and trade them in for something cool if it turns out you have too many for the food supply in your tank.

 

[reeffreak]

Thats the whole point of having a fuge and skimmer,to keep algae out of the display.This is what we all strive for so keep doing what you're doing.If you're worried about starving the snails and hermits than do what Biff suggested and get some seaweed sheets.

Can a skimmer remove trace elements?
The answer is yes but the benefits outweigh the slight negative.

 

[Bifferwine]

Your skimmer will remove trace elements, but that's what water changes are for! To replace them.

 

[MikMcgyver]

I found that out the hard way. Bought a bunch of snails and crabs, after the bloom was gone, they started dieing one by one. Now I am down to 3 snails, 2 crabs, 1 green emerald, and thats it. They maintain the algae fine... 12 gallon btw..

 

[Rcpilot]

I just got back from a weekend getaway with the family. I turned my skimmer off (shut down the air intake line) on Friday at about 3pm.

48hrs later:
I came home to a perfectly healthy tank. :bounce: I do have a little algae growth on the sides. Not enough to even worry about.

Found a FedEx box on the porch. Opened it up to find some MarineSnow, phytoplankton, iodine and a couple maxi-jets.

I swapped out my powerhead on the refugium. It was a Maxi-Jet 1200 @ 295GPH and I swapped it out for a Maxi-Jet 900 @ 230GPH. Just wanted to slow it down a little bit.

Still not skimming. I'm testing all my parameters. I bought Marine Snow, iodine, phytoplanton and a couple Hrdor rotating flow "restrictors" for the powerheads.

I need to do some more reading about this protein skimming. Not that I don't value all your input, I'm just curious and I like to read up on stuff like that. I might-- MIGHT -- reduce skimming to 1 or 2 days per week. Or maybe 1hr per day. It's just an idea. What I'd like is to make sure I don't skim out all my trace elements for my inverts and nutrients for my macroalgae, while still maintaining that crystal clear water that I enjoy so much.

I wonder how things would go if I skimmed for say 12hrs once a week. Or, 24hrs 2 days a week. Or, 2hrs per day, after feeding.

 

[d.french]

skimmers run all day every your not going to lose trace elements on a damaging scale, if you do water changes once a month you will be ok. i work alot and only do a water change once every three months but i have a gallon of seachem reef complete(calcium, magnesium, strontium) and seachem reef carbonate, and i dose tanks as needed after testing. I use purple up twice a week just for calcium and iodine.

 

[fishbait]

i agree. i would take months of skimming, without doing a water change to loose any noticable amounts of elements from skimming. they remove more bad stuff than good. especially if you have you're skimmer set to skim dry. if you are skimming wet enough to dump you're cup every day or two then i might be possible.

 

[fishbait]

don't forget, you're skimmer is also you're main source for adding oxygen to the water. low oxygen levels=higher carbon dioxide levels. high carbon dioxide=low ph and more algae.

 

[Rcpilot]

I changed out the powerhead that supplies my skimmer and refugium.

This is my refugium (stock pic from manufacturer):

It used to be 295GPH and I slowed it down to 230GPH. Too early to tell. Skimmer works just as good as it always did with the larger powerhead. I do think it is a noticable improvement in the velocity going through the refugium.