Well some of you may know, I used to be that guy. You know the guy who never changed his water, tested it or heaven to Betsy run a skimmer. I never had a skimmer but many told me I should, I'd ask why and well almost always I was given the same answer and that was, "Well Virgil I have always run a skimmer and my tank looks great". With that I would remind them that my tank looks better then thiers... Ha But was there a skimmer running in my tank nooooo...ha Kris aka: djkms once came over to my house, took a look at my biocube and opened the cabinet door to see what kind of fug/skimmer blah blah I was running. He was amazed at how well my tank looked. Oh and called me names for being that guy. Jerk... lol
I then ran a post some reed, titled; "To skim or not to Skim" but very few really ever said they never ran one after the fact and had positive effect or a negative one. Well I am know, and I am going to put this skimmer business to the test.
This may not be the most scientific test ever run, well to be honest not much science will be involved other then before and after.
To begin for those who know nothing of me and my shenanigans. I am Virgil and have been so-so keeping a reef tank for about 5 to 6 years. I have until about a month ago only had the one bio cube which I modified here and there (lights and ghetto fug in back). That cube was 29 gallons and could grow coral like a mofo (see past post's for all my DBTC's). And not just rank ol brown polyps, but it grew SPS, LPS, and some of the finest zoas ever... (Pats own back) Just kidding they where just nicer then Lance, Gabe and Alex's... haha jk... Back on subject. I have since moved into a little bigger tank, a 58 gallon RR. It has been up and running for a little over a month-ish (ummm maybe) and just seems to chugging away. All is well in this tank as I moved all my old sand rock and water to minimize any mini cycle which lasted all of two days. Some of my SPS have since grown ever faster and got better color in the new tank (no thanks to a skimmer). So this is why I have decided to put this skimmer snake oil to the test. I would not have unless I got a killer deal which I did on a decent skimmer (reviews I read across the net, if I am wrong and skimmer sucks. I say lets tar and feather seller).
Okay lets start this... I am going to run the skimmer which is an EETS reef devil rated for a 175 gallon tank, for a month at night only, as it is nosy as hell and wife said so. Over skim yes, but I have been told this is the best way to skim. Go big or go home, some manly man once said. During this process I will do water changes and dose like normal and not test my water like normal, cause well, old dog new tricks. That and testing water is ummm lame. Throughout the month I will take pics and post them here so we can see if the corals have benefited at all from this skim thing. I will also run carbon and a GFO of some sort like I have previously.
Please inform me if I should watch anything else or missed something, all suggestions will be duly noted and only used if no testing is involved. Yes I am lazy and kinda fat.
Skimmer has been turned on and foam boils fourth from its dirty mouth. Oh and please forgive any technical issues I my have with this dumb skimmer.
Added info: Current bio load for tank is a total of five fish: one male anthias, clown fish, chromis, green clown goby and Sailfin tang (hold up tang police, was helping out on this one and will go to Mike when fish is caught). At this point my bio load is low (I think), but will increase as the days go by. In the past I had a large bio load in the bio cube with 6 fish. At the end of it's life I sold the clowns and sixline, then I babysat a RBTA that ate the rest of the fish.
I then ran a post some reed, titled; "To skim or not to Skim" but very few really ever said they never ran one after the fact and had positive effect or a negative one. Well I am know, and I am going to put this skimmer business to the test.
This may not be the most scientific test ever run, well to be honest not much science will be involved other then before and after.
To begin for those who know nothing of me and my shenanigans. I am Virgil and have been so-so keeping a reef tank for about 5 to 6 years. I have until about a month ago only had the one bio cube which I modified here and there (lights and ghetto fug in back). That cube was 29 gallons and could grow coral like a mofo (see past post's for all my DBTC's). And not just rank ol brown polyps, but it grew SPS, LPS, and some of the finest zoas ever... (Pats own back) Just kidding they where just nicer then Lance, Gabe and Alex's... haha jk... Back on subject. I have since moved into a little bigger tank, a 58 gallon RR. It has been up and running for a little over a month-ish (ummm maybe) and just seems to chugging away. All is well in this tank as I moved all my old sand rock and water to minimize any mini cycle which lasted all of two days. Some of my SPS have since grown ever faster and got better color in the new tank (no thanks to a skimmer). So this is why I have decided to put this skimmer snake oil to the test. I would not have unless I got a killer deal which I did on a decent skimmer (reviews I read across the net, if I am wrong and skimmer sucks. I say lets tar and feather seller).
Okay lets start this... I am going to run the skimmer which is an EETS reef devil rated for a 175 gallon tank, for a month at night only, as it is nosy as hell and wife said so. Over skim yes, but I have been told this is the best way to skim. Go big or go home, some manly man once said. During this process I will do water changes and dose like normal and not test my water like normal, cause well, old dog new tricks. That and testing water is ummm lame. Throughout the month I will take pics and post them here so we can see if the corals have benefited at all from this skim thing. I will also run carbon and a GFO of some sort like I have previously.
Please inform me if I should watch anything else or missed something, all suggestions will be duly noted and only used if no testing is involved. Yes I am lazy and kinda fat.
Skimmer has been turned on and foam boils fourth from its dirty mouth. Oh and please forgive any technical issues I my have with this dumb skimmer.
Added info: Current bio load for tank is a total of five fish: one male anthias, clown fish, chromis, green clown goby and Sailfin tang (hold up tang police, was helping out on this one and will go to Mike when fish is caught). At this point my bio load is low (I think), but will increase as the days go by. In the past I had a large bio load in the bio cube with 6 fish. At the end of it's life I sold the clowns and sixline, then I babysat a RBTA that ate the rest of the fish.
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I kid I kid!