RobR Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Got my new SWC cone skimmer the other day and set it up. Read about breaking in skimmers and thought it would take a couple of days. Started to see skim mate in about 3 hours! So far I am very impressed with this skimmer, this is my first one so take it for what it's worth, but this thing is dead silent. So far it seems like it is doing its job well, and pulling crud out even though there is no life in the tank yet. The skimmer has been running for a few days now, but my question is do I need to be skimming while the tank is still cycling? Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Do you have liverock in the tank? If so, the die off from that is what the skimmer is pulling out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobR Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Started the tank with 100% dead rock, and I have been adding stability to help get the bacteria levels up, and help the process along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Leave it running. It won't hurt anything, or slow down any cycle if it is going while your tank cycles. Looks good by the way! I'm glad to hear you are happy with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobR Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Leave it running. It won't hurt anything, or slow down any cycle if it is going while your tank cycles. Looks good by the way! I'm glad to hear you are happy with it! Thanks, I am VERY happy with the skimmer, can't believe how quiet it is!! That and I am really surprised at how much it is pulling out of the water. I kinda was not expecting anything since there is no livestock in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koe Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Take a look at this article on what Skimmers pull out: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/2/aafeature/view?searchterm=skimmer Most of the skmmate isn't actually coming from the livestock. Conclusions The chemical/elemental composition of skimmate generated by an H&S 200-1260 skimmer on a 175-gallon reef tank over the course of several days or a week had some surprises. Only a minor amount of the skimmate (solid + liquid) could be attributed to organic carbon (TOC); about 29%, and most of that material was not water soluble, i.e., was not dissolved organic carbon. The majority of the recovered skimmate solid, apart from the commons ions of seawater, was CaCO3, MgCO3, and SiO2 - inorganic compounds! The origin of these species is not known with certainity, but a good case can be made that the SiO2 stems from the shells of diatoms. The CaCO3 might be derived from other planktonic microbes bearing calcium carbonate shells, or might come from calcium reactor effluent. To the extent that the solid skimmate consists of microflora, then some proportion of the insoluble organic material removed by skimming would then simply be the organic components (the "guts") of these microflora. These microflora do concentrate P, N, and C nutrients from the water column, and so their removal via skimming does constitute a means of nutrient export. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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