Skimmer pros and cons

The pump for my skimmer went out in my 90 gallon tank. It's been gone for about a month and honestly things might be looking better than before. My purple whip gorgonian looks happier etc. What are your opinions on using a skimmer?

1) For a soft coral only, or soft coral dominant tank... no skimmer.

This topic comes up quiet often. Each time I empty my collection cup, I am reminded of why I run a skimmer. The added oxygen is also a plus. My vote- skim it!

Ok my next question would be how do I find which pump I need to replace mine with. The skimmer I have is the same as this: http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=13924

I believe it is the 125 gallon version. I have looked but cannot find any information on what kind of pump this is. Anyone have any good resources?

Thats good to hear because in the past 2 months I have had I think 3 coralife pumps go out. It has been weird. Would you just get the same gph and call it good?

Congratulations.
You have discovered that a skimmer is not necessary. I have noticed that many people who use skimmers have never run any tank without one. I have also noticed that the hobbyists who spend more money on their tanks, which includes skimmers, are also the more vocal group of hobbyists. There are more hobbyists than you know who quietly go along without skimmers and quietly smile to themselves when they hear of people having trouble with their skimmer.

I challenge anyone to turn off the skimmer and watch it's effect.
The effects as I have observed them are:
- less feeding required
- more growth in some coral and no change in growth of the rest
- more growth of bugs which eat nuisance algae before we can see it
- more growth of invertebrates whose spawn feed coral and fish
- more growth of invertebrates like tube worms and sponge
- more biological activity in general as the biofiltration increases to eat the nutrients that are now being left in the system.
- no change in the need to run AC two weeks/month (AC removes organics that a skimmer cannot)
- slight change in the concern that something bad could happen while one is away, leading to a tank problem, but in my experience this is just unnecessary worry and mostly rumor by people who have never run skimmerless. Don't worry. The tank, with it's expanded biofiltration, can handle and resolve any temporary problems on it's own.

For more reading please feel free to go to this old Sea Star Newsletter and look at the last article titled: RDP Filtration

For hobbyists that are prone to overstock and/or overfeed their aquariums or for a tank that is not seen by it's caretaker almost every day (maintenance accounts), I definitely recommend a skimmer.

Regarding the skimmer pump, It may not be the entire pump that has gone bad. First check the impeller. Most of the time, the impeller has swollen so that it cannot turn properly. Extracting the impeller and buying a new one is the best answer. It's easy to check if the pump housing itself has gone bad by checking the circuit with a cheap voltage/ohm meter. If it has gone bad, save some money by buying only a new housing.

I was given a Sedra pump which had a swollen impeller. It had been left in water and had swelled until the impeller could not be removed by hand or pliers. I drilled holes into the impeller until it started breaking into pieces that I could remove. A new $35 impeller saved me from paying $100 for a whole new Sedra 3500 pump.


Edited by Mark Peterson - July 07 2011 at 10:24am

I've had both as well and definitely had better looking tanks with a skimmer. I myself run one because I have to feed my seahorses so much that if it wasn't there I am afraid the tank would have major problems.

A hobbyist can rely on a piece of equipment or they can set up their biological system to do the job. Most hobbyists anymore don't know enough about what I'm talking about and don't want to take the time to learn. I definitely recommend they use a Skimmer. This hobby has gotten lazy. I cannot take it anymore. I'm outta here. The end.

Mark Peterson wrote: A hobbyist can rely on a piece of equipment or they can set up their biological system to do the job. Most hobbyists anymore don't know enough about what I'm talking about and don't want to take the time to learn. I definitely recommend they use a Skimmer. This hobby has gotten lazy. I cannot take it anymore. I'm outta here. The end.

Wow. Really? This doesn't sound like the Mark I know. Since when has keeping a skimmer made ANYONE lazy? That's just about the silliest thing I've ever heard. Why does it always have to be one thing or the other Mark? Many people, infact most I bet, run a refuge and skimmer. Just because I'm super careful in my house doesn't mean I don't buy house insurance - and it certainly doesn't make me lazy. Best wishes.

Oh geez, I'm just going to skip this thread.

Adam