Originally Posted by decentkid

This is a good point. This is also the time when u realise your skill level. Check w senior reefers. or u may want to check w friendly lfs owners. perhaps u could ask Henry from Marine life that qn. you could of course take a look at his skimmer.
Be aware that the skimmer removes waste, it does not perform biological filtration. thus, it does not break waste down.
If u say u are going empty, without liverocks/ sand/ or any chemical filtration, than i say that the skimmer should be big.

last part of the nitrogen cycle converts NO3 to N2....but skimmers prevents the breaking down of proteins and other materials to become ammonia which is the start of the nitrogen cycle....snail spawning and clam spawning is an added bioload in case you are unaware of


another interestin point, but the skimmer is not the solution to things. how can large organic waste be collected if u add your livestock slowly and wisely?
An efficient skimmer is one that can meet your needs. an overefficeint skimmer supercedes what u need and this is the qn.

an efficient skimmer is one that can meet your needs....but is not want that can save your tank in times of emergencies


dun understand what u are saying here

in summary what i am saying is that...u can save cumulative mishaps but not sudden

yeah...my philosophy is that i dun look at tank crashes and how to prevent it. my philosophy is to learn and understand what u are doing before u do anything. E.g. before i add a fish, i will check on its needs and behaviour and compatibility. thus i minimise fights and deaths. As for corals, i place them according to species and territorail attributes. there are no coral wars.
In short, alot of things can be prevented if u know what u are doing and u are patient in husbandary. did u check for flatworms before introducing a euphyllia coral, did u qt the fish before intro to tank? If u done all these with passion and discipline, alot of sudden deaths can be prevented. inconclusive, we cannot include fish diseases that are unseen to the naked eye and stress factors to the death of the specimen.

then in this case you can be God??
u can stop snail and clam spawing....can prevent murderous hitch hikers...can prevent rock slides...can prevent chiller from spoiling...can prevent power shortages??


in nature, corals spawn during seasons. in the reef tank, they spawn at ultimate conditions. and they will take care of themselves. corals do not spawn as a way of commiting suicide, if thats what u meant. i dunno why DOC and coral spawning can relate?

the eggs and sperm from spawning when start to decompose can become DOCs...fail your bio???

the ferari example was mentioned in relation to over sized chillers.
Your qn is an issue pertaining to the metd and concept of skimming
R u trying to compare downdraft/ venturi/ needlewheel/ beckett etc etc .. types of skimmers and the bubble size they produce??
i dun understand how u can over utilise the bubbles shud u have an over-sized skimmer.
put simply, why does tha beckett skimmer have so many sizes huh?

thats not my point..
i am trying to say that ferari has nothing to do with the skimmer
the engine is the thing that judges and drives the car...but for a skimmer...what judges it is the bubble size and reaction time....reaction time is something you cant change...

so if under utilisation of the ferari egine will cause it to spoil....will under utilisation of the bubble spoil the skimmer?