Too big of a skimmer

[Aquadan]

I am just a couple weeks out from setting up my 40 breeder with a 40 breeder sump. I am having second thoughts on the skimmer I bought. It's a reef octopus nwb 200. I know people say to get a skimmer bigger than "called for" but do you think I will have issued with such a large skimmer? Also I have heard of putting your skimmer on a timer, can there be problems with this? Thanks for any advice

 

[Phranque]

You didn't mess around!! If it's for a fish breeding tank, you're not going to hurt anything having that much of an oversized skimmer...... If it's for a reef tank, it depends on what you want to keep. Most softies & LPS like (or require) a little bit of nutrients in the water, so over-skimming is a possibility...... That's when you'd want to (and, yes you can) run it on a timer so it's not cleaning 24/7.

 

[Aquadan]

Excellent. Thanks for the reply. My thinking on getting such a large one was I'm already thinking about an upgrade and this way I have a skimmer that'll work on a 125.

 

[Phranque]

No problem..... And, yes, that's an excellent choice for a 125. That'll handle a pretty good bioload.

 

[Aquadan]

If I do run this skimmer on a timer what would be a good cycle? 12hr on 12 off?

 

[Tkey3425]

Good gracious lol. you took plus one to a whole new level haha. You'll definitely have clean water.

 

[Trueerfan]

Do the 125 now....

 

[Big Tex]

too large of a skimmer..? blasphemy! lol

 

[Tkey3425]

too large of a skimmer..? blasphemy! lol

Well a skimmer rated at 250 gallons and a 750 GPH pump is a little much on a 40 gallon system. look at it this way, It will skim the whole tank capacity approx. 19 times every hour or about every 3-4 minutes lol Biggest is not always best.

 

[Aquadan]

So do you think it would be best to use it only part of the day or get a smaller one? I am going to have roughly 25 gal in my sump if that helps. Maybe I could get a smaller pump for it. I'm really starting to regret my purchase.

 

[Phranque]

I'm really starting to regret my purchase.

I wouldn't... I just did the same thing. Just built a sump system & picked up an NW150 for it, and for right now it's just filtering a 25g recovery tank, but it will eventually have a larger tank tied into it.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...-crashed-built-a-whole-new-system-278661.html

 

[Tkey3425]

I, personally, would just run it on a timer. Like 12 on 12 off, but if you see your water is still too clean then just lower the time the skimmer is on.

 

[Aquadan]

I think that's what I'm going to do. Thanks all

 

[Big Tex]

Well a skimmer rated at 250 gallons and a 750 GPH pump is a little much on a 40 gallon system. look at it this way, It will skim the whole tank capacity approx. 19 times every hour or about every 3-4 minutes lol Biggest is not always best.

Jokingly tim dang don't go all math wiz on me lol

 

[Tkey3425]

Jokingly tim dang don't go all math wiz on me lol

I know but some still may not know why its bad to "over-skim" a reef tank. That math sometimes puts it into perspective. I prefer more water turning over inside the DT tank rather than through the sump/refugium in my tanks.

 

[Aquadan]

Don't worry about the flow in the DT, I got a wp25 for in there.