dante411x May 11, 2014 Share May 11, 2014 I finally added a second pump to my MTC HSA 2000. Used to run it with both towers fed by a single iwaki 55 rlt, now each tower has a dedicated pump. So it's finally running at peak performance. The improvement is actually easily noticeable, I can no longer see the water in my tank. It's ridiculously clear. And the gunk it's pulling out is absolutely disgusting. However I'm now worried. Is it possible that doing this (running a skimmer that's rated for 2000 gallons on a ~300 gallon system) will cause some problems in the future? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime May 11, 2014 Share May 11, 2014 IMO there is no such thing, although that is a bit overkill. I'm skimming roughly 150 gallons on skimmer that could handle 500 gallons. I see it as an opportunity to feed to your hearts content, and stock more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dante411x May 11, 2014 Author Share May 11, 2014 IMO there is no such thing, although that is a bit overkill. I'm skimming roughly 150 gallons on skimmer that could handle 500 gallons. I see it as an opportunity to feed to your hearts content, and stock more! That's exactly what I'm hoping for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernova26 May 11, 2014 Share May 11, 2014 Skimming also removes salt, calcium and other beneficial minerals from the water. There was a speaker in one of our meetings that talked about this. Its worth reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef May 11, 2014 Share May 11, 2014 Skimming also removes salt, calcium and other beneficial minerals from the water. There was a speaker in one of our meetings that talked about this. Its worth reading.I think if your doing regular water changes though it will make up the differences...Either way I would be checking my numbers a few times a week to see how where they lay during this trial period...maybe look at every other day for the first 3 weeks till your water change? Maybe needing to break it down to 2 water changes a month instead of just one large one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dante411x May 11, 2014 Author Share May 11, 2014 A water change every month? Hmm. Novel idea. :grin: I go with this formula. I have a 5 gallon bucket of skimmate. Once a month or so, I dump it out. Then I fill up an equal amount of fresh saltwater and dump it in. I figure the salinity swing from losing 2 gallons of saltwater from my system is minimal. I am monitoring the skimmer for now though. Had to adjust a lot to accommodate an extra 1300gph flow through it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeferMadness May 11, 2014 Share May 11, 2014 Serious skimmer.. you could go with some heavy bioload fish I've noticed that if the skimmer overflows it affects my numbers. Which I never considered.... If your dosing with the skimmer off.. would you wait longer to turn it back on if it's overrated for your tank ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miggs76 May 11, 2014 Share May 11, 2014 A skimmer rated too high for your tank is not really a good thing. If the neck is too big your skimmer won't run efficiently. I had a skimmer rated for 160 gallons on my 60 gallon and it wouldn't pull too much out. When I went to a 100 gallon rated skimmer it pulls out all kinds of nasty gunk. I had a phone conversation with someone at coral vue who told me he cringes when he hears people recommend skimmers rated two or three times the tanks volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraffitiSpotCorals May 12, 2014 Share May 12, 2014 I have ran my big skimmer on small tanks and still do. I just feed well and it works great. I just put my 5' life reef on two 40 breeders and it's much better than the reef octopus 8" needle wheel by far. The amount of skim was 10 times what it was before, no joke. I got some pics. I love the Beckett, downdraft and mazzies, old technologies but nothing beats it in performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flooddc May 12, 2014 Share May 12, 2014 I am pretty sure many will disagree, but.. IMO, I think skimmer rating is just a number! A smaller skimmer running on a larger tank = more frequent maintenance and skimmer work harder. Bigger skimmer = less maintenance and process more water volume. I think how efficient the skimmer runs is what really count. I personally run a tiny skimmer (ASM G1) on my 170G total volume for the past 1.5+ year...my water look clear. Only issue I have is hat I have to clean out my collection cup every 3-4 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dante411x May 12, 2014 Author Share May 12, 2014 A skimmer rated too high for your tank is not really a good thing. If the neck is too big your skimmer won't run efficiently. I had a skimmer rated for 160 gallons on my 60 gallon and it wouldn't pull too much out. When I went to a 100 gallon rated skimmer it pulls out all kinds of nasty gunk. I had a phone conversation with someone at coral vue who told me he cringes when he hears people recommend skimmers rated two or three times the tanks volume. I wonder. This thing certainly has no problem pulling out gunk. At the same time, it's certainly possible that in a couple weeks it's just going to be a waste running it full time. If that happens though, I may experiment with only running it during the day or in 4 hours on/4 off schedule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dante411x May 12, 2014 Author Share May 12, 2014 I have ran my big skimmer on small tanks and still do. I just feed well and it works great. I just put my 5' life reef on two 40 breeders and it's much better than the reef octopus 8" needle wheel by far. The amount of skim was 10 times what it was before, no joke. I got some pics. I love the Beckett, downdraft and mazzies, old technologies but nothing beats it in performance. I completely agree. The only downside of this skimmer is the amount of power that it uses. Except for that, this thing is a complete success as far as I'm concerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mlig9l9 May 15, 2014 Share May 15, 2014 I'm glad that pump is working out for you, how do the two different pumps compare? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dante411x May 18, 2014 Author Share May 18, 2014 I'm glad that pump is working out for you, how do the two different pumps compare? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk It's very similar. I'm sure that there's a difference in output but the skimmer is handling the flow all too well, so the water level in the towers is almost equal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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