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Thread: people love protien skimmers

  1. #1

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    people love protien skimmers

    every time i say that i have started to run an ATS people on-line and in person tell me to run my skimmer also. so far my system has responded well to the ATS only approach. but only time will tell for sure. how come all of the so called "experts" can say i one breath "you dont need a skimmer for a nanno reef" but "you MUST have a skimmer for a large reef"??????????

  2. #2
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    Re: people love protien skimmers

    Because they don't know how skimmers work. Also, they think that because lots of people do something, that it's best.

  3. #3

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    Re: people love protien skimmers

    I have a 75 w/ 30 gallon sump and ran w/o a skimmer for over a year BEFORE I found out about ATS'. There were some things that didnt do well, but anenomes and zoas, most lps did great montis and a few acros grew fine w/o a skimmer. Bubble algae and hair algae did great also. Since I started running a screen covered in algae my tank has never been healthier. Its been 6 mos or so maybe 7, I have NO hair algae and the bubble algae is losing ground. Almost gone completely. I feed a ton of frozen and oyster feast. I should probably back off some feedings but the coco worms love life and the gorgonians are growing, so why change anything.
    75RR / 20g sump / DIY Scrubber / 3 x 150DE MH & single T5 actinic

  4. #4
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    Re: people love protien skimmers

    Good to hear, especially the gorgs. If they are totally non-photo, then know you are feeding a lot.

  5. #5

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    Re: people love protien skimmers

    Thanks SM. I am so glad I found your post way back on another forum. I wanted to mention that I have done some water changes since the ATS startup. I think the gorgs release a toxin that some corals are sensitive to, so I try to keep an eye on things and when they start to look stressed I change about 35-40% of total system volume. I have a 55 gallon barrel that I can close off and drain, mix the new water in, then open teh valves back up and Im done.






    This is 3 weeks after setting up my horizontal version. . . . Already less glass cleaning


    Bad picture but trying to show polyp extension



    ^^This is a terrible pic but I wanted to show it. There were only two heads when the scrubber was placed in service. This pic is after 4-5 mos. Everything is growing like crazy. The slimer is much larger than the before shot above. You wont believe the growth of the birdsnest when I get that pic taken. Also I have never ever been able to keep a bubble coral alive more than a few months. The one above is going on 5 mos in the tank and its growing. I will work on getting a new full tank shot. I am very pleased withthe results after 6 mos of use.
    75RR / 20g sump / DIY Scrubber / 3 x 150DE MH & single T5 actinic

  6. #6
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    Re: people love protien skimmers

    Very nice. I would worry about the "stuff" coming from gorgs... any organics coming from corals are quickly eaten by bacteria, and the bacteria are quickly eaten by the corals.

    BTW, if you are brave you can try to keep a blueberry gorg... they have never been kept alive by anyone, not even public aquariums.

  7. #7

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    Re: people love protien skimmers

    Yeah I have read up on those. THere is a nice little one at the lfs here but it just seems pointless. You are right about no one being able to care for them long term. There are plenty of others that are easier, I will keep this site up to date with my successes . . . . and failures.
    75RR / 20g sump / DIY Scrubber / 3 x 150DE MH & single T5 actinic

  8. #8

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    Re: people love protien skimmers

    looks nice

  9. #9

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    Re: people love protien skimmers

    Great looking tank. I'm jealous.

    Newtoscrub. You're going to run into people spouting how to or how not to do a lot of things. One thing I have noticed in a lot of forums is how often people change the brand of skimmers they use always looking for that bigger better skimmer. And how often companies keep changing design of their skimmers. It would seem out of all the manufacturers. They would have all come to a final design that is most effective and that would be the end all be all. But then it would be hard to keep selling products.

    Take SMs' scrubber for example. Designed it. Built it. And sells it. From what I can tell there hasn't been any complete redesign of it. Came up with a design that works and done. A good design to perform a simple task(IE filtering) may need some tweeking to fit different needs(space or layout) but doesn't need to be constantly changing to perform its single task.

    People need to reassure themselves that the $400 they spent on their skimmer was worth it.

    The new trend is LEDs. Not cheap. Yet people are still running their prehistoric halides and doing just fine. I don't own an Iphone.

    mrbncal. How about some details of your set up?

  10. #10

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    Re: people love protien skimmers

    I hear ya

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