should a protein skimmer be bigger?

[BadRoma1]

i'm trying to figure out if i should get the right size or bigger protein skimmer. i was just wondering why you need bigger when the right size supposed to be able to handle as many gallons as it was rated for. why with bigger skimmer should your water be cleaner? why with the right size it's still not as clean. i got many opinions, but i'm still confused. is the protein skimmer that is rated for so many gallons going to be able to handle those gallons the way it supposed to?

 

[fsn77]

The majority of skimmers are overrated for the size of tank they can handle, but IMO it's no more so than any fw filter. Any fw filter that's rated for up to 30g has struggled to adequately filter a 30g tank IME, but does very well on a 20g. A skimmer rating is in many ways the same. Once the tank size a skimmer's on gets close to that "up to" number of gallons, it doesn't handle the load quite as well. Most of us don't help that much, as we're tempted to stock a bit more than just modestly and probably overfeed at least ocassionally.

Some hobbyists claim we should use a skimmer rated for twice the volume as our tank, as skimmers are overrated to that large of an extent. I'm not sure how valid or important that is, considering there's a sizeable crowd that runs skimmerless. Most skimmerless tanks are, however, stocked lightly.

Many skimmers can be modded (some extensively) to improve efficiency, while others will do more just by upgrading to the next size pump or changing to an equivalent pump with a needlewheel impellar (instead of just a standard impellar).

I'm not sure if that really answers your questions or just causes more, but I thought I'd toss my thoughts out there since there wasn't much of a response prior to now.

 

[Brewski]

on of the most important pieces to the Saltwater filtration system is the Protien Skimmer.

The reason you should get a bigger than rated is becuase most aquarists over stock their tank with aminals which effects the water quality - a bigger skimmer will not take out any good nutrients but will help mitigate an oversubscribed tank.


If you keep to the 10 Gal per 1" of fish you're probably ok with the the rated skimmer, however unless you have a really big tank that's not a lot of fish.

 

[BadRoma1]

thanks for everybody's help. i got coralife super simmer rated up to 125 gallons. so it's much bigger. i like all the bubble action in this skimmer. hope it will do a good job, it's just need couple of days for the dirt to go up. i'm happy to finally get one.