what would happen if...

schmidt01 · 11-20-2007, 08:49 AM

I'm going out of town for a couple of days and I was wondering what would happen if I left my skimmer off while I'm gone. The reason I would want to do that is that it's inconsistant in the amount of skimmate it produces every day and I don't want the cup to overflow. Some days the cup only fills up a quarter of the way and other days it's completely full within an hour of emptying the cup. My skimmer hangs on the back of the tank, so I can't just leave it in a bucket or something. Any advice?

dobejazz · 11-20-2007, 08:53 AM

I would leave it off it won't hurt anything- just plan on a waterchange when you get back.

ckusnierek · 11-20-2007, 08:56 AM

ditto

Geoff · 11-20-2007, 09:07 AM

i prefer to let it run and have the skimmer dump into a bucket. i use a 5g IO bucket for my skimmer overflow when i go away. i have somebody come by if it is longer than 4 days to make sure the bucket is not full. there have been times that sombody has had to empty the bucket 3 times. so that is about 12g of skimmate in a week. a bit much, but i would rather have the nutrients out then in the tank. i just have to slowly raise the S.G. when i get home over the next week. but generally it will only drop it about .003 if that.

G~