Probably the most provocative article in a long while...
 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/8/aafeature3

It's a LONG read but holy cow, there's a lot in there... Feldman and Maers are on to something here I think...

First they provide actual data explaining the reason why excessive dosing of carbon systems bleaches coral. The TOC (total organic carbon) increase causes the corals' natural bacteria population to double and kill the coral. Hence why dosing too much zeostart or vodka can nuke a tank.

Then they looked at data comparing TOC of their tank running the skimmer and without and found that the TOC didn't change much. They did say it's early evidence and requires more testing of other aquariums, but the results show that heavy skimming didn't affect the TOC of the tank a whole lot. How scandalous!?

It's a provocative article that follows the current trends in the hobby (and the environmental issues surrounding coral reef bleaching in the wild). But really, who is going to give up their meshwheel skimmers when they empty their collection cup from that nasty brown stuff? ;)

But yah, read the article. It's not an easy read but there's just SO much interesting stuff to talk about in there :)

Awesome! Thanks for posting! :)

They're on to a few things there, you could start 5 different threads looking at different implications of this.

I found the most interesting aspect of that information the differences that Rohwer et al. found when they tried similar dosing on different species. If you also consider the differences between aquarium and wild specimens they cited from Kooperman it leads you to some interesting questions. It really highlights the fact that each reef aquarium is unique, so unique we aren't even able to describe the extent of the differences.

I think holobiont is my new favorite word.

Interesting question: If we are encouraging certain species of bacteria to flourish through carbon addition are we also risking increased bacteriophage growth? Could some of these bacteriophages also be able to infect the bacteria colonies that are part of the coral holobiont? That could have serious implications.

Somebody at Royal-Exclusive just fainted. :)

i didnt read the article yet but skimmers are not just aimed at organic carbons thier is alot more to consider like dissolved organics, micro organisms that assimilate phosphate and other nutrients also the removal of surfactants that hinder gas exchange.
ive has tanks run quite well with and without a skimmer but im not gonna unplug any skimmers

:lol: Me too. In fact, I have yet to notice any significant difference when I add a (high quality or otherwise) skimmer!

I noticed a difference when I added the bubbleking. It noticably improved the water clarity

That's the only thing I've ever really noticed with the use of skimmers. That and they help with nutrient buildup (production of phosphates and nitrates primarily), which is indispensible in an SPS tank where a nutrient poor environment is the goal.

I have found though, that if you keep a healthy population of fast growing corals that absorb nutrients out of the water readily (gsp, xenia, anthelia, etc) they can keep up with nutrient removal in the average "well maintained" and considerately stocked tank. I prefer to use gsp as it's growth is easier to control - just keep it off the rocks. I've never kept clams, but I would venture to guess that it's likely they would contribute significantly as well. In fact, I have found that many LPS corals thrive BETTER without a skimmer, or at least with a crappy skimmer.

I didn't say any of that though...that's a can of worms that I don't normally care to discuss. ;)

I wonder if Marie would trade me her Bubble king for a GSP encrusted SeaClone? Might be just the ticket for her tank :twised:

All jokes aside, all you can really infer from this is that the skimmer doesn't seem to do what we thought it did in terms of DOC, at least not directly. Nobody can really advocate ditching their skimmers based on this.

speak for yourself, i just ditched 2 rs250's in the trash