Quote:
Originally Posted by daniella3d
I am not saying he will run it without a skimmer but it is when the skimmer is unplugged or during power outage etc...if the skimmer pump fails, then it is when the problem happen.
Usually by having a skimmer which oxygenate the water extra well, that allow us to top the bioload to a maximum that would not be possible without this equipement. When the equipment fails, watch out. Recently I have seen to identical story about the skimmer being unplugged for some reason, or out for some reason and most fish died in both cases where the bioload was to much.
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Actually, this happened to me as well when I rebuilt my sump a couple of years ago. I took the skimmer off-line (obviously) overnight. The next morning I noticed all my fish gasping for air at the surface. OOPS! I corrected the problem by adding an air stone while the tank was skimmer and sumpless. At the time I did have my powerheads agitating the water surface but that just wasn't enough I guess.
Having said that, it is possible to run without a skimmer so long as you are providing adequate oxygenation from other sources such as surface agitation from aggressive powerheads or from water falling into an overflow box. I suspect in the case of the tank that mrhasan linked there is enough oxygen provided from the water agitation resulting from the overflow box. It also depends on the health of your fish. If they are sick or stressed they will tend to breath heavier thus depleting oxygen even quicker. Water temperature also affects your fish's consumption of oxygen.