Powerhead "Night Mode"

[Atomikk]

Originally Posted by fkshiu

+1

The surface agitation provided by the zillions of tiny bubbles in a skimmer probably greatly exceeds any rippling at the surface of a tank.

That is a fallacy. The actual movemement that is created by tiny bubbles around the area of the skimmer is far less than the entire footprint of your tank. If you look at the top of your tank, every micro-ripple is exchanging gases, CO2 for O2. Each of those ripples is supersaturated across the footprint of the top of your tank. This also includes your sump. BUT, the footprint of a skimmer, and its immediate surrounding area is vastly smaller than the rest of the tank.

Why don't you do an experiment with a heavily stocked tank. Take the skimmer offline, and keep the wavemaker in full blast mode. Then do the reverse.... I bet you that some of the corals could be affected by the latter method and not the former.