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Unread 03/15/2013, 12:36 PM   #16
nynick
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,029
Quote:
Originally Posted by danil View Post
".. too large to function properly.." that does mean over skimming.
Nope, you can have a skimmer that is large enough to not be able to maintain foam well. To make a very extreme example, if you take a skimmer rated for 500 gallons and put it on a normal 20gallon tank you will probably not get any skimmate at all since there will likely not be enough dirt to travel up to the cup. Dimensions of a skimmer are based on expected bioloads, if this wasn't the case they would all look the same with different pumps.

Less extreme example, my Deltec HoB that is a beast on my 90g and rated from 120 to 185 produces no skimmate at all on a 20g. More accurately, it made a ton of skimmmate but the bubbles would just not make it into the cup before breaking.

Too big can very well mean under skimming or not skimming at all.


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