putting my skimmer on a timer?

[madadi]

im thinking of putting my skimmer on a timer to save on energy. it uses about 385w and thats just crazy! i do love the skimmer and for my tank its a bit overkill. i was looking to trade it but before i do that i wanted to check out this option first.

initially, i had a problem with turning off the skimmer because it messed up my auto top off in the sump. its a large skimmer and when all the water drained out, it raised the water in the sump enough so no more kalk would drip and the pH would drop. i was thinking if i put a check valve on the inlet of the skimmer so that the water can go in the skimmer but not out. it will keep all the water in the skimmer, even if the pump is off, and the water in the sump at a constant level.

my question is, what would be the best time of day to keep the skimmer running and maybe help with the pH shift? can this reduce oxygen in the tank enough to cause problems? thanks

[swsmr]

I'd turn off the skimmer during the day and let it work at night, this will raise the oxygen level at night and help steady the PH to make up for the day/night PH swings and also corals deposit calcium at night so there is no need to dose kalk during the day,

[madadi]

i think i will continue to use kalk 24hours because it helps keep alk stable. i will try to only turn the skimmer on from 12 at night to 6 in the morning and see what that does to the pH. that should also cut my electricity used by the skimmer by 75%.
if i dont get enough skimmate from only 6 hours of use i will try to have it on from 6pm to 6am and see what that does.

[jrmx635]

sell it and get a smaller,more eficient skimmer

[rbursek]

I run mine from noon till 2AM.

[sjm817]

I'd get a different skimmer. 385W to run a skimmer for that size system is crazy.