Do skimmers remove plankton from the water column??

I was wondering if protein skimmers remove zoo and phytoplankton from the water column?? The majority of the time, when I empty my skimmer cup it is very green water(looks just like concentrated phytoplankton products) and has no foul odor wat so ever it actually smells good. Also if it is removing the plankton from the water I was wondering what effects there would be on my tank if i chose not to run it because my pod population has depleted due to a mandarin and if there is more plankton in the water it will help boost my population back up. Otherwise I am going to have to order some pod cultures to boost the population, which is exspensive.

Any input will be greatly appreciated!!!!!

 

Yes. This is why the instructions on DT's etc. Tell you to turn off all skimmers and overflows for one hour after dosing it.

 

None of the products I have used say that so I didn't know. I kinda figured that but I just wanted to make sure before I was jumping to conclusions.
Thanx.

 

having a refugium and live rock, especially a rubble pile that the mandarin cannot get into will help boost your pod population... also you can dose marine snow and some type of phyto to feed them.

You didn't say you were feeding with phyto or zoo... If you're not, then what you see in the skimmer is likely to consist of mainly diatoms.

 

i agree on this...coz 2 or 3 plankton produvts i have used doesnt say anything about switching off the skimmers. I had opened another thread yesterday nyt regarding the same issue..

 

I dose with phytoplankton every other day.... I just recently started a small refugium in my wet/dry sump about 2-3 weeks ago im hoping to see more pods in my tank soon bc my mandarin is getting skinny... I just bought two packages of reef pods and put them in the refugium to seed it to hopefully get a population going and i'm going to buy more in a couple weeks cuz a lfs started selling them...

Yeah I have used 4 or 5 different plankton dosing products and not a single one says anything about turning off the skimmer for a period of time, I turned the air valve shut on the skimmer earlier this week and i'm just going to monitor the tank closely and see if this has a positive or negative effect...

Thanks for the replies;D

 

Yes, it may skim out some cells. No, you don't have to turn off your skimmer.

DT's probably makes the skimmer go nuts.