Help With Skimmer

[jeff8183]

I just bought a Red Sea Prizim Skimmer and im not sure if im using it right, it says to take the water level up to the Oring and when i do that it over fills with foam which quickly turns to water and when i lower it down some nothing really seems to happen, not really too sure about these things i was just told i needed one so anyone that wouldnt mind helping a little would be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

[kwan]

I used to have one and I had good skimmate by setting the water level at the bottom of the neck, which is at the same level with the main body. It also depends on how mature your water is. If you're cycling your tank, you'll probably not be able to skim anything.

You will also have to give it time to run in, which could take a week or so, followed by fine tuning. I had a lot of trouble initially with either wet foam or no skimmate. And it requires a lot of tweaking over time.

 

[mastershake]

also, what kind of tank do you have, and who said you need one, a fish only tank wont really require a skimmer,

 

[malkore]

The Prism isn't a very good skimmer..but if you have a 20gallon tank, it should suffice.

It'll need to run about a week before it breaks in and effectively skim. It also only takes the smallest adjustment of the air intake to create a lot more bubbles in the tube that goes to the collection cup. This is why Prism's have such a nasty habit of suddenly overfilling the cup in a matter of minutes.

 

[jeff8183]

Yeah i knew it wasnt really a good one but i do all the lighting at the LFS and they had a ballast go out yesterday so i went in and changed for a hundred dollars of store credit so that was really the only one i could get i got a 45 reef tank, but what you're saying is just let it run for about a week and it should start skimming some

 

[RMPD109]

If you are getting lots of clear foam it may be from water conditioners. Do you add any conditioners to the water? They make skimmers go nuts.

 

[jeff8183]

the only thing i put in my tank daily is calicum, ph buffer, and idoine, i also use aqua plus for the new water when i do a water change and stress zyme weekly

 

[kwan]

You shouldn't really need to put Aqua Plus or Stress Zyme. Do you see fizzy like bubbles in your skimmer or being returned to your tank. If you do, it is probably water conditioner in your water or changes to the water chemistry brought about by the addition of Aqua Plus and Stress Zyme.

And unless you have tested for iodine, I wouldn't dose that either. Regular water changes should replenish iodine and other trace elements.

 

[malkore]

Stop with the stress zyme for sure. What is 'aqua plus'... a dechlorinator? Only use dechlor's if you use tap water...which I usually don't recommend for salt tanks, particularly reef setups.

I also agree if you're not testing for iodine, I certainly wouldn't be adding any.

 

[jeff8183]

i have well water and for about two months every thing would die since ive been using aqua plus everything is doing great so im deffinatly not going to stop using that, and with iodine i had button polyps and yellow star polyps for two months and they werent even open since i added iodine they are fully open and starting to repopulate so ill probaly just cut down on the dosage but not quit using it all together