Made out like a bandit!! :)

[GoldfishJoey]

My anemone moved. What the heck? I had it situated right in the center and it moved to the side of the rock. It's been on that rock forever. Wondering if I should just turn the rock around?

 

[GoldfishJoey]

My sump is driving me crazy! Water keeps splashing all over the stand. The sump is configured quite closely to the inside of the stand. So everything is quite snug. How do prevent the skimmer from splashing bubbles from the top of the skimmer? I mean it's great it's doing its job but it's overly doing it. I cleaned the collection cup a few days ago (that was gross) and somehow the splashing got worse after cleaning it. It's filling my sump with bubbles. Some of those bubbles are in my tank. :/ I put some filter floss close to the return pump... Let's see if that works... But I hope this is normal. I had water collected on the stand. :/ that can't be good could it?

 

[CleverBs]

My sump is driving me crazy! Water keeps splashing all over the stand. The sump is configured quite closely to the inside of the stand. So everything is quite snug. How do prevent the skimmer from splashing bubbles from the top of the skimmer? I mean it's great it's doing its job but it's overly doing it. I cleaned the collection cup a few days ago (that was gross) and somehow the splashing got worse after cleaning it. It's filling my sump with bubbles. Some of those bubbles are in my tank. :/ I put some filter floss close to the return pump... Let's see if that works... But I hope this is normal. I had water collected on the stand. :/ that can't be good could it?

Sounds to me like you have your skimmer set up wrong, Mine does this is I allow the head to get to high. You need to adjust it the cup should not be full of water. You want to set it up so the foam is just able to get pushed over the edge into the cup. it should take like a week+ fot the cup to be full, I empty my cup 2 times a week and I normally do it when its like 1/3 full. there shouldnt be any bubbles or water comming out of the cup. Is the water splashing because the skimmer is overflowing from the cup back into the tank? this would explain all your issues of splashing water, bubbles coming out of the lid, and foam in your sump.

Also Leave you annenome alone, Alot of the time they will need to change location because of light demands or flow demands so he will move to a spot he likes. if you keep him from moving he will just become unhappy.

Also do you know about dry rock?

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Yes, the bubbles are coming out because the skimmer is overflowing. It looks like I turn down the valve for it but somehow it turns back up and starts splashing around again. I did a water change two days ago. I'm thinking somehow the skimmer went weird when I plugged everything back in.. Because it wasn't doing this before. Maybe I'll shut it off and turn it back on. I have no idea what's going on...

 

[GoldfishJoey]

I won't touch the anemone!

Elaborate about dry rock for me? I know what it is. But I have yet to get any in my tank. I'm waiting a while before I get anymore rock.

 

[GoldfishJoey]

My anemone moved back to its original spot. That is awesome! On an other note... Still got he bubbles. :/



This is the only way it won't bubble out. I'm assuming this is probably not good for skimming the top? My stand is pretty wet from the base. :/








I turned my skimmer off and back on... Still had bubbles accumulating in the sump. I place the filter, filter floss and activated carbon in the bubble trap baffle. Think that may be the cause?

 

[Ingy]

Just to confirm, the red handled valve is all the way open right?
If it is, and your still getting overflow it means either there is something blocking the water outlet in the skimmer, causing too much back pressure, or you need to raise your skimmer a bit higher in the sump to effectively lower the water level. As you said this is a new problem, I'd suspect the first problem.

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Ahhh that could be it!!! The previous owner had it elevated with some egg crate. I threw it out not thinking anything of it... It was pretty gross looking. Guess it's time to get it elevated somehow.

 

[GoldfishJoey]

I also tried moving the skimmer around... Different directions and it didn't work.

 

[Noturaveragereefer]

Your tank looks awesome!

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Your tank looks awesome!

Well, thank you madam!

 

[GoldfishJoey]

So I didn't realize there was a value to let air out that has a plus or minus thing on it. Call me what you want right now... I totally feel like a dork anyway. Blah!!! Problem with the skimmer fixed. Still have tiny micro bubbles. Hopefully they will go away on its own!

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Question: what are the lighting recommendations? Meaning when the full blast lights should be on... When regular lights and antics on...

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Quick update: So I placed a 90 degree PVC pipe with a coupling on the skimmer to move the water flow in an other direction and my bubbles seemed to clear. That and adjusting the valves on the skimmer itself. It was still over bubbling. So far I've been scrubbing my tank daily on diatoms. Got a goby to swift the sand but he's been shy lately. So far everything has been good.

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Question: my phosphate is off the charts!!! 0.08ppm my Ph is a bit on the low side of 7.8... What can I do to lower the PH? I picked up a PH buffer from seachem... But not sure how to accurately and safely raise the PH.

 

[GoldfishJoey]

 

[Ingy]

Personally I don't worry about pH. I check it, but I worry about Alk. I add Alk buffer every 5 days to my ATO and adding that also raises my pH.

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Personally I don't worry about pH. I check it, but I worry about Alk. I add Alk buffer every 5 days to my ATO and adding that also raises my pH.

What about in the realm of phosphates being high? Wouldn't raising the PH help?

 

[Ingy]

Sorry but I thought you were kidding about the phosphates. Personally I don't think 0.08 is very high.
Until I took my Hanna checker out of the box I used API tests, and couldn't really tell between 0 and .1. Now my checker usually reads 0 but I did have a spike to 0.06 a few weeks ago. Went right back to 0.
Some food has phosphates in it to enhance colours. Apparently corals can absorb it as well and it enhances their colours too (phosphorescence).
I'd it keeps climbing I'd start to get concerned but I don't think your there yet.

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Hmm... That could be it. I should cut back on feeding. I've been feeding them new life spectrum every day, some nori (about once a week) and live food for the clam and corals. May have to see what's in them now that you mention it. Thanks for your help ingy.