please help me tune my skimmer

[dropped]

hi everyone..i have a no-name skimmer that came with no instructions. i'm using it in a 65g tank with a 20g sump/refuge with 75lbs of LR. here is a picture of it http://www.aqua-macro.com/skimmer/skimmer-product-004.htm

i've never used a skimmer before, so i have some q's. how much skimmate should this be producing? the first day i ran this skimmer, i produced 1 cup in about 1 hour...mostly liquid. production has slowly dropped off to about 1 inch of liquid per day.

I then started to fool with the knob on the return, and saw that it adjusts the foam level in the riser. where should i have the level of foam to be most effective?

also, when i first plug the skimmer in, the bubbles always rush up the riser and about an inch of liquid spills over into the cup...production then slows down and i always have to adjust it...is this normal?

should i just set it while the skimmer is running and then leave it, even on startup? or does it always need adjusting?

thanks

 

[Sparky]

I would start it up and then afjust so that the bubbles are very very very slowly coming over the top into the cup. If you get too much bubbles into the cup it will spill over, you will need to turn it down some more. It will take a good week or two just to get it setup and broke in. Skimmers need a short breakin period to work effectively. After about a week or so you will begin to see brown/green stuff starting to collect in the collection cup. This is a sign that it is working properly.

Remember, that when you empty the collection cup after a while, don't go to scrubbing it clean because you will have to go through the breakin period again. I completely clean mine once every 3 months, other than that I just empty the cup.

Hope this helps you out some. Every skimmer acts a little different. You may have to just tweek yours until you hit the sweet spot. It's aggrevating, but just hang in there it will come to you.

Mike

 

[dropped]

thanks!

 

[snapcrackler]

I would run that thing in the sump and not HOB (if you're not already)...that design of skimmer always seems to end up overflowing somewhere down the road. (Plug the airline going to the powerhead with your thumb for a few seconds, and you will see what I mean.) 8O

Just FYI to save you some wet floor.

 

[dropped]

thanks snapcrakler...it overflowed the first time i ran it, so it's in the sump now lol.

 

[snapcrackler]

LOL!!

Sumps: A Safe Place to put Leaky Things.

 

[dustybrannum]

I have the red sea berlin turbo xl classic some such name or another. anyways the pump it came with died so i called them and they suggested a mag 7 replacement and sent me the air hose insert for where the water goes into the bottom of the skimmer. I hooked it all up and the pump was pumping so much that instead of pulling air into the skimmer it would shoot water out of the airline. So i reduced the flow rate by just putting my fingers over the intake, reduced the water coming out of the air line but never stopped it. so i fitted the insert to a piece of pvc and put it on the intake of the pump. would not pull air until i reduced the flow again. did that and it collected a great deal of the small sand particles in the water. Once it quit the bubbles only reach the top of the large cylinder, they do not have enough consistancy to bubble up into the neck of the overflow cup. Is this because the small sand particles have been removed and there is not enough "protein", for lack of a better term, in the water to need to be skimmed off or is the airflow not enough for it to run properly?

 

[Gesh]

I would start it up and then afjust so that the bubbles are very very very slowly coming over the top into the cup. If you get too much bubbles into the cup it will spill over, you will need to turn it down some more. It will take a good week or two just to get it setup and broke in. Skimmers need a short breakin period to work effectively. After about a week or so you will begin to see brown/green stuff starting to collect in the collection cup. This is a sign that it is working properly.

Remember, that when you empty the collection cup after a while, don't go to scrubbing it clean because you will have to go through the breakin period again. I completely clean mine once every 3 months, other than that I just empty the cup.

Hope this helps you out some. Every skimmer acts a little different. You may have to just tweek yours until you hit the sweet spot. It's aggrevating, but just hang in there it will come to you.

Mike

Is this correct? I thought you're supposed to clean out the neck of a skimmer twice a week with a paper towel. It gets very dirty quickly I have a Remora pro.

 

[Sparky]

I clean mine Like I said above. If I was to clean it every time I empty the cup I would be cleaning it twice a week. I empty the cup when it gets to be about half full. It take 3-4 days for the unit to "break in", evrytime you clean it you will have to break it in again. It won't work too efficiently that way.

When it gets really bad, thats when I clean mine. I don't use the J-tube on mine because it is in the sump. I just clean the filter sponge evry week to keep the water flowing good.


Mike