Protein skimmer help

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csouth1994

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
Messages
49
So I got my protein skimmer yesterday. It is a instant ocean hob skimmer for up to 100 gallons. I obviously know that the nasty stuff is supposed to be collected in the cup. But I woke up and there is nothing. Is water supposed to be traveling through the cup as well? Because the water is under the cup that is flowing.ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1390743149.631817.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1390743171.131837.jpg I am just not very familiar with protein skimmers and I want to make sure it is working right
 
No water is not supposed to flow through the cup. Mine is an in sump skimmer and there is an adjustable stand pipe that controls water height inside the skimmer. You want the bubbles to rise through the inside tube. Be prepared tho when the green slime starts to collect in the cup it is the nastiest smelling crap in the world!! Lol
 
Those skimmers are notoriously inefficient. I would not be surprised if you have nothing but problems with it.
 
Also how long until it should start producing foam in the cup? And how often do people usually empty it?
 
Are you seeing a lot of bubbles in the reaction chamber? Can you take a side view picture? People say there is a break in period for skimmers, but all the skimmers I have ever had started making skimmate almost immediately.

How often to empty should be according to how dirty your water is and how efficient the skimmer is at cleaning it.
 
They require some fine tuning with the air mixture. Your air hose should have a screw valve on the end. Play with that thing until you get the right mix. I have a Jebo thing. Everyone says they're garbage, but mine works like a champ
 
How do I know for sure other the the foam in the cup that my skimmer is working correctly
 
What I do is: make sure the chamber, where the water swirl is, is full of micro bubbles from top to bottom. I empty a good amount of skimate every week. It's a sludgy brown green color. Just tinker with it
 
Right under the cup, there looks like it is a good amount of condensation bubbles like water on a window. Is that good?
 
Turn it up a tad. Increase the water level a tad. You want to be able to see some bubbles in the riser tube inside the top cup.
 
I'm not sure how you adjust the water line on yours. But raise the water line up a tad. You want to see some bubbles in the center of the cup
 
Not necessarily, you want the bubbles overflowing into your collection cup not a lot of water. Just keep playing with it and you'll find the sweet spot
 
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