Skimmer questions

[Zer0]

Ok well, when im putting salt in the tank, and theres nothing in there either, should i be running the skimmer? I mean, its working because its churning out some lightly colored fluid and its gurgling some white bubbles but not that much. Is the skimmer going to mess with my salt being diluted in the water? Also, when my tank is cycling with the LR, should my skimmer be on then as well?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Ahhhh... welcome to the land of many answers, with none of them being wrong!

Running a skimmer during the cycle is really a personal preference. On one hand, you want organics in the tank to speed along the cycle - so skimming would seem to decrease those organics and slow the cycle. On the other hand, keeping nutrients low during cycling (but not low enough to stall the cycle) by using the skimmer makes it harder for nuisance algae to establish itself before you can get critters in there to control it.

When I cycled, I had my skimmer on 24/7. It was a good time to break it in, getting rid of the microbubbles and all, when there was nothing in the tank. I'd probably do it that way again if I was setting up a tank.

If your skimmer is skimming really wet right now (clearish liquid), yeah... it could mess with your salinity, but not that much. Just keep an eye on it, and adjust accordingly. Or just tune your skimmer so it skims a little dryer.

 

[Zer0]

Wow! Thanks for that info! I greatly appreciate it. Im not sure what i'll do when i get the LR, but i'll probably keep it running just like you did. But one more thing though, i have a reef octopus HOB skimmer and it has an O-ring on it. Is the O-ring supposed to be squished between the collection cup and the skimmer wall? or is it supposed to sit on top?

 

[thincat]

I'll let someone who knows about that skimmer to answer that Question. From your first post I get the feeling that you are mixing your salt in your Aquarium. This is not a good idea. It's not that important at this point but it is a good habit to mix your salt and RO water in a seperate container to get the Salinity just right and to let the salts desolve at least a day before you add it to your tank. This will be what needs to be done before you do your PWC's(partial Water changes) in the future.

 

[Zer0]

Yeah i've read all about adding salt to RO water before putting it in the tank. Im only doing this now because i have nothing in this tank at all. And i wont be putting anything in it until next week. Thats the only reason i did it. Its not that big of a deal right now, but i know exactly how to mix the water for PWC's. Thanks for the concern though!

 

[thominil]

Do you mean is the O-ring supposed to be on top of the cup? If so no. It should be blocking air from getting into the reaction chamber where the bubbles start to rise up to the collection cup.

 

[Zer0]

Well its not on top of the cup. Its exactly where the cup and the box walls meet. It is blocking, but i dont know if its correctly put on.

EDIT*

I looked at the picture at aquacave and i do have it on right.

Oh ya btw, in the picture at aquacave the pump to get water into the system is MUCH smaller than the one i received it with. I mean its like the size of a brick. So you tell me, would you like a brick size pump floating in your MD? idk.

 

[thominil]

Pic?

 

[Zer0]

Thats the pic, then compare it to the pics in my build thread of the actual pump. HUGE difference imo.

 

[thincat]

I see what your mean. Wow, even with my old eyes that's hugh..

 

[CaptainAhab]

'and theres nothing in there either'

When you say nothing, do you mean NOTHING.. like just water and salt?

 

[Zer0]

Yep. Water salt and sand. And i used the koralias to mix up the salt mix which actually they did even better than what i thought they would have.

 

[CaptainAhab]

Ummm.. then I'm not sure I see any reason to have the skimmer running

 

[Zer0]

Yeah i guess so, but i left it on for 24hrs just to test it and break it in. ;D