Could my skimmer be a problem

[2nicewitit]

Hello all,

Just a thought though i wanted to know if my skimmer could be the result of the constant battle that i have w/ excess nutirients/phosphates thus resulting in a littered sea bed.

i do partial water changes, approx 5-10% every 5 days, try to siphon as much debris on the the bed as possible and i cant seem to reduce enough nutrients enough to have a clean white sand bed, minimal algae and basically i nice looking tank.

I mean i guess it's not that bad looking though i would much rather seeing a clean sand bed than a one covered in what looks to be a silky cyano, algae and poop.

I have a lawnmower blenny and i think he is really doing a number i see his poop everywhere.

I've reduced lighting and feeding. Feeding approx 1 every 36hrs and keeping the lighting to approx 5-7hrs a day.

Nitrate 0, amonia 0, nitrate 0 ph 8.2.

over the past month i've used a phosphate remover in the media basket of my red sea prism skimmer.

I've been getting mixed reviews about the skimmer some good some bad though its hard to tell personally as this is my first tank.

I noticed that the collection cup is relatively green and it does seem to pull a decent size of gunk every 4-7days though alot of the gunk is mixed in w/ acutal water.

If anybody has any recomendations for a decent skimmer (if this is the issue), w/ a relatively low clearance and reasonable price, feel free to mention.


Thoughts???

Thanks in advance.

 

[ThrowedToad]

my cheapo seaquest venturi skimmer gives me nothing but nasty brown crap. I have to clean it every other day. It does little to nothing in terms of waste water. I think this is good, I could be wrong. This is what I have and have had much sucess with it!http://cgi.ebay.com/SeaQuest-Protei...ptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

 

[ThatGuy619]

increase your flow in the tank or at least over the spots that have the cyano

 

[melosu58]

It looks like you are doing the things you need to be doing. Your skimmer is taking out the DOC`s out of the tank that ends up being the excessive nutrients. My feeling is that your water test results might not be right when you say nitrates are at 0. Take some water to your LFS and have them double check it for you. People that have cyano usually do not have 0 nitrates.

 

[2nicewitit]

increase your flow in the tank or at least over the spots that have the cyano

I was also considering this idea. When purchasing my equipment, the LFS advised that the 2 Maxi 900s would be enought. After reading the instructions, at that point i noticed that they only produce approx 230 gal per hour. So thats only 460 gal per hour in a 46 gal tank.

Does anybody know a formula to calculate exactly how many gal per hour is needed?

As far as the nitrates go, i'm using the API master test kit. So after the test the water in the test tube is a bright yellow and as per the readings, this would indicate a 0 reading...unless i'm going colour blind

 

[2nicewitit]

my cheapo seaquest venturi skimmer gives me nothing but nasty brown crap. I have to clean it every other day. It does little to nothing in terms of waste water. I think this is good, I could be wrong. This is what I have and have had much sucess with it!SeaQuest Protein Skimmer up to 75 gal tank NIP - eBay (item 130243995903 end time Dec-01-08 12:44:55 PST)

Wow, that sounds pretty good. Is it a hang on or in a sump? I dont have a sump so a hang on is the only option right now. Thanks for the info.

 

[Fierro Nights]

that type of skimmer looks like its an in sump version, im sure you could make it a hang on with some piping adjustments but you will have a large motor hanging inside of your tank. but for the most part its an insump

i have a coralife super skimmer, they are cheapest online but iv heard that they are not the best for their price, i got mine from marinedepot.com my personal experience, it takes out some wet skimmate but if i adjust it properly i get a dark greenish black that i pull out of it after a week, i have it hanging inside on my sump because hanging it in the display took up too space which made it look like an eye sore, also after powering off to clean out the cup and turn it back on, it would make a bunch of bubbles inside the display for about 30 min, which caused some air to build up in my overflow.

also, the bubble defuser that comes w/ the coralife super skimmer can be used as an adjustable surface skimmer box in case you get or have a sump. just silocone the bottom holes, and use the built in adjusting bar to get the proper hight and if you put the black sponge in there w/ hole in it, it will defuse the bubbles flowing in so that they dont collect inside the siphon valve. thats what works out great for me, i had ordered a sump online and because my surface skimmer was missing i used the bubble defuser w/ a plastic bag rubberbanned to the bottom to seal the holes untill i perfected it after a week of complaining and getting my surface skimmer in the mail, the thing was huge and would take up alot of space.

i only have a 20 gallon, but the skimmer i have is rated for 65 gallons.

 

[ThrowedToad]

Sorry, about the late reply! it is an in sump skimmer and I think it works great. Sorry that this does not help, but I tried. Good luck