CPR Bak Pak question

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dolphinsfan

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 30, 2004
Messages
49
Location
Cincinnati
I have been using a cpr bak pak skimmer on my 26gal fowlr for about 8 months. It doesn't really collect that much skimmate and when it does, it is usually green tea colored.(Not the black stuff I keep reading about). I clean it about once a month and the collection cup never gets more than about 1/10 full. Also, when it collects, it usually only foams up at night. I've had the same 3 fish forever. An occelaris clown, 6 line wrasse and watchman goby. They are perfectly happy and all of my water parameters are in check. I do 20% water changes every 3-4weeks. Should I look at replacing the skimmer or is it working correctly based on my bioload and maintainence? i.e. " If it ain't broke, don't fix it"???
 
I would guess that all is well. My skimmer was the same for quite a while when I had little to no corals and just a few fish. It never pulled out much gunk and it was usually green. Now I have about 20 corals in the 33 gallon and it pulls at about 3 times as much and very black in color.

So, I would think you are probably fine and its just the bioload.
 
how often do you pull the pump on hte skimmer and clean the inside, where hte impelleer sits?
is it a rio or maxi-jet pump?

it could be that you don't have much to skim, or maybe you just need to clean the pump to improve it's performance. if you have a rio pump, i'd replace eit with a maxi-jet and the adapter kit for it.
 
I have cleaned the pump on a couple of occasions. It is a maxi-jet. Like i said, my fish have always seemed healthy and happy. I have about 30lbs of liverock and coraline everywhere. Maybe my tank is just really healthy and there is not much to skim.
 
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