Is my protein skimmer working?

[mnestroy]

I am still very new to this.. my tank is about 2months old and my protein skimmer has been on my tank for 14days now.

I have a 40Galon Breeder with a Remora Pro.

I've heard stories of people saying they have to empty their collection cup almost every day... however mine isn't filling up that much.

I currently have the collection cup set the lowest so the most foam/water would overflow into cup... at this setting I would festimate or the last 14days I wouldn't have emptied the cup once yet.

Is this normal?
Is it maybe my tank isn't that dirty yet?

 

[FishFrik]

Do you have any fish in there? your tank is probably too clean right now for the skimmer to pull out any skimmate

 

[mnestroy]

I have 2 Damsels, 1 tiny blue tang, 1 small clown fish.

 

[ianrich147]

i have a low bioload in my tank and i only haveto empty 1 a month

 

[chelli]

I have to empty mine once a month at best.. it's just too clean

 

[stuffer]

My 55 reef has the remorah pro and I empty it every day and the cup is way up. I have a heavy bio load. but this is one of the best skimmers out there so if there is something to skim, it will do it!

 

[malkore]

are you gettign dark, coffee colored liquid in the cup? can you increase the air in a Remora? On my CPR i can tweak air flowing in to make bubbles, and the level of the cup.

if you don't have other critters in there besides those few fish, you likely don't have a lot to skim, so it may not fill quickly. Still, once a week it should be emptied and cleaned.

 

[stuffer]

it's a fixed mix. no adjustment required except for the wetness of the skimmate.

 

[mnestroy]

Skimer

This is what the support guy from company told me, I figured it might help others too...

Thanks for the message, I can help you out. What's your bioload like in the tank? It's possible that the tank is "too" clean, and there's not much for the skimmer to pull out, especially if you have a very light bioload. Also, let me know if you're using any other forms of filtration, such as a refugium. Make sure that the water level isn't too low in the prefilter box. If the pump is sucking in air, these bubbles will displace water, reducing the amount of pressure delivered, which is important with this type of skimmer. Optimum water level in the prefilter pump chamber would be just below the "teeth", which is high enough to ensure that the pump isn't sucking in air and allows for some evaporation as well. I would also scrub out the injector by unplugging the pump, removing the white access screw on top of the injector elbow, and running the supplied brush down through the nozzle a few times, just in case something's stuck in there. There are times when the lowest setting will not necessarily give you the most skimmate - I find that raising the cup a bit often funnels the most bubbles into the collection cup. I like to set the cup so that the square base is right at the top of the bubbles (you may need a flashlight to see this). Try these things out, and let me know how things go. Hopefully we can get the skimmer to produce more skimmate, if possible. Thanks again!