Protein skimmer not creating foam head

[Tate]

I have a sea life systems 75 protein skimmer on my 90 gallon fowlr tank with just two crabs when I run the skimmer plenty of bubbles rise and when I turn it off later there is dark scum on the neck. It only has created a foam head once and it just pulled out milky substance. Is there any reason why this is happening

 

[carey]

sounds like an adjustment issue. Have you adjusted the skimmer at all? You might need the foam to come up just a tiny bit more.

 

[Stinky Pete]

How long have you been running it? Skimmers have a long break in period. Weeks long for some. What is in your tank exactly? 2 crabs or some fish and 2 crabs? How old is the tank? There might not be any organic material to skim

 

[Tate]

As in more do you mean the level go down and more air in or raise the water level in the neck? I have tried a lot of adjustments how long should I leave it for it to create one

 

[Tate]

Just two crabs and I have been running it for a long time but I just shut it off because it wasn't doing anything and I ended the cycle idk a month ago? Maybe. around there

 

[Stinky Pete]

Ok so you just finished cycling and your about to stock the tank?
I'm pretty sure there's just nothing for it to skim. Until you get some fish and start feeding thus producing waste there's nothing for the skimmer to do.

 

[Tate]

I had a firefish for a week would that make enough organics

 

[Tate]

I have a film on the top of my water and after an adjustment how long should I wait to see if a foam head creates

 

[carey]

What i do is adjust it ever so slightly and leave it for an hour or two. If its not high enough then adjust it again and wait a few hours. Its tricky but can be done. You want the head of foam to "just" reach the top, over time the bubbles will spill over ever so slightly. Thasts why i said wait an hour or two between adjustments. Hope that helps

 

[Tate]

The skimmer has a water level in the middle of the neck don't know If you can see it but you want me to raise it all the way up to the collection cup?

 

[carey]

Yep, it goes right up to the lip of the top of the tube that is in the cup itself. Hope you get what i am saying lol

 

[Tate]

so you are saying the bubbles are supposed to be the top red line? When the water level is at where it says the bubbles are about where the lower line is

 

[carey]

If that top line is where the tube comes into the cup, then yes....You want the foam to come just about to the top of that tube inside the cup.

 

[Tate]

Oh... But then that closes the airline and almost no air bubbles are in the skimmer... I will get a picture when I get homeb

 

[kdpuffer]

Oh... But then that closes the airline and almost no air bubbles are in the skimmer... I will get a picture when I get homeb

She is referring to the water level in the skimmer not outside the skimmer. Different skimmers have different water depth requirements but typically it's around 10 inches. You need to ensure the skimmer is sitting in the proper depth of water. Then you need to tune the skimmer so your water level inside is where it says then the bubbles/foam will travel to the right height up the neck into the collection cup. Being that you have virtually no bioload you won't get much foam created until you increase the load. Once you have fish in the tank the foam will be a lot more and travel up the neck the way it is supposed to.

 

[Tate]

So should I raise the water in the sump or leave my skimmer off until I get a bigger bioload

 

[huma-huma]

if its a new skimmer, i wouldnt leave it off. even running it during low bioload times will help to break it in.

 

[Tate]

This is the highest the water level will go and there are no bubbles in the neck. I am confused on what you are saying

 

[Tate]

I adjusted it and I'm going to wait and break it in

 

[Sniperhank]

Even with the skimmer breaking in, the water level should be higher than that it appears...there should be recommendations as to how much water the skimmer should sit in. You can find that online much easier. I'd look it up, report it, and then measure how much water it is sitting in. I've run into that issue before when I picked up a skimmer way too big for my system.