Protein Skimmer yet to produce any skimate?

[sroot17]

I recently purchased a CPR aeroforce HOB skimmer for my new 50g tank. I have had the skimmer running for two weeks now with some dead base rock in the tank and I just added some LR last night.

The skimmer has yet to produce any skimate, is this normal?

I am also getting a ton of micro bubbles released back into the tank, how do I stop this?!

Know that I am currently using tap water treated with stress coat. I am thinking about purchasing an RO/DI unit if something in the water is the cause of these problems.

 

[melosu58]

Most skimmers have about a two week break in period. There are also some adjustments on most skimmers where you can pick up more skimate.

 

[Jimbo7]

Couple things, is the tank cycled? Have you done all your due research about the relationship between ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?
Cycle your salt tank
Ammonia conversion to nitrate
Protein skimmers take waste out of the water, so if you don't have anything producing heavy amounts of waste, you won't get much skimate.
Also, treating tap water with stress coat isn't really a solution. You should call your water provider and ask them for a levels report, usually they have good amounts of heavy metals, nitrites and nitrates. Buying an RO/DI unit is ideal, if not you should purchase water from your LFS, or if you cannot do either, treat the water with fish brand heavy metal removers and other chemical removers. This is really a worst case scenario.
Do you have anyway to test your levels?

 

[sroot17]

No the tank is not yet cycled, I just added 50lbs of LR last night, have had about 10lbs of base rock in for the past two weeks, and am hoping to start seeing my ammonia spike soon. As of yesterday my readings for ammonia, nitrites and nitrate were all zero with ph at 8.4.

I will do a test tonight on my tap water and see what it reads. I'm sure they put chlorine in the water and I live in NYC so there must be come copper from the pipes. I was using stress coat because it claims to remove chlorine and heavy metals from tap water. I'm leaning towards getting an ro/di unit but I don't know if I will have room and altering any plumbing is out of the question.

Thanks for your help

Couple things, is the tank cycled? Have you done all your due research about the relationship between ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?
Cycle your salt tank
Ammonia conversion to nitrate
Protein skimmers take waste out of the water, so if you don't have anything producing heavy amounts of waste, you won't get much skimmate.
Also, treating tap water with stress coat isn't really a solution. You should call your water provider and ask them for a levels report, usually they have good amounts of heavy metals, nitrites and nitrates. Buying an RO/DI unit is ideal, if not you should purchase water from your LFS, or if you cannot do either, treat the water with fish brand heavy metal removers and other chemical removers. This is really a worst case scenario.
Do you have anyway to test your levels?

 

[Jimbo7]

No the tank is not yet cycled, I just added 50lbs of LR last night, have had about 10lbs of base rock in for the past two weeks, and am hoping to start seeing my ammonia spike soon. As of yesterday my readings for ammonia, nitrites and nitrate were all zero with ph at 8.4.

I will do a test tonight on my tap water and see what it reads. I'm sure they put chlorine in the water and I live in NYC so there must be come copper from the pipes. I was using stress coat because it claims to remove chlorine and heavy metals from tap water. I'm leaning towards getting an ro/di unit but I don't know if I will have room and altering any plumbing is out of the question.

Thanks for your help

NP, sounds good. A lot of RO/DI units you can just screw onto your normal kitchen faucet. Make sure you add an additional source of ammonia to kick things off, several examples are given in that article. What size tank is it, got any sweet plans for it?

 

[sroot17]

I have a 50g and was planning on going fish only but after 2 months of research I don't know how I could not do some soft and LPS corals as well.

I was contemplating using a shrimp to get the ammonia going, I'll give that a try as well.

Do you think the issues with my skimmer have to do with the tank not being cycled or the quality of my water?

NP, sounds good. A lot of RO/DI units you can just screw onto your normal kitchen faucet. Make sure you add an additional source of ammonia to kick things off, several examples are given in that article. What size tank is it, got any sweet plans for it?

 

[Jimbo7]

I have a 50g and was planning on going fish only but after 2 months of research I don't know how I could not do some soft and LPS corals as well.

I was contemplating using a shrimp to get the ammonia going, I'll give that a try as well.

Do you think the issues with my skimmer have to do with the tank not being cycled or the quality of my water?

Sweet, I always liked the dimensions of the 50 gallons. So much depth to work with.
And i think your issues with your skimmer are because you have nothing to skim

The micro bubbles though I would take care of. They can stick to coral and kill that little area. I have never dealt with a HOB skimmer, but I would just sit and keep fiddling with it. Or maybe someone else will chime in.

 

[milhous3er]

with an overflow like that on a skimmer i wouldn't know what to do. i have a cpr also, but its a bakpak2, so im kinda out of help. could you place some filterfloss (enough to trap the bubbles, but not reduce flow) up top by the overflow ?? maybe rig it up alittle with some good old fashioned rubberbands (until you find a permanent solution).

try this site-
CPR Aquatic Technical Support :: View Forum - Protein Skimmer Questions a mod is usually pretty good on helping with technical questions. hope this helps

 

[sroot17]

Thanks milhous3er for the link.

I'm going to let the skimmer run as is for a couple more weeks hoping that the bubbles are due to there not being enough of a bioload yet and the fact that the unit is brand new and there are conditioners in the water. If that doesn't help I'm going to have to rig something up.

with an overflow like that on a skimmer i wouldn't know what to do. i have a cpr also, but its a bakpak2, so im kinda out of help. could you place some filterfloss (enough to trap the bubbles, but not reduce flow) up top by the overflow ?? maybe rig it up alittle with some good old fashioned rubberbands (until you find a permanent solution).

try this site-
CPR Aquatic Technical Support :: View Forum - Protein Skimmer Questions a mod is usually pretty good on helping with technical questions. hope this helps

 

[milhous3er]

your still going to have bubble. the acclimation time is the time it usually takes to produce skimmate. your bubbles are going up the column and getting directed to the overflow. i reduced the air into my skimmer, so it produces a nice dry skimmate. hardly any microbubbles in tank after i did that.

 

[six2sevenproductions]

after reading all of these comments everyone goes off subject with the water. Although RO water is essential your skimmer does not have much to skim yet. give it two weeks. I had a backpak and it was garbage. I now have a Aqua c Urchin and its the best. no tweaking, just plug and play. my suggestion, buy the mag 3 and the urchin pro with the overflow drain.

 

[milhous3er]

after reading all of these comments everyone goes off subject with the water. Although RO water is essential your skimmer does not have much to skim yet. give it two weeks. I had a backpak and it was garbage. I now have a Aqua c Urchin and its the best. no tweaking, just plug and play. my suggestion, buy the mag 3 and the urchin pro with the overflow drain.

Not sure what you're trying to say here.... off topic ?? Everything that was said was about skimmate and it not being produced. Then he asked about micro bubbles.....

BUT you did go off topic with your rant about bakpak being garbage and buying some other skimmer with an overflow drain. He didn't ask what skimmer to buy...

I'm sure you have all the money in the world to buy one of these super duper skimmers. He was asking for advice, and he got some.

 

[sroot17]

So after adding 50lbs of fiji LR and 2 shrimp I'm finally producing a liquidy foam skimmate. Also I turned down the water intake into the skimmer and have greatly reduced the micro bubbles in the tank. Should I be concerned about not having enough water flowing through the skimmer as long as its producing waste?

 

[melosu58]

As long as the skimate is coming you`ll be OK. I`m sure there is a way to make it wetter if you want.

 

[Jimbo7]

It's up to you, as long as you are getting skimate out its working. Some people prefer a wet skim, some a dry.

 

[neil_04]

it took me almost a month to get my skimer working just right im still fighting micro bubbles but for now i have some cut to size filter media that i attached with fishing string to the overflow of my skimmer it seems to catch most of them without backing the filter up, in my case im still fighting green hair algae so i have to keep an eye on the overflow to make sure the algae doesnt back things up. ill try to get a pic loaded of my contraption lol but my cameras not being friendly. good luck on ur tank im sure everyone is eager to see how it turns out