Red Sea Skimmer

[Dayna]

Hello everyone!

My boyfriend and I are new into the SaltWater aquarium scene.

We just bought a Red Sea skimmer and nothing seems to be gathering.

Is there suppose to be foam collecting? The only way foam is present is if the airline is open.

When I block the airline, water just flows through the system.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Biggen]

Wow, lots of protein skimmer questions today. Anyway...


I assume it is new, correct? If so, all protein skimmers require a "break in" period before they really get going. This can be as quick as a day or two or as long as a week.

I am unfamiliar with Red Sea skimmers but I assume you are speaking of a Berlin skimmer since you said it has an airline. Is the airline adjusted properly according to the manual?

 

[loganj]

If this is the Berlin Classic, you should open the airline all the way. If wet foam starts to overflow into the collection cup, cut the air back a little. How the skimmer performs will depend somewhat on the pump. If it's a Mag 5, you'll probably have to run the air wide open. If it's a Mag 7 pump, you may have to choke the air a little. If it's a Berlin Turbo, you'll just have to play it by ear...I've never used one of them although I suspect they are very similar in adjustment to the Classic.
Also, if this is a new tank, there may not be anything in there for the skimmer to pull out yet.
Since it's a new skimmer, it will probably require a couple of weeks to completely break in.

 

[Dayna]

its a red sea prism with the deluxe add ons or what ever

and ya theres noting in the tank cept about 4 peices of base rock and three peices of live rock.

 

[Wally]

I assume that you have mixed the salt in already. I also have a red sea skimmer, Just adjust the water flow so that the line between the bubbles and water inside of the unit is just below the collector cup "O" ring it will need some adjustment to get the bubbles falling into it I think mine took about two weeks for something to happen.

Most likely you dont have any scum to skim just yet

 

[Dayna]

hmm okay.

i'm sure i'll get the hang of it.

is there supposed to be little bubbles flowing back into the tank? theres not a large amount... just small bubbles. i thought i read somewhere that no bubbles should be flowing back into the tank.

also our salt level is at 1.021 should I add a little more salt? or is it fine?

i never thought i'd say this but..... I want scum!!! ha ha ha, just so i know its working right

 

[kwan]

I have a red sea prizm deluxe also. It will take a few days to run in and requires continuous fine tuning. I have not found anyway of eliminating the micro bubbles, but I had some success by placing a piece of filter foam in the media basket. This seems to reduce the bubbles a bit.

It will again take a good day for it to skim again if you have cleaned the collection cup. Any water changes and after feeding will stop the skimmer from skimming for a few hours.

I found the best skimming position is to have the water level at the rubber ring level of the collar or just above. And the surface skimmer is absolutely useless. I uses a separate surface skimmer instead of the supplied one.

Mine is skimming quite well, but it takes patience and fine tuning. My LFS has two installed in their tanks, and they do skim really nasty stuff. My SG is 1.022
.

 

[Wally]

Ive been able to adjust mine so no bubles return to the main tank and a little adjustment weekly is required but it does work well .

 

[Dayna]

hmm so bubbles right now because its new are okay?

there is some foam bubbling up but its not dirty. its just foaming over then eventually turning back into water.

 

[Wally]

Dayna, I believe that in order to get foam out of skimmer in a scumless system you will need to crank up the flow so high that bubbles will enter the return. Just be patient youll get scumm eventually

 

[Dayna]

otay. i'll be patient

much appreciated!!!

 

[excited_newby]

Is the prism skimmer a good one for a smaller tank (ie 30 gal)?

I am on the edge of buying one and I want to make the right purchase. I really can't afford 150 bucks down the drain.

Thanks for the use of your brain!

 

[Brad]

Red Sea Skimmer...

I'm running the Pro on my 40gal. I find it works just fine and I would never go back to changing airstones. I have no microbubbles returning out the overflow.

Here's my recommendation: turn the flow input regulator on top to about 45 degrees. If it is wide open, the water flow is so high that bubbles just go right through the thing. This reduces the overall flow of water through the skimmer. Open the air valve as much as possible to the point where the air valve almost becomes lose and rattles.

The air input and the flow rate are related. As you allow more air in, you will reduce the flow. You can actually reduce the bubbles escaping by adding more air. If you can't, dial the flow back a bit more. Adding more air reduces the water flow, which keeps the bubbles in the chamber.

Yes...I also tweak the air intact knob almost weekly.

 

[Brad]

Red Sea Skimmer...

I'm running the Pro on my 40gal. I find it works just fine and I would never go back to changing airstones. I have no microbubbles returning out the overflow.

Here's my recommendation: turn the flow input regulator on top to about 45 degrees. If it is wide open, the water flow is so high that bubbles just go right through the thing. This reduces the overall flow of water through the skimmer. Open the air valve as much as possible to the point where the air valve almost becomes lose and rattles.

The air input and the flow rate are related. As you allow more air in, you will reduce the flow. You can actually reduce the bubbles escaping by adding more air. If you can't, dial the flow back a bit more. Adding more air reduces the water flow, which keeps the bubbles in the chamber.

Yes...I also tweak the air intact knob almost weekly.

 

[excited_newby]

Cool,

It is nice to here that it works well. I am so relieved that I didn't go out and buy the seaclone.

I just want to say that big als is a rip off. The independent store is at LEAST 10 dollars cheaper on most of the things that I was looking at and 25 buck on the skimmer (same model and everything.)

Ahh... Makes me mad, and they say that they guarantee the lowest price. Bahh

 

[kwan]

It will take time, and it depends on water chemistry. You don't really want to crank it up too much because it will create wet foam and waste too much SW. Give it time and enough dirt build up in the tank, then you will see the dry foam. The dry foam bubbles should be much bigger than the water bubbles you're seeing and it should be brownish color.

 

[Dayna]

ok well we have it running and there is stuff in the cup. its more dirty water then goop. i'm assuming once we get more stuff in the tank it will get goopier

 

[pecan2phat]

also our salt level is at 1.021 should I add a little more salt? or is it fine?

Raise your salinity. 1.021 is too low. If you are maintaining a Fish Only than raise it to 1.023 to 1.025. If you are maintaining a Reef tank, than raise the salinity to 1.026.

 

[Dayna]

reeeally.

hmm okay i'll raise it a bit.

we bought more live rock last night. another 17lbs. in total we have like, 25 lbs.

i'll try to take pics tonight of our tank.

 

[excited_newby]

Dayna please post some pics. Sounds like the tank is coming together.

Sounds like you have a similar tank to what I am working towards.

Good luck!