skmmer advise please

[greatgman]

on my 90 gal
i have a hv1 (excalibur) and i think that its not skimming enough
do you think i should upgrade?
and if so
with what?
my cyno is not getting any better (battling it every day)
just scrubbed my rocks off AGAIN (3rd time in 2 weeks with 25%wc)
the skimmer pulls out about 1- 1.5 oz per day but is medium gree color not brown or black
any advice would be helpfull
if it dosent let up soon i'll do a complete tear down and start from scratch

 

[flame82]

do you use tap water or ro/di water ?
maybe to much phosphate ?

 

[malkore]

a complete tear down isn't going to fix the problem. you're either over feeding, using bad water, or don't have enough flow.

 

[schoeplein]

A skimmer isn't a save all to end all method of preventing things. Its only meant to be another mechanical way of exporting extra nutrients. Not something to rely on totally for keeping your tank nuisance free.

As stated above there are several things you can do:
*Reduce lighting cycle.
*Several water changes over a couple weeks. (how much and how often is really up to you, just dont go nuts with 50% every day or something)
*Feed less.
*Make sure your temperature isn't swinging say, more than 3-4° from midnight to mid-day.
*Make sure the new water you're putting into your tank is extra purified (the water I put into my tank is RO/DI, micron filtration, and two times through UV and Carbon - essentially seven cycle filtration).

What are the inhabitants to your tank? How much LR do you have? What other means of filtration are you using? What are you water parameters?

 

[malkore]

right, a skimmer isn't a magical fix. however if you have slight phosphates, a skimmer could clear them up and get rid of the cyano.
but if you're sitting at something like 1.5ppm phosphates, you need to look for the source of all that waste...over feeding being the most likely cause, followed by using water full of phosphates for water changes.

 

[cmor1701d]

Don't forget to check your lighting. My last out break was cured after I replaced my 9 month old PC bulbs (after a chemi-clean/siphon/water change cycle).

 

[greatgman]

water is distilled
phosphates at .02
feed every other day
only a small amount (fish eat it up quickly in about 3 minutes
feed crabs algae (sinking wafers)