tempermental skimmer

[greatgman]

ne1 know why skimmers are so tempermental?
b4 adding the fish back the skimmer was skimming good
now that the fish are in from qt
the skimmer dosent do such a good job
b4 dark green skimmate(like mushed up olives color to watery green)
from adjusting the skimmer box a bit
i knocked the air intake venturi jumper off of my rio 800
after reinstalling it. cleaning off the slime and reinstalling it with a bit more hose
it dosent produce as much foam as it did b4
rinsed the hoses out with hot water
shouldnt the skimmer pull more skim from the increased bio load?

 

[TCTFish]

The effectiveness of a skimmer relies on the flow of tiny bubbles. If the bubbling is strong, perhaps there just aren't many proteins to skim out. If the bubbling is weak then it is a mechanical problem. Replace the venturi hoses and see what happens. Exposing the hoses to extreme temps can stress the material and may have cracks you can't even see and that will weaken the strength of those tiny bubbles.

 

[markh30]

Adding chemicals to the water such as Stress Coat could cause the same reaction as well. I have the Aqua C skimmer, which really kicks butt. I never have to make any adjustments to it. Venturi skimmers can be tricky to play with IMO.