Skimm z skimmers

Also like boiling water, but it start to form a foam above the water. Then the "boiling water" push the foam up.
 
ericthered said:
i run mine similarly, but i have a rapid bubbling that reminds me of boiling water as bowhunter mentioned. Does yours bubble like this or is it more of a froth?
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so eric ... Yours is more of a "wet" skimm as well ? , mine is pulling stuff out , just not getting the " foam "
 
sawdonkey said:
set it up like this (i borrowed these first two pics from chipster):
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after a few hours, it will look like this:
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after a few days, it will look like this (this is my skimmer):
View attachment 2238
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thanks for the pics .... I understand what it is supposed to look like , the first pic is almost exactly like what im describing except with smaller bubbles , i had it like the second pic before but it didnt stay that way and i cant get it back to that ? The second pic is what im trying to achieve
 
If you achieve the first pic, the second will come. Opening your air valve wide open will give you the bigger bubbles.
 
That's what mine does. I get the bigger bubbles and it works great. Bowhunter, I think what you're expecting is a less agitated state of bubbles in the neck, which is what I get with my smaller skimmers. You can close the air screw a bit to calm things down but everyone says to run it wide open for best results. I used to worry about the wild bubbles because I wasn't used to seeing so much agitation. I keep the water level in the neck exactly where the pic shows, keep the air vent wide open and maintain 9" of water. Can't go wrong ;)
 
ericthered said:
that's what mine does. I get the bigger bubbles and it works great. Bowhunter, i think what you're expecting is a less agitated state of bubbles in the neck, which is what i get with my smaller skimmers. You can close the air screw a bit to calm things down but everyone says to run it wide open for best results. I used to worry about the wild bubbles because i wasn't used to seeing so much agitation. I keep the water level in the neck exactly where the pic shows, keep the air vent wide open and maintain 9" of water. Can't go wrong ;)
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eric, i took my air valve out and am running it wide open , increased the water level in my sump a bit ... I noticed with mine i cant run the water too high in the neck , the higher i have it the less " froth " i get , im getting some decent froth now but the skimm im pulling out is on the lighter side only some dark chunks so to speak .. Ill keep it like this for a while and see what happens
 
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this is getting extremely frustrating ! To the point i want to sell this skimmer or trade ? I get nice froth for about 2 days and then this is the best i can get ! I try to adjust this and it either overflows or i dont get any collection ??? Someone help me please ?
 
how often aee you trying to adjust it ? do you have enough bioload for the skimmer ? do you run carbon ? is the water level in the sump always the same ? is there a ton of flow passing skimmer chamber ? by chance do you have dosers near skimmer chamber ? i know you prob already went thru all of this but a second look dont hurt , and everyones system is diff even if we use same equipment . have you searched the large forums to see if anyone had similar issue ? sometimes just something small and dumb turn your hair grey :) . if it were me i would let skimmer brew where you have it for a week and see if it builds up a head , then slightly raise the water in skimmer slowly , it could take a week or more to find that sweet spot ,
 
lunacris said:
how often aee you trying to adjust it ? Do you have enough bioload for the skimmer ? Do you run carbon ? Is the water level in the sump always the same ? Is there a ton of flow passing skimmer chamber ? By chance do you have dosers near skimmer chamber ? I know you prob already went thru all of this but a second look dont hurt , and everyones system is diff even if we use same equipment . Have you searched the large forums to see if anyone had similar issue ? Sometimes just something small and dumb turn your hair grey :) . If it were me i would let skimmer brew where you have it for a week and see if it builds up a head , then slightly raise the water in skimmer slowly , it could take a week or more to find that sweet spot ,
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maybe it is my bio load ? I have about a dozen or so corals , largest being the size of a baseball besides a carpet anemone and others just frags ? 3 female anthias , foxface , pair of black and whites , sunburst anthias , and a fairy wrasse .
Run carbon 24/7 , there is a decent amount of water flow thru the sump where this sits ( i can move to the fuge ) and the only doser i have is a kalk drip but thats not near the skimmer ?? I recently had a smaller reef octopus and that was in my fuge , that was giving me plenty of froth ?? Now the skimm i am getting is very light ? I wanted to not add corals and fish too fast to give things time to adjust .... As everyone says " go slow " ?? water level in sump is always the same ... dead nuts !
 
carlos31 said:
add more water trust me it will start working perfect
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im going to move this back into my fuge where i can put it a little deeper , ill try that for a week and see if it helps ? I cant really add more water to my sump because if i lose power or my pump shuts off the sump will over flow
 
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carlos31 said:
post more pictures of ur set up
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this pic goes back 5 months , the tank on the left is my r/o t/o tank ,i also use this for water changes, the one in the back left corner is my fuge ( old skimmer in pic ) and the black rubber maid container is my sump , i currently have the new skimmer in there .. That has about 8.5" of water constant
 
Carlos31 said:
Add more water trust me it will start working perfect
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I'm not sure this is the answer. I can run my sump really low, and as long as the gate valve is adjusted correctly, it still produces a nice foam. I find that it isn't that sensitive to the depth of the water in the sump, as long as its adjusted correctly and the water level isn't changing. I'm starting to think the issue is your bioload?
 
Sawdonkey said:
I'm not sure this is the answer. I can run my sump really low, and as long as the gate valve is adjusted correctly, it still produces a nice foam. I find that it isn't that sensitive to the depth of the water in the sump, as long as its adjusted correctly and the water level isn't changing. I'm starting to think the issue is your bioload?
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I have probably a total of 230-240 gallons of water total volume , I feed once a day 1 large cube of mysis and sometimes a mix of some other meaty food ... I watch my fish closely and there is very little food that goes down the drains .. My drains empty into a box that has a thin piece of filter floss , this box emptys into the black Rubbermaid thru 4 filter socks that get changed once a week ??
 
Yeah, your bioload is very light for that much water and that big of a skimmer. I have a similar water volume, but six large fish, five of which are longer than six inches. I always feed about 40 of the large spectrum pellets, usually some nori, and sometimes some mysis or krill each day. My fish are really messy. I also dose Acropower. I also run biopellets directly into my skimmer intake. My parameters are pretty much locked in on the numbers listed in my signature line. Your water might just be too clean for this big of a skimmer?
 
sawdonkey said:
yeah, your bioload is very light for that much water and that big of a skimmer. I have a similar water volume, but six large fish, five of which are longer than six inches. I always feed about 40 of the large spectrum pellets, usually some nori, and sometimes some mysis or krill each day. My fish are really messy. I also dose acropower. I also run biopellets directly into my skimmer intake. My parameters are pretty much locked in on the numbers listed in my signature line. Your water might just be too clean for this big of a skimmer?
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forgot .... Yes i also dose acropower , just started that about a week and a half ago ? So on a good note .... I should spend more money and get more fish and corals ! Haa haaaa , you think i should keep the skimmer where its at for the time being ?
 
The pic looks like you have it at the right height and the froth looks right. This is how I set mine up after I reset it, but after a few hours, it turns into a thick foam.

Yes, buy some more fish! I was frustrated with my skimmer for a few weeks when I first got it.
 
sawdonkey said:
the pic looks like you have it at the right height and the froth looks right. This is how i set mine up after i reset it, but after a few hours, it turns into a thick foam.

Yes, buy some more fish! I was frustrated with my skimmer for a few weeks when i first got it.
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sounds good ! Im working on it !
 
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