Are you a skimmer whisperer? Advice welcome (video)

[vanguard]

I made a short video that shows my skimmer. If you have a knack for tuning skimmers, can you look at it and tell me what, if any, adjustments you would make?

Please listen to the video's audio.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

So it looks like it was just cleaned an hour before you made the video. Is the aquarium its attached to an established reef of a few years or a new tank setup? I believe those things matter if you wish to get some intelligent feedback. It’s a great skimmer. But it may very well be doing exactly what it’s supposed be doing depending on the bio load etc. following.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I'm not familiar with that skimmer, but question why the outlet is terminated above water level?

To your question, a skimmer will not remove 100% of the waste passing through it.

But there are ways to increase the amount of dissolved organic waste it can pull out. If it's a DC pump, you can slow the flow down and restrict more from the outlet (to maintain the porper head height). I don't know if that skimmer has the ability to meter the air intake but you can also adjust that to get more surface area in terms of smaller/larger bubbles. These ideas have diminishing returns on how well they work, but worth playing with.

At 1st glance, it looks like the flow through is high, and you're not getting frothy waste at the top. This can be because you don't have a lot of dissolved organic waste, you just put it all back together after cleaning or it's moving too fast to adequately pull.

 

[vanguard]

So it looks like it was just cleaned an hour before you made the video. Is the aquarium its attached to an established reef of a few years or a new tank setup? I believe those things matter if you wish to get some intelligent feedback. It’s a great skimmer. But it may very well be doing exactly what it’s supposed be doing depending on the bio load etc. following.

Good questions. The tank is five months old and I cleaned the cup about 8 hours ago.

The skimmer is only four days old but the first day was spent running in vinegar. Then I put the skimmer in a tub of tank water and poured skimmate into that tub. When it worked well there, I moved it to the sump.

 

[vanguard]

I'm not familiar with that skimmer, but question why the outlet is terminated above water level?

It's not. The pipe goes into the water by a few inches. However, I found the bubbles rising and popping on the surface made a high pitched sound like freshly pour soda. A filter sock on the outlet made it quiet.

Also, it killed the bubbles immediately so I didn't have to worry about having the output near the return pump. I doesn't have any impact on the skimmer.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Ahh, the skimmer is new. It's going to require some breaking in to allow some slime coat to form on the internal surfaces.

Give it some time, do you have a heavy biology? Can you provide nitrate and phosphate results.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Visited your Tank Thread. Great tank congrats! To answer one of your questions, I would just leave it alone. Your tank as young as it is, is not going to produce consistent and high levels of yuck. It will. And when it begins, if it’s the consistency of iced tea then yes it’s too wet. It it only accumulates in the skimmer neck then too dry. During either of those times is when you can adjust the skimmer and “ dial it in”

 

[vanguard]

Ahh, the skimmer is new. It's going to require some breaking in to allow some slime coat to form on the internal surfaces.

Give it some time, do you have a heavy biology? Can you provide nitrate and phosphate results.

Nitrates ~15
Phosphates ~.11

I've been changing water twice a week to keep it there. That's one of the reasons I bought a new skimmer. I was hoping it would pull out more gunk.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Nitrates ~15
Phosphates ~.11

I've been changing water twice a week to keep it there. That's one of the reasons I bought a new skimmer. I was hoping it would pull out more gunk.

It will, that's a healthy nutrient level. It'll just take time to allow the skimmer to break in.