BM Curve 7 Skimmer: Is it me or him?

[d2mini]

I've had this thing running in my tank for over a month now, since I got my live rock and sand from TBS. So it started with a decent amount of nutrients in the tank right away. It did take a good week or so to settle down and I thought it was working ok once it started covering the neck in brown skim and even started producing some skimmate in the cup. But since then I've maybe had to empty the cup once. For weeks now it either decides it's going to go crazy and overflow the cup and I have to raise the skimmer and open it up to Max to get it to stop. Or it does absolutely nothing, even set to Min. I went away for a week and came back to not a single drop of skim in the cup.

Water level in sump is 9.25". I've tried raising it 2.25" and 1". Neither seem to help. When it's not skimming at all it's easier to get the bubbles up in the neck at the higher water height.
RIght now it's raised 1" and set to between Min and 1.
And yes, the clear cover over the pump is installed correctly, with the solid area right over the pump output.

Tank is 60g
I have full clean up crew, all live rock and sand from TBS, 4 fish.
Feeding 3x per time, a mix of frozen and flake.
Nitrates are currently 11.4 ppm per hanna tester.

So the tank does have nutrients to skim!
It can't still be breaking in, is it? Is this skimmer too big for my tank?
Right now I'm very disappointed compared to my past LifeReef skimmers which just worked.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Did you use any products that mention turning off the skimmer?

I had a arough bout after using dr tims first defense the first time I added fish. Took a week and was still either nothing, or crazy.

What I ended up having to do was restrict the airflow to the skimmer by quite a lot, and adjusting it so it was skimmer water, no crud, but when emptying the water 2 times from the cup, it was the same color as the dr tims product, then it stopped going crazy at all and was pulling nothing.

I removed the restriction of airflow, and followed the advice of having the bubbles stop just below the neck of the cup so that they stay contained in the skimmer when removing the cup.

I put the cup on and waited, 2 days later I had foam going.

However, there are times where i go a day or 2 with no production of skimmate. Currently I am in an under production phase, but there is some algae growing in the skimmer that I think may be upseting the process that I have to clean out.

I went about a month before I decided to play the patience game, and I started getting results after no longer condtantly trying to tune it.

 

[d2mini]

Did you use any products that mention turning off the skimmer?

I had a arough bout after using dr tims first defense the first time I added fish. Took a week and was still either nothing, or crazy.

What I ended up having to do was restrict the airflow to the skimmer by quite a lot, and adjusting it so it was skimmer water, no crud, but when emptying the water 2 times from the cup, it was the same color as the dr tims product, then it stopped going crazy at all and was pulling nothing.

I removed the restriction of airflow, and followed the advice of having the bubbles stop just below the neck of the cup so that they stay contained in the skimmer when removing the cup.

I put the cup on and waited, 2 days later I had foam going.

However, there are times where i go a day or 2 with no production of skimmate. Currently I am in an under production phase, but there is some algae growing in the skimmer that I think may be upseting the process that I have to clean out.

I went about a month before I decided to play the patience game, and I started getting results after no longer condtantly trying to tune it.

I did have to turn it off for a couple of days after using a little epoxy, but that was expected.
But once or twice it overflowed and I couldn't figure out why.
I'm more concerned though with why it's NOT skimming.

What water height did you settle on?
I can clean it out again and try tuning it to that bubble height in the neck and see how it goes for several days.

 

[reefluvrr]

Were you using another skimmer previously? If so, did you have any issues with skimmer or nutrient levels?
When you had it earlier it sounded like it was skimming properly with the nutrient breakdown from the live rock and sand from TBS.

Now with it being inconsistent skimming, it may not have enough nutrients for the tank. Does the skimmer bubbles look like boiling water most of the time? If so, then may need to have to feed more as a solution.

 

[d2mini]

Were you using another skimmer previously? If so, did you have any issues with skimmer or nutrient levels?
When you had it earlier it sounded like it was skimming properly with the nutrient breakdown from the live rock and sand from TBS.

Now with it being inconsistent skimming, it may not have enough nutrients for the tank. Does the skimmer bubbles look like boiling water most of the time? If so, then may need to have to feed more as a solution.

No, this is the first skimmer on this tank.
I'm used to pulling skim on low nutrient tanks so having 10+ nitrates leads me to believe I should be pulling something on this tank.
I did just remove the cup and cleaned it out and it had a solid coating of skim all inside the neck of the cup and on the inside of the lid so at least something was in there. Just not collecting in the cup basin.

Here's what the bubbles look like right now with cup removed and volute set to Max.

 

[reefluvrr]

The foam and bubble looks pretty good. However I think you would need the skim cup to see what the bubbles look like in the cup. If it is looking like boiling water, then you have to adjust it. When it is adjusted and works for a day or two and then it stops collecting skimmate like you had mentioned. Then it sounds like the skimmer may be too big for your tank.

Here is a video from bulk reef supply about skimmer not collecting. Go to the 7 minute 50 second mark.

 

[d2mini]

The foam and bubble looks pretty good. However I think you would need the skim cup to see what the bubbles look like in the cup. If it is looking like boiling water, then you have to adjust it. When it is adjusted and works for a day or two and then it stops collecting skimmate like you had mentioned. Then it sounds like the skimmer may be too big for your tank.

Here is a video from bulk reef supply about skimmer not collecting. Go to the 7 minute 50 second mark.

Thanks, here's what it looks like with cup on. Sitting in 9.25" of water and volute set to Max. Will see how it goes over the next couple of days.
I'll check out that vid.

 

[reefluvrr]

The foam looks good. Hope you get good results this time around.

 

[homer1475]

I personally think the 7 is too big, and you have a low bioload. Reason it goes from crazy to doing nothing.

I have a curve 5 elite(only difference is a sicce pump) on my 80G with 12 fish, and a very large coral load. Works wonderfully.

 

[Big E]

Bubbles look good in the neck of the cup. If you aren't pulling out anything it's simply because you aren't feeding enough food. Skimmers take out nutrient laden bacteria, debris, detritus, fish food before it breaks down, algae that breaks free( like when you scrape your glass sides of the tank.

Hit your rocks with a baster or let your glass get dirty,scrape it, and watch how the skimmer performs if you want some instant feedback.

A skimmer isn't going to directly take out nitrates or phosphates, I believe you know that.

I have 4 fish in a 60g tank similar to you but that is relative. Bioload is what is a better description. I have a 6" tang, two large clowns and a Cooks Island canary damsel and I feed heavy. My mag 7 is always pulling something out.

 

[d2mini]

Bubbles look good in the neck of the cup. If you aren't pulling out anything it's simply because you aren't feeding enough food. Skimmers take out nutrient laden bacteria, debris, detritus, fish food before it breaks down, algae that breaks free( like when you scrape your glass sides of the tank.

Hit your rocks with a baster or let your glass get dirty,scrape it, and watch how the skimmer performs if you want some instant feedback.

A skimmer isn't going to directly take out nitrates or phosphates, I believe you know that.

I have 4 fish in a 60g tank similar to you but that is relative. Bioload is what is a better description. I have a 6" tang, two large clowns and a Cooks Island canary damsel and I feed heavy. My mag 7 is always pulling something out.

Ya, now that you mention it, I've wiped my glass clean twice since it's been running and it was just the clear bio-film, not really any dusty brown or green algae.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I personally think the 7 is too big, and you have a low bioload. Reason it goes from crazy to doing nothing.

I have a curve 5 elite(only difference is a sicce pump) on my 80G with 12 fish, and a very large coral load. Works wonderfully.

I second lack of bioload. BTDT with a few skimmers and different tanks. If nada else, take if offline for a few days and then reintroduce. Bet you will have steady skimmate for a bit then repeat. If your doing water changes regularly, prolly can cut those back a bit @ this point so that the skimmer can earn it's keep.