How to test a protein skimmer outside of a tank?

[Protodad]

Anyone have a suggestion on how to test a protein skimmer without actually putting it in a tank? I have a large induction skimmer that I want to test how well the pump works with it. Unfortunately, I only have a nano tank with no skimmer at the moment. When I run the skimmer in a bed of hose water, I get a few bubbles but nothing close to skimate.
Anyone have a suggestion of what to add to the water to test the skimmer?

 

[ca1ore]

What are you testing it for? If water tightness then any tote with some FW will suffice.

 

[brmreefer]

The characteristics of the bubbles behave differently in fresh water than in saltwater. Not sure what the testing is about, but maybe make the test water saltwater and run it. When I tested my skimmer before it's installation I just ran it in a empty tank just lying around and let it run for a few days just to see how it does. That test was fresh water only and I knew that it would not produce skimmate as intended in a reef tank, however I was only testing the pump, bubble concentration, and it's behavior in different water levels. Hope that helps. Good luck.

 

[Protodad]

I just wanted to make sure the pump was strong enough to produce the necessary bubbles. It’s an induction-skimmer so you need enough power to create the jet of water to power it.

 

[harley32907]

Skimmers do not show there potential in freshwater

 

[Protodad]

Skimmers do not show there potential in freshwater

Clearly. I just want to know if there is something I can add to the water to simulate enough protein to cause the skimmer to work. I’ve heard egg whites but I imagine that might be a mess to clean.

 

[mfinn]

Just find a container like a tote, bucket or old cooler that is big enough to put it in and fill it with enough saltwater to test it.

 

[Protodad]

Just find a container like a tote, bucket or old cooler that is big enough to put it in and fill it with enough saltwater to test it.

Is saltwater alone bad enough to make a skimmer produce skimmate? I can do this but assumed it was pure enough that it wouldn’t do much more than freshwater

 

[Crabs McJones]

Do you have a skimmer on your current tank? Setup a testing tub with saltwater, and dump your current tanks skimmate into it, see if the new skimmer can pull out what the old skimmer did

 

[brmreefer]

I would just run it in saltwater in a tote as mentioned and see what is does. It is all a test anyways, so you can make any adjustments that the heart desires. As long as there are millions of bubbles being created, then I think it is good to go.

 

[mfinn]

Is saltwater alone bad enough to make a skimmer produce skimmate? I can do this but assumed it was pure enough that it wouldn’t do much more than freshwater

Your first post said you wanted to just test the skimmer. Didn't see anything about the ability to test the amount of skimate.
What the skimmer test in new saltwater will do is allow you to see if the bubbles are tiny and create a almost milkshake appearance in the top of the skimmer.
This will not happen in freshwater. There is no comparison.

 

[mfinn]

If you are looking for real world ability of a skimmer, then just doing searches here on R2R on the skimmer brand and model and even google.
Start a thread with the brand and model. See what people say.