I need help. Tired of tinkering with protein skimmer.

[SomeHappyFish]

Okay,where to begin...
I'll give you guys the little story of the process that went by until now. I have a Bubble Magus C3.5 Protein Skimmer and I can't get it to stay consistent.



At first, my water height was to high, so I had to raise the skimmer about an inch up with some PVC under. But tweaking it was hard since the tank was new with fish, meaning no bioload. Now with time I was able to adjust it to number 3 on the dial and get a bubble height about 1" under the top like this picture below, but here's the issue. I leave it at the number 3 with a perfect height which dry skim, but I don't get anything in a week although the height of the bubbles is perfect... So I turn the dial SO SO SO slighty and now my cup fills up under 3 days with a clear/tan and a bit of detritus...

The height I set it:


I can't get a perfect dark skim who fills up about 1/4 of the cup like most of you guys.

THE OTHER ISSUE LOL

Sometimes, when I turn off the skimmer and turn off my return pump to show my tank to my friends without flow. I sometimes forget to turn the skimmer back and I go to sleep and when I turn it back on. BOOM its OVERFLOWING like crazy, but nothing changed, no food, no water height change, no adjustment... I had to turn it back down to 4.

Current skim, but it will only last about a couple of hours until the bubble go all the way backdown.

Is all of this normal ? Do I lack bioload, is my skimmer oversized for my 45G tank with 5 fish, inverts and corals...

 

[crazyfishmom]

It seems to be working as intended to me but maybe other people with better understanding of skimmers and how they should function can chyme in.

 

[Rjukan]

Imo you have the bubbles too high if that first pic is where you put it. I have a BM curve as well, and after boosting it in the water by a few inches, I dial in the bubbles to top out in the neck of the skimmer. Over the next few days it gets higher when it's pulling out garbage, and collects a dark skim.

As far as it bubbling over after not being on, that's weird. Mine only does that if it turns on at the same time my return pump does, and that's bc the chamber has too much water in it.

 

[d2mini]

A lot of what determines the type of skim you get in the cup, outside of how wet/dry your skimmer is set to skim, is how much waste is actually in the water. I feed on the lighter side and stock on the light to moderate side, so I'll never get the kind of skim that others have.

Can't help you with the bubbling over but maybe there is stuff in the column of the skimmer that settles over that amount of time that interferes with airflow when it's first turned back on.

I'm curious though why you turn the pump off to show the tank to friends?

Do you have a controller? You could put the skimmer, powerheads and main pump on feed mode. They would then turn off for a predetermined amount of time before turning back on automatically so you wouldn't have to worry about it. I have a delay set on the skimmer pump so that no matter what turns it off (feed mode, power outtage, etc) when power is restored, the pump stays off for 1 more minute, to prevent the high water in the sump causing the skimmer to overflow.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

1) lower bubble height
2) just remove collection cup before showing tank to friends
3) ?????
4) profit

 

[SomeHappyFish]

Imo you have the bubbles too high if that first pic is where you put it. I have a BM curve as well, and after boosting it in the water by a few inches, I dial in the bubbles to top out in the neck of the skimmer. Over the next few days it gets higher when it's pulling out garbage, and collects a dark skim.

As far as it bubbling over after not being on, that's weird. Mine only does that if it turns on at the same time my return pump does, and that's bc the chamber has too much water in it.

I will try lowering the bubble height. Is the red line were you have it and how fast does your cup fill up?
I know ! maybe the water was a tad higher before I turned it back on...

A lot of what determines the type of skim you get in the cup, outside of how wet/dry your skimmer is set to skim, is how much waste is actually in the water. I feed on the lighter side and stock on the light to moderate side, so I'll never get the kind of skim that others have.

Can't help you with the bubbling over but maybe there is stuff in the column of the skimmer that settles over that amount of time that interferes with airflow when it's first turned back on.

I'm curious though why you turn the pump off to show the tank to friends?

Do you have a controller? You could put the skimmer, powerheads and main pump on feed mode. They would then turn off for a predetermined amount of time before turning back on automatically so you wouldn't have to worry about it. I have a delay set on the skimmer pump so that no matter what turns it off (feed mode, power outtage, etc) when power is restored, the pump stays off for 1 more minute, to prevent the high water in the sump causing the skimmer to overflow.

I wanted to show the top view without flow kinda like a lagoon. No I don't have a controller each time I want to do a waterchange or this, I have to turn off ATO, Skimmer, Return Pump and put my gyre on pause by myself.
What controller would be great for this?
I

 

[SomeHappyFish]

1) lower bubble height
2) just remove collection cup before showing tank to friends
3) ?????
4) profit

Step 2 is a bit too much. Turning off the skimmer is easier...

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Step 2 is a bit too much. Turning off the skimmer is easier...

Except then you apparently have to spend a bunch of time messing with it when you turn it back on

 

[SomeHappyFish]

Except then you apparently have to spend a bunch of time messing with it when you turn it back on

Honestly this never really happens. I'm just tired of tweaking it and not getting a nice skim mate and I was wondering what I'm doing wrong

My guess was all the fish food and Reefroid in the water caused my skimmer to react this way when I turned it back on.

 

[exnisstech]

How long has the skimmer been running. I added a bubble magus curve 5 a while back and it took weeks to get it broken in. First I had to raise it 3 inches higher than recommended then I ran it for over two weeks overflowing back into the tank. After that I was finally able to get it dialed in. It still didn't pull a lot out but I think that's because my nutrients are low in this tank. I have three tanks running and only use a skimmer on one. The other two pull so little it was more waste of electricity than anything so I took them off line. Maybe you just have clean water?
Can't help with the overflowing mine only does that if I turn the skimmer back on before or at the same time as turning on the return pump.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

you answered your own question... the tank is "new with fish meaning no bioload".... if no bioload then nothing to skim out, so just give it time.

 

[Rjukan]

I will try lowering the bubble height. Is the red line were you have it and how fast does your cup fill up?
I know ! maybe the water was a tad higher before I turned it back on...

I wanted to show the top view without flow kinda like a lagoon. No I don't have a controller each time I want to do a waterchange or this, I have to turn off ATO, Skimmer, Return Pump and put my gyre on pause by myself.
What controller would be great for this?
I

Just below that I would say, I like to see the bubbles just creeping up to the bottom of the collection cup.. I empty mine every week and it's got maybe 3/4" of very dark skimate at that point. I don't have a heavy stocked system, and I feel around 1/2 a cube of food a day.

 

[SomeHappyFish]

How long has the skimmer been running. I added a bubble magus curve 5 a while back and it took weeks to get it broken in. First I had to raise it 3 inches higher than recommended then I ran it for over two weeks overflowing back into the tank. After that I was finally able to get it dialed in. It still didn't pull a lot out but I think that's because my nutrients are low in this tank. I have three tanks running and only use a skimmer on one. The other two pull so little it was more waste of electricity than anything so I took them off line. Maybe you just have clean water?
Can't help with the overflowing mine only does that if I turn the skimmer back on before or at the same time as turning on the return pump.

you answered your own question... the tank is "new with fish meaning no bioload".... if no bioload then nothing to skim out, so just give it time.

I guess I have clean water and my 5 fish/inverts consume most of the food that I feed haha.

 

[klc]

Set the water level an inch or more below the neck of the skimmer and leave it alone. You may get nothing in the cup for weeks because there's nothing to skim out. When there is enough to create dense foam at the surface it will begin pushing it up into the cup. The key is to stop trying to get it to be perfect, it will work when the conditions are right.

I use a Chinese knock off called Aqua Excell modified with a DC Jebao and home made needle wheel, it didn't skim anything but iced tea for months and then all of a sudden every week it produces a cup of the most concentrated, nastiest, stinkiest skimmate I have ever skimmed. So what happened to make it skim so efficiently? Nothing, the tank matured.

Hang in there friend it will work when conditions are favorable.

 

[exnisstech]

I guess I have clean water and my 5 fish/inverts consume most of the food that I feed haha.

That's not a bad thing. I've read of quite a few people that run them for oxygenation but don't pull much skimate

 

[SomeHappyFish]

Set the water level an inch or more below the neck of the skimmer and leave it alone. You may get nothing in the cup for weeks because there's nothing to skim out. When there is enough to create dense foam at the surface it will begin pushing it up into the cup. The key is to stop trying to get it to be perfect, it will work when the conditions are right.

I use a Chinese knock off called Aqua Excell modified with a DC Jebao and home made needle wheel, it didn't skim anything but iced tea for months and then all of a sudden every week it produces a cup of the most concentrated, nastiest, stinkiest skimmate I have ever skimmed. So what happened to make it skim so efficiently? Nothing, the tank matured.

Hang in there friend it will work when conditions are favorable.

Cool thanks! I need to sit back and relax more haha