Newbie skimmer help

jasonb751 · Feb 10, 2020

I have a 75 gallon with a 20 gallon sump, and this is my first larger tank, I had a biocube for a while. Tank has been up and running for a few months, and decided to put in a skimmer. I bought a d300+ and cleaned it super good. Put it in and let it do it's thing. It has been running for over a week, and it just produces white foam. If I put the collection cup on it, it just fills up and overflows with foam, so I took the cup off and let it run for a week. This is what it's still doing, any suggestions? The level is at the exact line they recommend, the gate is fully open, and the pump is at the lowest setting.

jasonb751 · Feb 10, 2020

This is what it looks like with the cup on.

Billldg · Feb 10, 2020

In all likelihood it just needs time to break in. If the tank is new also, then the tank also needs to settle down to keep skimmer from going crazy.

jasonb751 · Feb 10, 2020

Billldg said:
In all likelihood it just needs time to break in. If the tank is new also, then the tank also needs to settle down to keep skimmer from going crazy.

Thanks man, so should I have the collection cup drain right back into the sump? The bubbles just turn into clear water in the collection cup.

Billldg · Feb 10, 2020

Yea, you can leave the cup off and let it just drain back into the tank. You will notice that the foam will start to drop when it is broken in.

Coral Reef Keepers · Feb 10, 2020

What is the water level in the sump? The first pic looks like it is really deep but the second looks like the water level is lower. You could try raising the skimmer out of the water a bit and see if that helps. Being a DC pump, even at the lowest setting they skimmer should not overflow no matter how new everything is.

jasonb751 · Feb 10, 2020

Coral Reef Keepers said:
What is the water level in the sump? The first pic looks like it is really deep but the second looks like the water level is lower. You could try raising the skimmer out of the water a bit and see if that helps. Being a DC pump, even at the lowest setting they skimmer should not overflow no matter how new everything is.

The water level is 7 inches. There is a mark on the side of the skimmer that shows optimum level. The water level is about 1/4 inch lower than the mark. The reason it looks like it's deeper in the first pic is because the cup is off and the sump is full of foam.