Hey guys and gals I have a question regarding my skimmer. For reference it is this one Here. There is no way to adjust height in the water (though it should be closer to the surface as I believe its intake is meant to "surface skim" as well), or really a way to restrict air flow without buying or making some kind of restrictor valve (I am sure would be easy enough) but you'd think it would come with it if it was meant to use. Also, any research that I have found is either "reviews" or years old and the design doesn't seem to be the same.
So my problem is, where I have the collection cup now (just covering an overflow hole) there is no bubbles in the neck, but when it does start to pull stuff it doesn't make it to the collection cup, it just builds up into the neck. If I lower it any (even just a hair or two literally) I will get some bubbles in the neck but when it does pull, it is extremely "wet" and more of a greenish/yellow color than dark (like its pulling more water than anything) and at night it will overfill (I am guessing because of lack of photosynthesis?). And when I feed "LRS Reef Frenzy" the thing just goes absolutely crazy and it actually looks like soap suds (the bubbles are just huge!) and the cup will fill up twice in like 20 minutes. I've tried even having it shut off for about an hour before turning it back on when feeding the reef frenzy, and buying a different batch of the food from a different a supplier thinking it may have been something with the batch.
As to some background on the tank itself..
Age: 3 Months (skimmer has been in whole time)
Size: 26 gallon bowfront
Fish: 2x clown (ocelleris), 2x blue/green chromis, Royal Gramma, Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, CUC (Astrea, Dwarf Ceriths, Florida Ceriths, Nassarius, Scarlet Hermit, Blue Dwarf Hermits)
Corals: GSP, Frogspawn, Green Hulk Duncan, Variety of zoas (7 different kinds different kinds)
Feeding: Rotate flake & pellet morning, Nori Clip throughout day, LRS Reef Frenzy @ night - Corals: Spot feed reef roids (3x weekly), dose of phyto on days I don't use reef roids, Duncan and Frogspawn I target with pellet 3x weekly, and they all should benefit from the LRS reef frenzy.
Filtration: Fiji Cube AIO DIY kit with 3 stage media cabby (1st stage filter floss, 2nd and 3rd stage chemi-pure blue) & before return pump 5 cubes of marine pure, Reef Octopus Classic 100hb HOB skimmer, 25lbs special grade aragonite live sand, 25 lbs rock (was dry, but already seems to have light green encrusting algae so I am hoping that's the beginning of coraline).
Flow: 3x 660 gph eflux wave makers (2x anti-synced surge mode 100% - 1x 100% Stream) ramp down to 30% at lights out
Water: 5 stage BRS RO/DI mixed with Instant Ocean original Salt @ 1.025 salinity (I keep 1 notch lower because it was suggested for softies)
Maintenance: I do a weekly 20% water change, replace filter floss at w/c as well. Chemi-pure I replace every month (I remove half at first, then half the next week)
Dosing: I don't do any bacterial dosing since the tank first got setup. I do dose 4 drops Iodide daily, Strontium and Molybdenum 4 days after water change, calcium at w/c to raise to 440 ppm, then about a 1/2 dose in middle of week to maintain.
I do feed pretty liberally, and my stocking is pretty high for this size tank so I know my bio-load should be sufficient for this skimmer to produce some skim mate. But for some reason it's either caked in the neck, or when lowered by a single hair more a clear greenish/yellow color than dark and then overflows at night and (always with reef frenzy no matter where cup sits). Any suggestions? Like is my water quality just to clean with my maintenance?
So my problem is, where I have the collection cup now (just covering an overflow hole) there is no bubbles in the neck, but when it does start to pull stuff it doesn't make it to the collection cup, it just builds up into the neck. If I lower it any (even just a hair or two literally) I will get some bubbles in the neck but when it does pull, it is extremely "wet" and more of a greenish/yellow color than dark (like its pulling more water than anything) and at night it will overfill (I am guessing because of lack of photosynthesis?). And when I feed "LRS Reef Frenzy" the thing just goes absolutely crazy and it actually looks like soap suds (the bubbles are just huge!) and the cup will fill up twice in like 20 minutes. I've tried even having it shut off for about an hour before turning it back on when feeding the reef frenzy, and buying a different batch of the food from a different a supplier thinking it may have been something with the batch.
As to some background on the tank itself..
Age: 3 Months (skimmer has been in whole time)
Size: 26 gallon bowfront
Fish: 2x clown (ocelleris), 2x blue/green chromis, Royal Gramma, Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, CUC (Astrea, Dwarf Ceriths, Florida Ceriths, Nassarius, Scarlet Hermit, Blue Dwarf Hermits)
Corals: GSP, Frogspawn, Green Hulk Duncan, Variety of zoas (7 different kinds different kinds)
Feeding: Rotate flake & pellet morning, Nori Clip throughout day, LRS Reef Frenzy @ night - Corals: Spot feed reef roids (3x weekly), dose of phyto on days I don't use reef roids, Duncan and Frogspawn I target with pellet 3x weekly, and they all should benefit from the LRS reef frenzy.
Filtration: Fiji Cube AIO DIY kit with 3 stage media cabby (1st stage filter floss, 2nd and 3rd stage chemi-pure blue) & before return pump 5 cubes of marine pure, Reef Octopus Classic 100hb HOB skimmer, 25lbs special grade aragonite live sand, 25 lbs rock (was dry, but already seems to have light green encrusting algae so I am hoping that's the beginning of coraline).
Flow: 3x 660 gph eflux wave makers (2x anti-synced surge mode 100% - 1x 100% Stream) ramp down to 30% at lights out
Water: 5 stage BRS RO/DI mixed with Instant Ocean original Salt @ 1.025 salinity (I keep 1 notch lower because it was suggested for softies)
Maintenance: I do a weekly 20% water change, replace filter floss at w/c as well. Chemi-pure I replace every month (I remove half at first, then half the next week)
Dosing: I don't do any bacterial dosing since the tank first got setup. I do dose 4 drops Iodide daily, Strontium and Molybdenum 4 days after water change, calcium at w/c to raise to 440 ppm, then about a 1/2 dose in middle of week to maintain.
I do feed pretty liberally, and my stocking is pretty high for this size tank so I know my bio-load should be sufficient for this skimmer to produce some skim mate. But for some reason it's either caked in the neck, or when lowered by a single hair more a clear greenish/yellow color than dark and then overflows at night and (always with reef frenzy no matter where cup sits). Any suggestions? Like is my water quality just to clean with my maintenance?
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