Skimmer issues

[grove2nmb]

Hello all looking for some guidance on my on going skimmer issue. I have been keeping reef tanks for over 16 years and never had a problem with a protein skimmer not producing skimmate after initial break in. I built a Red Sea Reefer Nano several months ago, cycled no issues, quality live rock, deep sand bed, Reef Octopus Varios 2 return pump, 2x Jebao PP -4 wave makers, BRS mini reactor hard plumbed, Kessil A360we and a Coral Box D300 skimmer. Current live stock is pair of black snowflakes, pair of bar gobies, one yellow watchman and a skunk cleaner shrimp. I have over a dozen SPS and LPS corals all doing well, great colors and growth. Alk 8, Calcium 420, mag 1380, Nitrate 5. My problem is my skimmer will sit idle only skimming for short periods of time at random only producing a wet tea colored skimmate, it skims great when I feed which I feed heavily, after a week I have maybe a half inch of skimmate in the cup but build up on the skimmer collection cup neck. I have no algae issues and only have a few dime size spots of brown algae on the glass at the end of the week. I perform 10% weekly water changes. So my question is, is my bio load to low for the skimmer to pull anything out or is the skimmer to large for the system? I have attempted several different pump speeds and heights with no luck, I used this brand skimmer on a previous tank with no issues and it worked like a champ, so I’m at a loss. Any thoughts would be appreciated before I just buy a new skimmer.

 

[Tommy's Reef]

I constantly changed my skimmer to skim wet and dry always switching it up every few weeks. There are times I get no skim mate for a few days to a week. Always different though.
There's no problem with not getting skim if your tank looks great. O and I run a bubble magnus skimmer. If u want to test your skimmer take it out and put it in a bucket of tea and see if goes crazy with skim.

 

[MikeyB]

I'm going to absolutely say your bio load is too low.

I can give you a perfect example as its happening to me right now. I'm in the ongoing process of doing a giant tank swap. I have a 120 gallon tank now with just 2 clownfish in it and my there's pretty much zero bioload in my tank so my skimmer doesnt even foam up it just sit's there pretty much idling.

 

[grove2nmb]

That’s what I have been leaning towards, just not sure, the tank looks awesome. I have been scratching my head trying to figure it out. I always had large systems and decided to try my hand at a Nano so I didn’t want to overload it.

 

[MikeyB]

Maybe an idea to really pinpoint it. Put your skimmer on a timer to only run 8/10/12 hours a day and see if that makes a difference on getting some constant skimmate