Skimmer Q&A Thread

[Rcpilot]

Looking for skimmer recommendations for a 40g breeder reef. Minimal bioload - maybe 1 or 2 fish max. (thinking a dolphin or a Great White shark - ya know... something that will have plenty of room in the 40 to swim and relax without feeling crowded) :)

Mostly LPS is the goal, but I'll probably end up with some zoas.

Sump is DIY 30L. Space limitations aren't a huge concern. It just needs to fit inside a standard 30 tank. 36L x 12W x 16H I haven't built the stand yet, so no worries on that.

 

[Beefyreefy]

I have a Reef Octopus 110 sitting in my sump for my 90 gallon display tank. its sitting in roughly 4-5 inches of water. The problem I'm having is that it will randomly overs-skim and flood my skim mate remote overflow container, and drain my automatic top off because of this. It really only changes my salinity slightly, so its never caused to much of a problem, but I'd like to figure out how to prevent this. I'm not changing anything else so I'm not sure why this happens. The only thing I can think of is that it usually happens overnight. I feed frozen around 8PM so that's the only thing I can think of that might be causing this. Any Ideas? How exactly are you guys tuning your skimmers?

 

[showmebutterfly]

Tunze Comline Doc Skimmers - 9004 or 9012?
I am trying to decide between these 2 skimmers. I think I would like to have the 9012, but it might be more skimmer than I would ever need. If the 9004, at half the price of the 9012, would work with my setup, I'd rather get that one and put the savings toward other equipment, like an ATO or upgraded lighting.
My current setup is a 40 breeder with approximate 2 inch live sand bed, 40 lbs. of live rock, 2 clownfish, a neon goby, a flame cardinalfish, candy cane coral, frogspawn and a few common mushrooms. I'd like to add a hammer coral to the mix. Next year I will be upgrading to a 65 gallon tank and transferring everything over. I may add 2-3 more small fish at that time, but prefer to not overstock. If I am ever lucky enough to be able to upgrade again it would be to a 75 gallon. That's the largest tank that I would be comfortable with in my personal circumstances. My current mechanical filtration is an Eshopps Nano skimmer, an Aquaclear 70 and an Aquaclear 50 HOB filter. I occasionally run Phosguard, Purigen and / or activated carbon in the filters. No sump.
So... based on all that - should I get the 9012 skimmer for $300 or the 9004 skimmer for $150?

 

[reefwiser]

The 9004 is great for a 40 gallon system but would be a little small for a 65 gallon one. It depends on how your money is. You could watch the sales forum and find a used 9004 to get you by until you upgrade.

 

[showmebutterfly]

The 9004 is great for a 40 gallon system but would be a little small for a 65 gallon one. It depends on how your money is. You could watch the sales forum and find a used 9004 to get you by until you upgrade.

Thank you for the response. I've got the Eshopps nano skimmer for now. It's rated for less than 40, but I don't run it all the time since it's finicky and overflows a lot. I've found it really does not like it when I mix vita-chem with my fish food.
I can save up to get the 9012, if that's what I need. I just go back and forth looking at their ratings and the 9012 also looks huge beside the 9004. Maybe Tunze will come out with a 9008? lol That'd be in between and probably the perfect rating and size for a 65/75 gallon tank.

 

[reefwiser]

Tunze generally comes out with new equipment in Interzoo years. Which will be two years from now as interzoo was this year. Don't see a 9008 in the future thou as they try to step up in big jumps between models.

 

[showmebutterfly]

Thank you. That's good to know about the new equipment time line! It might be worth waiting to see what new products come out. Bummer about the unikelyhood of them coming out with an intermediate skimmer though. lol

Tunze generally comes out with new equipment in Interzoo years. Which will be two years from now as interzoo was this year. Don't see a 9008 in the future thou as they try to step up in big jumps between models.

 

[Coley]

My hob skimmer October 2000 ran dry due to ato failure. How do I restart it? Is there a trick I don’t know about?

 

[Coley]

Reef octopus 2000 hob... sorry

 

[Metasyntactic]

So, maybe this is a silly question but I'm looking at various skimmers like reef octopus and noticing that the 90 degree valve on the return appears to be a globe valve. This might be a silly question but is there some benefit to making the outlet a ball valve as opposed to a gate valve? I would think the gate valve makes it easier to dial the skimmer in.

Or am I mistaken and that is in fact a gate valve? I looked online and couldn't even find plastic gate valves with 90 degree bends.

Also, while I'm asking potentially silly questions, I've always wondered, is there a benefit to the return coming straight up beyond that it means the valve is above the water level of your sump? I don't know if it has some benefit with stray bubbles.

 

[fishyfishyfishy]

If you can find a inside look of a globe valve it has baffles on either side of the plug. I can only assume that this and having the 1/4 bend is the attempt to cut down on bubbles and velocity. Every change of direction decreases flow rate. Ball valves are more of a full on or full stop valve. Or lastly they just got a better deal on that valve lol

 

[mattzang]

so i just put in my new aquamaxx fc-80 skimmer about 3 hours ago. it's running, but the bubbles aren't even close to the top for it to bubble over. it's in 9" of water.

i've read about skimmers breaking in, is that what is basically the issue? when i started the tank it came with the sca stock skimmer and that thing, while small, went to work right away. i've tried adjusting the air thing on the aquamaxx skimmer, but doesn't seem to make much difference. don't want to panic, but this would suck if it doesn't work.

 

[reeftivo]

so i just put in my new aquamaxx fc-80 skimmer about 3 hours ago. it's running, but the bubbles aren't even close to the top for it to bubble over. it's in 9" of water.

i've read about skimmers breaking in, is that what is basically the issue? when i started the tank it came with the sca stock skimmer and that thing, while small, went to work right away. i've tried adjusting the air thing on the aquamaxx skimmer, but doesn't seem to make much difference. don't want to panic, but this would suck if it doesn't work.

give it time to get the foam head stable and if you're trying to adjust it to get skimmate already then stop. leave it running wide open for a couple days give or take (wide open air and effluent exit pipe).

after a couple days, then adjusting the foam head higher in small increments should be fine.

 

[mattzang]

give it time to get the foam head stable and if you're trying to adjust it to get skimmate already then stop. leave it running wide open for a couple days give or take (wide open air and effluent exit pipe).

after a couple days, then adjusting the foam head higher in small increments should be fine.

thanks. it was weird, by the time i went to bed last night it was producing some skimmate so i thought i was in the clear. now i just checked it this evening and it's back to barely making bubbles. i did tinker with it some yesterday, though. i'll make sure it's all open and leave it alone awhile.

i did just check and see that the recommended water level is 7.8", so i guess if it still isn't cutting it in a couple days i can make an egg crate stand to get it an inch higher

 

[reeftivo]

raising it should help if that's the recommended level. post a video of it running and maybe that will tell us something ;)

 

[mattzang]

raising it should help if that's the recommended level. post a video of it running and maybe that will tell us something ;)

so can't get a video going but here are some pictures..

so i feel like it's ALMOST there, it's making bubbles up near the cup, but it just can't seem to really skim much, which is hard to believe as i feed probably more than i should and have an overstocked tank. i've closed the gate thing almost as much as i can and the air is fully open, but that skim amount is like a couple week's worth. i've also continued to lower the water level to right around the recommended amount, should i maybe just keep going? I honestly don't really understand how a skimmer works i suppose, but is it a not enough air or too much water issue? i'd think the sicce pump would be pretty good and that wouldn't be the issue..

 

[reeftivo]

looks like the skimmer is performing and the air volume looks fine. From what i see is you internal skimmer water level is too low and you are skimming very dry (thus the heavy build up in the transition and neck of the cup).

you mention you've closed the gate valve on the skimmer "almost" as much as you can, which should actually bring the water level in the skimmer higher. If the gate is almost closed then closing it more may not help much. Can you run the skimmer an inch deeper? That way you can open the gate valve on the skimmer more and that will give you more tuning range.

I can't see where you air/water line is in the pic. Can you take a picture with the flash on and the cabinet lights off? That's usually a better shot to see where your air/water line is inside the skimmer while it's running.

 

[reeftivo]

this sin't the best pic to see the air/water line but if you look closely, it is on the pic where the top of the sump runs across the skimmer body.

It's the fine line where the smaller turbulent bubbles start their larger uniform transition upwards towards the neck. You'll always see that line on any skimmer unless it's adjusted too high in the neck and the collar of the cup covers it.

 

[reeftivo]

sorry, missed the pic

 

[mattzang]

looks like the skimmer is performing and the air volume looks fine. From what i see is you internal skimmer water level is too low and you are skimming very dry (thus the heavy build up in the transition and neck of the cup).

you mention you've closed the gate valve on the skimmer "almost" as much as you can, which should actually bring the water level in the skimmer higher. If the gate is almost closed then closing it more may not help much. Can you run the skimmer an inch deeper? That way you can open the gate valve on the skimmer more and that will give you more tuning range.

I can't see where you air/water line is in the pic. Can you take a picture with the flash on and the cabinet lights off? That's usually a better shot to see where your air/water line is inside the skimmer while it's running.

i left that one out because i didn't think it showed much hah, i can try to take some more pics later if that'd help.

yeah i could definitely raise the water level, it just seemed like it wasn't doing anything at that level so i added the egg crate and lowered the water level which seemed to help. bubbles near the top better than tiny bubbles barely above the water line i figured heh

so you think raise the water level and then open the gate more? and that should give me a wetter skim?