Skimmer questions

[QuarantinedCorals]

Hi guys, I recently purchased an asm g4 skimmer equipped with a sicce pump. The skimmer works fine I just can’t get it to skim on the drier side without having it sit in shallow water (maybe 4 inches of water). My tank has 0 nitrates as it is currently finishing up a fallow period as I’m moving to a strict qt process. I guess my questions are:
Is it normal for the skimmer to be working best in really shallow water?
Could it be the skimmer just hasn’t “broken in” yet?
Is there possibly nothing for my skimmer to catch?
My tank is 180 gallons and I plan on having a fairly heavy stocking so I went with the g4 model, any idea on why it’s skimming on the wetter side? And yes it’s set to the driest skim possible via the stand pipe

 

[rubertoe93]

I think it’s probably a mix of all 3,
If it’s brand new It won’t be broken in, took my skimmer about 3 weeks to finally achieve what I wanted!

 

[Simply__J]

You may want to double check to see what is the optimal water level required for the skimmer to operate.

Another cause maybe the amount of air feeding into the pump which can be remedied by adding a simple air line tubing valve at the end of the intake allowing your to make adjustments.

Good luck.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

I think it’s probably a mix of all 3,
If it’s brand new It won’t be broken in, took my skimmer about 3 weeks to finally achieve what I wanted!

Ah I had a feeling that was gonna be the case! My tank is fallowing now so I guess I gotta put the skimmer on park until I introduce some fish!

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

You may want to double check to see what is the optimal water level required for the skimmer to operate.

Another cause maybe the amount of air feeding into the pump which can be remedied by adding a simple air line tubing valve at the end of the intake allowing your to make adjustments.

Good luck.

You think it’ll decrease it’s efficiency by adding an airline valve? I really have no clue as to how I’m supposed to tune this thing I feel like nothing is working, do I really have to wait until I have some fish to produce skimmate for it to foam up to where I want it?

 

[Simply__J]

You think it’ll decrease it’s efficiency by adding an airline valve? I really have no clue as to how I’m supposed to tune this thing I feel like nothing is working, do I really have to wait until I have some fish to produce skimmate for it to foam up to where I want it?

In my opinion there are just so many variables involved with "tuning" a skimmer. In my experiences the more I feed the darker the skimmate not necessarily the more foam It produces. Water level was very important in my last set up, so much so I had to build a stand for it. In my new system the air line valve did the trick.

Check out the video below it may not solve all your problems, but it's a good start to get info and ideas.