Why can’t I get the foam height stable in my skimmer??

[Pete Hammersley]

I have a Red Sea reefer 600 skimmer. Are there any other ways of tuning it than just the one big red wheel at the front?
I have set the water height to exactly 19 cm, as the manufacturer recommends 18 to 20cm.
I find if I set the foam height to the top or near the top and putting skim into the cup, it will look fine then within an hour it has filled the cup with basically just water.
mother times I tune it to maybe an inch lower, and an hour later the skim level has dropped by about 4 or 5 inches?
The tank has been up and running for 15 weeks now, and I have on occasion had some good thick skim, it has never been consistent.
the tank is the Red Sea reefer 750 with a custom sump. I went for the slightly undersized skimmer based on BRS advice that said a smaller skimmer either than bigger should be easier to tune? I’m having no such luck.
Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Billldg]

It may be because the tank is still to new, the tank bacteria is still adjusting causing the inconsistent skimmate. Plus the tank may not just have enough load on it yet to to produce a good foam also. I would give the tank some more time to stabilize. I had the same problem on a different skimmer. I could never get my Vertex Omega 180i to stay consistent. I ended up unpluggin it and letting it sit in my sump for a few months, then I was going to buy a new skimmer and just for the heck of it I plugged the Vertex skimmer back in and it started working perfectly. That taught me that I needed some more time on my tank for the skimmer to work properly.

 

[Pete Hammersley]

It may be because the tank is still to new, the tank bacteria is still adjusting causing the inconsistent skimmate. Plus the tank may not just have enough load on it yet to to produce a good foam also. I would give the tank some more time to stabilize. I had the same problem on a different skimmer. I could never get my Vertex Omega 180i to stay consistent. I ended up unpluggin it and letting it sit in my sump for a few months, then I was going to buy a new skimmer and just for the heck of it I plugged the Vertex skimmer back in and it started working perfectly. That taught me that I needed some more time on my tank for the skimmer to work properly.

That’s interesting, thank you. If I could never get skim I’d think maybe not enough organica, or if it was always over boiling then maybe a different problem, I just don’t understand why it’s an inch off the top when I set it, then 4 inches off the top an hour later, then skimmer cup full of water a few hrs later?
I will try leaving it off for a while as you said, see if I can get it more stable with more organic.
thanks

 

[Simply__J]

I've had similar issues in the past with my skimmer (Moded Bubble Magus Curve 5) although oversized for my setup I've found that adding an airline tube valve to the intake line and controlling the amount of air into the venturi helps me produce thicker/frothier more consistant foam. It's a $5 fix that may be worth trying.

 

[Snoopy 67]

A skimmer will NOT run consistent unless there is something in the water it can remove.
That's why oversized skimmers can have problems, they pull everything then have nothing left to work with.