Help with skimmer!

[Chrissy]

I recently purchased a Remora C skimmer, it worked beautifully for about 2 weeks pulling out yellow stuff but now it stopped skimming.

I contacted Remora, they said that the skimmer probably stopped skimming due to something that I added to the water and that it should start skimming in a couple of days.

The only things I add to the water are PH buffer, calcium and phytoplankton.

This is a new aquarium, it has only been set up for 2 months now, just prior to the skimmer not skimming I added some phytoplankton and the next day had an brown algae bloom. The algae has been gone for a while now and I have backed off on the quantity of phytoplankton I have been adding to feed the corals.

I have done a water change since then using R/O water, I did notice the other day when I was adding fresh water due to evaporation that the skimmer immediately started to work, but then stopped again.

Help!

[metalhead]

Can you still see bubbles in the column?

[Chrissy]

Yes, the bubbles came back when the skimmer quit skimming, they are getting a little less now. My other thought is possibly my bio load my be too small to produce much waste to skim.

I have some mushroom and polyp corals a clam and a small clown fish and lots of little bugs not sure what they are probably came off the live rock, very thing seem to be doing well in a 46 gal aquarium.

[Chrissy]

Let me try that again, there are bubbles in the tank and plenty of bubbles in side the skimmer, I sent a picture of the inside of the skimmer to Remora, the tech there thought it looked like the equipment was performing properly.

[metalhead]

Sounds like it should be ok. Give it some time and see what happens.

[Parrothead]

Chrissy,

Just a quick tip, don't add stuff to your water you are not testing for, if this is a new tank, then you probably don't need to be adding calcium etc, water changes should provide all the necessary stuff you need till you start adding more demanding livestock.

Tanks
Robert

[Chrissy]

Another week has passed and my skimmer has not produced anything. I pulled the pump off of the skimmer and checked to make sure the pump was clean all good there.

I thought about putting my old skimmer back on to see what happens or possibly getting a larger pump.

My water quality is still good, I haven't added any chemicals to the water, not sure what to do.

[gregony]

Can you adjust the skimmer so it floods the collection cup?

[Parrothead]

Chrissy, I don't think you need to be concerned at the moment, after rereading the your thread, you do not have a very large bio-load in the tank and that means there probably isn't enough of the bad stuff and goo to skim out, Unless you are feeding your little clownfish a Papa John's ultimate with double cheese on it. I'd wait and see what happens as things progress and you slowly add stuff to your tank.

Tanks,
Robert

[Chrissy]

Good news! The skimmer skimmed a little this week, I think you are right there isn't enough in the tank to produce much skim. I have my collection cup all the way down I'll leave it that way until I start adding more stuff to the tank.

[Parrothead]

Chrissy,

Sounds like a plan, remora makes some great products, as I said after rereading, you don't have enough bio-load to produce goo, just let it be and go slow, thats the key to this wonderful hobby, patience, patience and more patience.

Tanks,
Robert

[metalhead]

Chrissy,

Sounds like a plan, remora makes some great products, as I said after rereading, you don't have enough bio-load to produce goo, just let it be and go slow, thats the key to this wonderful hobby, patience, patience and more patience.

Tanks,
Robert

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