Skimmer

[jfilapello]

Hey, this is my 1st time using a skimmer and wanted to know about how constant the skimmate output is. I have a 40g reef tank with 45 lbs live rock, 3 peppermint shrink, clowns (2), 25 mixed cleanup crew. I have no coral as this tank is still being est'd. As far as skimming Im using a aquac ev-120 w/mag 7. I had no skimmate until about 9 days and the bubbles wouldn't even rise in the 2nd chamber (tube before the collection cup). While planting some mangroves in figi mud in my fuge I had a fair about of silty mud get blown into the the thank from which the skimmer immediately started to act the way it's supposed to. Fast fwd 24 hours and the skimmer now has gone back to not making skimmate or filling the 2nd tube with bubbles. Soooooo, my question is do skimmers typically act this way or should I have a constant amount of skimmate forming after the unit broke in
?

[Reefing Madness]

Sounds about right. Although you should adjust it to get the bubbles in that chamber. Skimmer usually go nuts with different things put into the water. They won't make skimmate 24-7, but should get you some good ugly stuff in a weeks time frame. Then again, if you system is new, it doesn't have anything to clean up as of yet. And your Sump is going to help out that much also.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Also, keep in mind there is a break in period for new skimmers. Make sure its adjusted and at the right depth that the manufacturer recommends.

[Reefing Madness]

Also, keep in mind there is a break in period for new skimmers. Make sure its adjusted and at the right depth that the manufacturer recommends.

Ya know what, my bad, they all come with a resin in them. Give it a vineager and wate bath, this will get the resin out. But, usually ya gotta give em a few days. Right on FoMo.

[paul wh]

hi there if it helps i have a new v2 skimmer which i thought was broken week 1 but week 2 the thing went mad how ever it does not always bubble as there i not enough waste in my tank yet but i away have some scummy liquid in there at some point during the day also went to see the lfs he said to come back at feedinig time which i did the moment he fed the fish the skimmer burst into life so i reacon keep an eye on it atfer feeding time

[jfilapello]

Thanks for all the help folks. The skimmer and pump were both used and I started to get a suspicion the pump was maybe faulty as I could hear intermittent grinding in the pump. I took the pump out, looked at the impeller, spun it around and all you could hear was grinding and clicking as well as some warping on the pump housing. Sooooo I decided to scrap the pump and hooked up a new mag 9.5 and immediately started skimming, filling up the foam tower with fine bubbles and collecting a dark skimmate. The recommended pump is a mag 5 so even with the gate wide open and minimal air valve use I have to dial the pump down a fair amount but it was a good price and I can control it. The immediate problem Im having is getting my top off system up n running as Im pulling a ton of crap out. Anyways, thanks for all the suggestions.

[den2636]

you have to adjust the bubbles so its about maybe 3 to 4 inches below the collection cup. basically make the bubbles work hard to make there way into the cup so when you feed or fish urine and do there business the nasty stuff will go in the collection cup. clean your collection cup every week no matter what as it will keep your skimmer running efficiently!