csababubbles
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2007
- Messages
- 661
I finally got my MSX300 broken in decently and its starting to create some excellant skimmate. Right now it is working in partnership with a Tunze Master DOC skimmer in a dual-skimmer sump set-up.
This skimmer is working very well and is able to pull out similar quality and quantity as the Tunze skimmer even though the Tunze cost double $ and has been broken in for several months. Not trying to compare the skimmers since the Tunze has certain very important advantages to me, most important being the anti-foaming feature among others.
Anyways, the first pic is of the skimmers doing work. The pics are about 5 hours after I cleaned the cups. These things are definately doing some serious work as you can see by the skimmate created in just a few short hours.
Second part of this thread is my question about adjust skimmers. I have many excellant skimmers working on my different tanks but even though I have so much comparative data I still find it difficult to figure this out for some reason. Where do you want the water level in a skimmer in general? High enough so that a very small foam head (or none at all if your daring) is created which would result in a lot of crap being tossed out into the collection cup or would it be better to have the water level low enough so that a significant foam head is created, thus creating that typical scene of foam down the sides of the collection cup?
Right now I have the Tunze (left side and also second pic) running lower which creates a nice foam head. As you can see the foam head gets dark with organics and then slowly spills over into the collection cup. You can even see a lot slowly oozing over the sides.
The skimmer on the right side (msx300) and also in the third pic is running water level higher which creates a very thin foam head since it gets pushed over into the cup before it creates a head.
So which is the better way to run a skimmer? Both ways the skimmate is nasty so at this point i am just trying to fine tune.
p.s. For all you MSX users, the silencers restrict quite a bit of air. If you take off the top part of the silencer (like you can see in the pic) it will allow the pumps to suck in air at their maximum potential. Its not a HUGE HUGE deal but it adds to the list of mods that can be done (like re-doing the mesh, replacing the air lines, etc.)
This skimmer is working very well and is able to pull out similar quality and quantity as the Tunze skimmer even though the Tunze cost double $ and has been broken in for several months. Not trying to compare the skimmers since the Tunze has certain very important advantages to me, most important being the anti-foaming feature among others.
Anyways, the first pic is of the skimmers doing work. The pics are about 5 hours after I cleaned the cups. These things are definately doing some serious work as you can see by the skimmate created in just a few short hours.
Second part of this thread is my question about adjust skimmers. I have many excellant skimmers working on my different tanks but even though I have so much comparative data I still find it difficult to figure this out for some reason. Where do you want the water level in a skimmer in general? High enough so that a very small foam head (or none at all if your daring) is created which would result in a lot of crap being tossed out into the collection cup or would it be better to have the water level low enough so that a significant foam head is created, thus creating that typical scene of foam down the sides of the collection cup?
Right now I have the Tunze (left side and also second pic) running lower which creates a nice foam head. As you can see the foam head gets dark with organics and then slowly spills over into the collection cup. You can even see a lot slowly oozing over the sides.
The skimmer on the right side (msx300) and also in the third pic is running water level higher which creates a very thin foam head since it gets pushed over into the cup before it creates a head.
So which is the better way to run a skimmer? Both ways the skimmate is nasty so at this point i am just trying to fine tune.
p.s. For all you MSX users, the silencers restrict quite a bit of air. If you take off the top part of the silencer (like you can see in the pic) it will allow the pumps to suck in air at their maximum potential. Its not a HUGE HUGE deal but it adds to the list of mods that can be done (like re-doing the mesh, replacing the air lines, etc.)
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