OBD Signature Protein Skimmer Owners Forum

[seedlessinseattle]

Crap i just cleaned mine today, I will hopefully try to see if I can post a picture link tomorrow and share and do a weekly update, mine skims pretty consistent dark stinky muddy like, I think the stinkier the better lol

 

[Skimmy]

I think one thing that is confusing people here is that there is no magic bullet settings to this(or any) skimmer...
nor would you want there to be...
you WANT a skimmer that is fully adjustable, so you can set it according to your bioload/nutrient levels/feeding habits.
No one other than you is going to know this information, so YOU are the ones who must learn to be observant, start a log, and figure out what settings are the best for your system. Mike can only provide a place to start and a methodology for making adjustments based upon
the skimmer design, he knows nothing of your reef system.
All you need to do is get a small valve for the air line and another small valve for the maxi-jet, prolly less that $5 total.

 

[mfinn]

Crap i just cleaned mine today, I will hopefully try to see if I can post a picture link tomorrow and share and do a weekly update, mine skims pretty consistent dark stinky muddy like, I think the stinkier the better lol

I would like to see what others are getting.
So far I have not been getting much. Mostly a very small amount of weak tea colored water.

 

[seedlessinseattle]

https://db.tt/8nEqxsqc

Ok, picture of 2 daysI usually have to empty every 10 days or so
i

 

[mfinn]

This is 8 days for mine.

and I'm not very happy how this is working out.

 

[ksed]

That looks fairly good to me. If you are looking for a darker skim then run your foam head lower. You can accomplish this several ways with this skimmer. Also what is your bio load in the tank?

 

[mojoreef]

Marty the skimmer is designed to be able to capture and remove dissolved organics. This is accomplished with having 60 seconds of contact time in the mixing chamber of the skimmer. It is not designed to just freight train foam that removes all (good and bad ) from the water. Most skimmers have to use the water pump in order to create air, this means that they have to use a larger pump that does not allow for any contact time in the skimmer, most are only 9 to 13 seconds and with that kind of contact time you can not mechanically cleave a water mole and then chemically reattach it to a clean air bubble. What they do do is to pull out inorganic material, if it is brown in your cup then you are pull out animal product (zoo plankton) if green then plant (phytoplankton) which is what most people are trying to feed their tanks. Yes you do pull out some detritus as it gets caught up in the foam column (as it does on ours, but our tends to be much finer sediment as its been mixing for alot longer) but they do not touch the dissolved organics. If you are pulling out proteins your skimmate would actually be milky white, now mix that with your dissolved organics and you will get a brown to black (pending on your bacterial count) type of vicious liquid.

Are you seeing something wrong in your tank or is it just the color of the skimmate you are not used to or happy with?

Mike

 

[mfinn]

I am starting to see some red cyno build up on the powerheads. Some floating red slime ( cyno) in the corners of the sump.
I have always had a tiny bit bryopsis on the teeth of my overflows. That growth has taken a much larger jump.
Glass gets a algae film much faster.

With my last skimmer, ( no change in the bio-load of the tank) I would get a dark thick liquid and a big build up on the neck of the skimmer.

 

[mfinn]

That looks fairly good to me. If you are looking for a darker skim then run your foam head lower. You can accomplish this several ways with this skimmer. Also what is your bio load in the tank?

For 8 days?
That was about 1-1/2" total and the camera made it look much darker than it actually was.
This is on my 240 gallon softy tank.
Link in my sig.

 

[seedlessinseattle]

This is 8 days for mine.

and I'm not very happy how this is working out.

I was getting about the same color and quantity on the first few weeks, i'm having some red cyano but not too bad, I will post a few more links on set up from water level to water outlet, hopefully that helps, this is my skimmer # 3, all 3 very different, so far I like this better

 

[mojoreef]

Hmm not sure what to say Marty, if in 8 days you are seeing algae growth and cyano that does not represent what I see at the shop or from most others.

Here is a picture of the one under the coral tank, same size as yours tank wise but with 5 good size fish and after two days use

and then the one in the back with two days use but with a bunch of fish (20?? small/medium fish)

With both of these we have them running at full open for both the water and air pumps

Mike

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Marty, is there room in the sump to put your previous one back in and watch them side by side?

 

[mfinn]

The algae growth is what I'm seeing since I installed the skimmer, 10 weeks ago
I have been getting little or no skimming so far and I figure that is what is causing it.
Just a observation of a tank that has been setup for 6+ years.

The 8 day figure was what accumulated in the skimmer cup.
I'd be happy to get the same results as in your pictures Mike.

 

[mfinn]

Marty, is there room in the sump to put your previous one back in and watch them side by side?

I don't think so.
It has a base that helps support the 2 sicce pumps that it uses.

Plus I have a couple different pumps I picked up for it and I don't know how they will run. It was a experiment I was going to try.

 

[myindoorocean]

Ok I have the same thing going on. Tons of gha and next to no skimmate. I get a little gunk in the neck of the skimmer but no water. I have the outlet valve adjusted so the water is about 1/2 to 3/4 way up the cone and still nothing.

I figured it was because the algae is using all the nutrients and there are none to skim. Does that make sense?

I am questioning my biopellets a little. I bought some from brs that are quite a bit bigger than the ones I got from you when I bought the reactor. They aren't really getting smaller, how fast should that happen? I've had them in there for 3 or 4 months.

 

[myindoorocean]

On Mike's advice, I removed my bio-pellets from the pellet reactor to see how it would work. They had supplied me with pellets when I bought the reactor, and I bought some new ones from Bulk Reef Supply. The new ones were much larger than the old ones, and I don't think they work well. 12 hours after removing the bio-pellets here's what mine looks like. Awesome! Mike's going to be sending me some new ones, the right kind, and I'm hoping to be back on track soon!

 

[myindoorocean]

Also, I have both water valves and the air valve opened all the way.

 

[seedlessinseattle]

I never got around to install pellet reactor on mine, is only been running for about 2 months but in my case it was used, don't know how old it is, I did cleaned with vinegar so far is been running fine, hoping to stay that way, have you tried cleaning air stones ?

 

[mojoreef]

The algae growth is what I'm seeing since I installed the skimmer, 10 weeks ago
I have been getting little or no skimming so far and I figure that is what is causing it.
Just a observation of a tank that has been setup for 6+ years.

The 8 day figure was what accumulated in the skimmer cup.
I'd be happy to get the same results as in your pictures Mike.

Yes I figured that, I think when you first got the Skimmer the stones had not been siliconed on the ends and you were not told to let them soak overnight and that ended up giving you the larger bubbles. I am more concerned about what is happening now with the bubble production.

 

[txaggie09]

How loud would yall say your air pumps are? Mine seems louder than what ive heard from other people say. I have mine in a semi-enclosed tv stand next to my aquarium and it definitely drowns out everything else on the aquarium (mag drive return pump, 2 vortechs, etc). Its really annoying while watching tv. So, im kind of thinking about building a box for it with some sound dampening material but with fans to make sure it has enough air and heat exchange. Just curious what other people think.