Protein Skimmer

[hollister750]

I have the stock protein skimmer from the finnex m tank. It hasn't collected anything into the cup and it is 3 weeks old. Is that normal?

Thanks,
Hollister750

 

[twilliard]

The tank itself is 3 weeks old?

If I remember right when I started my first tank it didnt do much because there wasnt anything in the water yet.

Do you have the level high enough in the skimmer? Actualy do you have a pic of the skimmer? That would help determine the setup of it.

 

[twilliard]

I found a pic online but it is hard to tell how you adjust the level on it.

Also what about your rock? Was it cured, non cured, dry?

 

[mountaindew]

you may be able to help with my skimmer.I have attatched a pic of it and if you could tell me how far up the water should be that would be great

 

[LakeEd]

1st thing I'm seeing, is you badly need to empty the collection cup! Dump out that water. Most likely, you need to DOWN-ADJUST how much air and/or water is going into that skimmer. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about those adjustments on this type skimmer for you, but it looks like that red knob is one of your adjustments. But, you do NEED to empty that collection cup!!!

 

[moortim]

For starters, how about giving us some information like Ed mentioned, amount of live rock, how long the tank has been running, and what livestock is in it. Next, the stuff coming out of a skimmer (skimmate) should be anywhere from dark brown to green to black. If you are getting just clear then you need to turn down the skimmer like Ed advised. The problem might be that you don't have anything to skim yet, or a dozen other setup problems. Try and give us all the information you can so we can sort out the problem.

Tim

 

[moortim]

For hollister750, the same basic stuff applies (other than emptying your collection cup) feed us some info to crunch on.

 

[mountaindew]

I have 100lbs of live rock,2in of arrgonite sand plus 2 bags of live sand.The tank has been running for 1 day.No fish at all in tank

 

[moortim]

I have 100lbs of live rock,2in of arrgonite sand plus 2 bags of live sand.The tank has been running for 1 day.No fish at all in tank

Skimmers take a while to break in so if you don't see it do anything at first then don't worry about it, just turn it down some. A good idea might be to search around here and look at pictures of different peoples tanks to see what the water level in their skimmer is compared to yours. I am guessing you are curing the live rock? In that case you should get some output from your skimmer caused by die off from the rock. I suggest you play around with the controls to your skimmer for a while, since you don't have any live stock, and get a feel for how it works.

Tim

 

[Krish]

I agree with Tim. The fact that that pure water is in the collection cup, means your water level in the skimmer is set too high. Typically you want only the white foam/skimmate to reach the collection cup. Not at all familiar with either skimmers but they do take a while to break in sometimes and you have to have the right air to water mixure in the skimmer neck to produce the right consistency skimmate.

 

[mountaindew]

thank you for the advice

 

[moortim]

Anytime,

 

[mungus]

The skimmer you have is coralife super skimmer that red knob that you see is how you adjust the water level in the skimmer. They can be a real pain to adjust. If you feel adventurous you can remove the whole output assembly and replace it with new pvc and a gate valve. This will make adjusting the skimmer much easier. I don't see any bubbles in the riser tube so I am assuming that it stoped overflowing. If you used any sort of decholrinator or stress coat when you started up the tank that would cause it to overflow with all the clear water that you see in the cup.

FWIW
Brian

 

[mountaindew]

I took the extra water out of the cup and lowered the water level to the bottom of the cup.now I will wait and see how it does.Thanks again for all the advice

 

[Reefdaddy1]

I have tested the css models thourghly, They take about 48-96 hours to start skimming, depending on your load. If you have just put this unit up you will see a gradual trend of skimmate as it goes. But have found the water level on those units will fluctuate highly from time to time, There are some mods out there for those but I wouldnt mess with it till later.