Skimmer questions

[Cameloter]

I have 2 questions:
1.I have read that skimmers work best if fed surface skimmed water before it is filtered and if the skimmer sits in an open sump it reskims the water in the sump lowering efficiency. Most tanks I've seen however do have the skimmer sitting in the sump after filtering.Are these concerns really not that important or are there simple ways to accomplish this.
2.It is often recommended to turn off your skimmer during feeding and some of the controllers even have feed cycles that can do it automatically.If I turn off my skimmer pump(Sicce pump on Reef Octopus Extreme 160) the pump often won't restart and because the pump sits under the skimmer body, it becomes a huge ordeal.Do most people turn off their skimmers when feeding corals? Turn off their return pumps?Should I replace my skimmer pump?
Thanks for any responses, Steve.

 

[jgalvin]

i've not had the best efficientcy our of my skimmer, so won't comment I that. I do not turn off my skimmer when feeding, just my return pump.

 

[Chichas01]

skimmer will work best in the section of your sump that recieves the raw water going over your overflow from your tank. Not sure what you mean by 'reskims'. If that is where you have it, you are good to go
I will turn of my return pump on occassion when feeding my fish and corals but not the skimmer. If your Octo hangs on restarting, there is a good chance it's the impellar. I had the same problem and replaced it with the new pin wheel impellar and now it starts up rock solid every time I unplug it if for some reason I need to do so.

 

[Cameloter]

Where did you get the pinwheel impeller?

skimmer will work best in the section of your sump that recieves the raw water going over your overflow from your tank. Not sure what you mean by 'reskims'. If that is where you have it, you are good to go
I will turn of my return pump on occassion when feeding my fish and corals but not the skimmer. If your Octo hangs on restarting, there is a good chance it's the impellar. I had the same problem and replaced it with the new pin wheel impellar and now it starts up rock solid every time I unplug it if for some reason I need to do so.

 

[Chichas01]

http://www.aquacave.com/pin-wheel-impellerbr-for-octopus-otp-br-water-pump-2427.html

 

[Cameloter]

Do you know anything about the upgraded impellers(ATB and Warner)? Certainly there seems to be widespread issues with start up that these impellers are trying to address.

http://www.aquacave.com/pin-wheel-impellerbr-for-octopus-otp-br-water-pump-2427.html

 

[FreakinReefin]

I have 2 questions:
1.I have read that skimmers work best if fed surface skimmed water before it is filtered and if the skimmer sits in an open sump it reskims the water in the sump lowering efficiency. Most tanks I've seen however do have the skimmer sitting in the sump after filtering.Are these concerns really not that important or are there simple ways to accomplish this.
2.It is often recommended to turn off your skimmer during feeding and some of the controllers even have feed cycles that can do it automatically.If I turn off my skimmer pump(Sicce pump on Reef Octopus Extreme 160) the pump often won't restart and because the pump sits under the skimmer body, it becomes a huge ordeal.Do most people turn off their skimmers when feeding corals? Turn off their return pumps?Should I replace my skimmer pump?
Thanks for any responses, Steve.

I have the same skimmer and the same Sicce pump and I have the same issue when turning on and off the pump. Sometimes the pump doesn't start right up, however I just lift the skimmer up a few inches and then slam it back down to jar the pump a little and it starts right back up. Works everytime! I would not take the skimmer and out of the water and detach the pump everytime that happens. Usually pumps just need a little jarring in order to get them running again.

 

[Cameloter]

I've tried that approach. Not always reliable for me. I have considered throwing it against the wall. It is so awkward reaching into my cabinet to get to the sump and space is limited. Seems to me that a pump costing nearly $100 should work a little better.

I have the same skimmer and the same Sicce pump and I have the same issue when turning on and off the pump. Sometimes the pump doesn't start right up, however I just lift the skimmer up a few inches and then slam it back down to jar the pump a little and it starts right back up. Works everytime! I would not take the skimmer and out of the water and detach the pump everytime that happens. Usually pumps just need a little jarring in order to get them running again.

 

[FreakinReefin]

I've tried that approach. Not always reliable for me. I have considered throwing it against the wall. It is so awkward reaching into my cabinet to get to the sump and space is limited. Seems to me that a pump costing nearly $100 should work a little better.

Well it also depends on how long you have had that pump running for. I have had some issues with my QuietOne pumps too. FYI, if you are running a kalk reactor don't have the drip hose dripping into the same chamber as the pump. I pulled out my pump and there was kalk and calcium build-up all inside the impeller chamber which was stopping the pump. Also if your tank is new and you had the skimmer running while you had cloudy/dirty water from the sand, take your impeller out and clean the chamber since that sand and dirt will get in there and cause problems. Just keep a common sense approach like you would running a car. If you put something into your tank that is gritty or clouds the water then more than likely that sediment will attach itself to parts and especially moving parts that have friction and heat to help it bond to.

 

[Skimmy]

I have 2 questions:
1.I have read that skimmers work best if fed surface skimmed water before it is filtered and if the skimmer sits in an open sump it reskims the water in the sump lowering efficiency. Most tanks I've seen however do have the skimmer sitting in the sump after filtering.Are these concerns really not that important or are there simple ways to accomplish this.
2.It is often recommended to turn off your skimmer during feeding and some of the controllers even have feed cycles that can do it automatically.If I turn off my skimmer pump(Sicce pump on Reef Octopus Extreme 160) the pump often won't restart and because the pump sits under the skimmer body, it becomes a huge ordeal.Do most people turn off their skimmers when feeding corals? Turn off their return pumps?Should I replace my skimmer pump?
Thanks for any responses, Steve.

sorry I missed this...

mkay, so....
with a skimmer that is as powerful as anything with a sicce psk2500 on it,
it's not going to matter much if the water is "filtered" or not...
it's your feeding habits and bioload that are going to determine how "well" your skimmer is doing.
as long as your overflow is delivering the suface proteins to the sump, it wont matter much where your skimmer is.
what does matter is the amount of water that travels through the sump...
in your case the sicce pulls about 250-300gph after air injection, and you shouldnt be feeding any media reactors with GAC of GFO more than say 150gph, so it doesnt make any sense to pump more water than your skimmer can handle through the sump, ie: 250-300gph. so, how big is your DT and what return pump are you using??

as far as your start up issues, the pinwheel you want for the sicce is the Warner Marine red demon:
http://premiumaquatics.com/store/me...=PA&Product_Code=WM-RPW&Category_Code=oct-ext
what would be more simple is to just cut power to the return pump while you feed so that no water is going through your sump being filtered, and you wont need to turn off the skimmer.

 

[Cameloter]

Sorry, the 2 parts of my question have gotten confused.I have a functioning 120 with the Octopus extreme/sicce combo that is working well except for start up problems with the pump.I do use some polyfilter material upstream of the skimmer. I am setting up a second 55 gallon with a AquaC Urchin Pro that came with a Rio1400 pump This equipment is used but new to me and I was going to add a filter sock attachment to the sump until I saw the comments on the AquaC website about using raw unfiltered water to feed your skimmer for best skimming efficiency. Should I abandon the filter sock? Should I filter after the skimmer?Is this concern really inconsequential? The new tank will favor softies, zoas, LPS so maybe some extra nutrients won't be harmful.

sorry I missed this...

mkay, so....
with a skimmer that is as powerful as anything with a sicce psk2500 on it,
it's not going to matter much if the water is "filtered" or not...
it's your feeding habits and bioload that are going to determine how "well" your skimmer is doing.
as long as your overflow is delivering the suface proteins to the sump, it wont matter much where your skimmer is.
what does matter is the amount of water that travels through the sump...
in your case the sicce pulls about 250-300gph after air injection, and you shouldnt be feeding any media reactors with GAC of GFO more than say 150gph, so it doesnt make any sense to pump more water than your skimmer can handle through the sump, ie: 250-300gph. so, how big is your DT and what return pump are you using??

as far as your start up issues, the pinwheel you want for the sicce is the Warner Marine red demon:
http://premiumaquatics.com/store/me...=PA&Product_Code=WM-RPW&Category_Code=oct-ext
what would be more simple is to just cut power to the return pump while you feed so that no water is going through your sump being filtered, and you wont need to turn off the skimmer.