Skimming

[messiah023]

Since I added my first skimmer, would you seasoned vets please give me some advice.

The skimmer went in last Saturday and threw out tons of microbubbles (expected) and was a bit noisy.

As soon as it broke in (about two days) the bubbles diminished and the sound is acceptable.

The first week produced good foam and dark skimmate.
Today, no foam and no foamy bubbles up the collection tube.

Is this normal for skimmers to not collect for certain periods?

Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Bifferwine]

If there is nothing to collect, it won't collect anything. Especially in lightly stocked tanks. It sounds like when you added it, it cleaned up the water quickly and now is slowing down because there's less gunk in the water. My skimmer seems to work in bursts too. I would keep an eye on it for a couple days, and if it doesn't start producing foam again, then start troubleshooting for a problem.

 

[McCrary]

What skimmer is it? Is it on your 30 gallon? How often do you feed and do water changes? Also what are your parameters and what things do you add to the tank?

Skimmers should be fairly consistent in producing gunk, but in lightly stocked tanks (as biff said) they may not produce as consistently because there just anything for them to pull out.

 

[Oscarsdad608]

Make sure the riser tube is as clean as you can keep it. In my experience a clean skimmer will always produce more skimmate. After the riser tube gets dirty it is alot harder for the bubbles to rise.

 

[messiah023]

Thanks everyone.
After the lights went out tonight, The foam started up again. I will make sure to keep it clean and see.

The model I bought is for the 30g and it's an Octopus HOB 3-chamber unit.
So far, it's great.....the thing works like a champ.

I was on the fence about the skimmer, had a canister for 5 months and I thought the water quality was good.

Biff pushed me into making the purchase (once I found one of these backordered monsters in stock). I can say without any reservations, that what you think is good quality water really isn't without the skimmer.

One week into the skimmer installation, I have my first bits of purple corraline growing on the glass....

YEAH!

 

[RyanG]

I just cleaned my skimmer collection cup for the first time today on my Bermuda. Oh my god! I thought my daughters diapers used to stink. Woof nothing like dry heaving in the lawn!

On a side note and not to hijack but I have some hair algae growing inside my skimmer (sunlight does wonders for that stuff) any special way to clean it? Just wipe it out with a rag?

 

[Oscarsdad608]

You should beable to wipe it off pretty easy. I use a tooth brush to clean mine.

 

[sen5241b]

My skimmer does the same thing. IT goes crazy for a day and then the next day nothing.

 

[Bifferwine]

I wipe mine off with a paper towel. I don't clean it using anything except water and paper towels.

 

[McCrary]

RyanG- You should throw up some photos of the Bermuda in action. It is probably one of the best choices for HOB skimmers right now and I'm curious as to how it is performing on your tank (I'm sure others are curious as well).

 

[RyanG]

Its not an HOB. Ive got the bps-8c it pulls some good stinky crap though. In the 180 Im going to plumb it external. OH and just a little FYI for everyone. Storing live rock in a tank in a greenhouse=BAD IDEA. The little bit of hair algae I had is now an epidemic.

 

[McCrary]

Oops, for some reason I thought you had the rogue.

 

[McCrary]

Well you should still post some pics, lol. The model that you have is the same dimensions as my H&S, so it would be cool to see how it looks in action.

 

[fatman]

I just cleaned my skimmer collection cup for the first time today on my Bermuda. Oh my god! I thought my daughters diapers used to stink. Woof nothing like dry heaving in the lawn!

On a side note and not to hijack but I have some hair algae growing inside my skimmer (sunlight does wonders for that stuff) any special way to clean it? Just wipe it out with a rag?

:bounce: It might look ugly, but keeping your skimmer wrapped up in a black plastic bag will keep stuff from growing inside it. You do not even want to have to clean corraline out of a scratch prone skimmer more than once, better is to never have to do it. That is another advantage of those tall air driven PVC skimmers, no algae or corraline algae. If you want to see inside of the PVC a window is easy to cut and glue acrylic over. Just hang a curved rectangular section of the next larger size PVC pipe over the window to block light when not using it for viewing.:^:

 

[RyanG]

Im going to mount my skimmer externally to the sump I think and make some kind of divider to keep the light out.