So here's the deal...

ErinCahir

ErinCahir

Sausage Wrangler
This is kind of a general question/opinion thing, so in the noob section it goes.

We set up our fuge this weekend. It took a little longer than we thought it would, so the skimmer we got (Reef Octopus DNWB 200 Recirculating Protein Skimmer* - AquaCave) had to wait until today to be hooked up (we dinked around with it over the weekend... tested it and everything). So the husband hooks it up and (I don't know exactly how this happened) the thing over flowed all over. So now he doesn't want to use this skimmer because he's worried about something happening and then we have a massive flood. (Which then resulted in a huge fight but whatever.) Is there anything we can do that will ease his mind? Check valves? Whatever? I am so clueless about this stuff.
Short of that, I'm thinking I'll take the skimmer for trade at my LFS (it is all plumbed/siliconed together). Now, the POS skimmer we have now (which I am so embarrassed by I'm not even going to tell you what it is) is such a POS and SO underrated for our system have we basically been running a skimmerless system already? I mean, it pulls stuff out but I empty the cup maybe once every two weeks. And even then it's only an inch of crud. So... would it be so horrible to go skimmerless? I know Nemo does... and PRC... and I know there are other threads about this but I didn't really want to hijack someone elses...
 
Did the skimmer flood up the top and out of the cup? If so, turn the skimmer down all the way (with the handle) and run it on that low setting for a week or two. During this time, nothing will be collecting in the cup -- and that's fine. It takes new skimmers a couple weeks to break in, and during that time, you can't expect them to work correctly. After it has had time to break in, dial it in so that the bubbles are reaching the top of the neck and collecting in the cup.
 
We'll see if he'll be okay with that. He's pretty pissed at the skimmer right now. He got a heck of a shock after it overflowed and now he's being very black/white about the whole thing.
 
My skimmer goes nuts with every water change. One moment it'll be working just fine, then it'll overflow. I think I have a kink in my airline so I need to play with it some more. Even when it's completely open, the water level is halfway up the skimmer cup. :grumble:

Make sure the airline and fitting never gets clogged.
 
AdeptMrSniffles said:
Can you put it in something that could contain any overlows? Let's say... an empty cat litter box, or something of the sort?
Click to expand...

Yes. We have a very large rubbermaid that we had our old sump in to control the salt creep. I suggested it. We'll see what happens today. He's paranoid because the skimmer will be sitting next to the tank and all it will take is one of the kids to mess with it a little and we'll have a "massive" flood. Which we won't. Because the tank will only drain as far as the overflow box goes.
Whatever. I'm irritated because it's "my" tank and yet he insisted upon getting a snowflake eel. Which is cool... but I'm pretty sure the damn thing ate my flame angel and now my coral beauty is missing this morning.
 
Sounds like it's time for separate tanks..1 for the eel. 1 for your fish.

Like you said, I don't run a skimmer. I've never had a problem. Other than running the algae scrubber, the only think I do differently than other reefers is stay constant on my water changes. I change roughly 150g of water per month. I do a 32g water change every week religiously. (I''m sure I could do less, but that's my routine) I have big fish that get fed alot, my nitrates have never been higher than .05ppm. my water is clean and clear. I've never owned a skimmer for my 90g or my 180g....if you set it up right, the scrubbers work flawlessly. And you'll never have an algae issue or any sort, and it can't flood.

I just don't understand why more people don't use them. I'm not saying don't use a skimmer if thats what you want to do, that's great. But people that constantly have algae issues in their tanks can really benefit from an algae scrubber. They're cheap, easy to make, and effective.

This tank has been setup for over a year. I've never had 1 piece of algae in my tank other than what I was feeding the fish. And I've never had any issues keeping whatever type of coral that I want...What more could you ask for?

If you need help with it, just PM me anytime.
 
Bifferwine said:
Did the skimmer flood up the top and out of the cup? If so, turn the skimmer down all the way (with the handle) and run it on that low setting for a week or two. During this time, nothing will be collecting in the cup -- and that's fine. It takes new skimmers a couple weeks to break in, and during that time, you can't expect them to work correctly. After it has had time to break in, dial it in so that the bubbles are reaching the top of the neck and collecting in the cup.
Click to expand...

So we're going to give it another shot. I'm going to build like a plexi glass holding tank for it so no one can mess with it and if it does overflow the water will collect there instead of our hardwood floor. Husband is going to build a curio-type thing so it'll be out of sight.
And it did flow out of the top of the cup. So were we supposed to start it dry? I think he put water in it before he started it....

And I found my coral beauty this morning. Maybe he was just having an "off" day yesterday. He's swimming around and eating fine today...
 
My Lifereef skimmer overflowed when I was trying to dial it in too, but I was watching it and caught it before a mess. I'm still working on getting mine dialed in correctly, and its been running for some time now - it seems that the water level in the sump affects the skimmer and I have to top off every day due to evaporation.

You're not alone :)
 
Thank goodness I'm not alone... My husband showed me where he got shocked last night. There's a split about an inch long on the side of his thumb.
I really want it hooked up but I can definitely wait until after I build a container for it.

The water level in the sump affects the skimmer? Like if it's high it overflows or if it's low it overflows?
 
It seems that when I fill the sump to account for evaporation, my skimmer goes crazy and pushes a bunch of water into the cup for a few minutes and then all is well. I'm still trying to get it to collect on a regular basis - its hardly pulling anything out of the water and with the amount of life in the tank, I would expect it to be pulling out more
 
PRC said:
Sounds like it's time for separate tanks..1 for the eel. 1 for your fish.

Like you said, I don't run a skimmer. I've never had a problem. Other than running the algae scrubber, the only think I do differently than other reefers is stay constant on my water changes. .....
if you set it up right, the scrubbers work flawlessly. And you'll never have an algae issue or any sort, and it can't flood.

I just don't understand why more people don't use them. I'm not saying don't use a skimmer if thats what you want to do, that's great. But people that constantly have algae issues in their tanks can really benefit from an algae scrubber. They're cheap, easy to make, and effective.

This tank has been setup for over a year. I've never had 1 piece of algae in my tank other than what I was feeding the fish. And I've never had any issues keeping whatever type of coral that I want...What more could you ask for?

If you need help with it, just PM me anytime.
Click to expand...


Whoa--tell me more.....

I have a "used" 55 gallon that recently had a "disaster" and is now clean (new sand bed) and empty except for my 35+ pounds of live rock.

About 2-3 weeks after buying, moving and re-setting up the tank I had a major "brown mess" (diatoms??).

Don't want that to happen again with the tank now clean and empty.
I would love to hear about the algae scrubber.:bowdown: Thanks...
 
Both PRC and OhNoNemo run skimmerless. You can private message them about it... I'm going to stick with my skimmer... mostly because I'd get too lazy about the water changes...
 

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