ASM G3 w/ Sedra 5000

[Mickey13]

i recently set up my a new sump i built. previously i had my skimmer in about 6 inches of water and it was working fine for more than 1 year, that is i had the water level tube pushed down all the way BUT IT NEVER OVERFLOWED.. the new sump is around 8 inches of water .

so last week i added some nori and the skimmer went crazy. i built a small platform to raise the skimmer up about 4 inches and its been doing well since. however it is sitting really high in the sump. any suggestions?

 

[RobbyG]

I use the same skimmer. If I remember correctly 8" is the correct depth.
I have had mine go crazy when I added coral epoxy to the tank but never Nori. When it did go crazy I emptied the cup about 5 times and replaced the SW water and it stopped. At this point it is probably safe to try lowering it back to 8" and see what happens.

 

[Mickey13]

yeah really strange but I haven't moved it so it's still in about 4 inches of water and it's giving me the same consistency of skimate. it's always been pretty watery but now it seems a bit darker in color. I'm just really surprised that it seems to be working fine in 4 inches of water.

I'm going to give it a week or so and just see what happens before lowering it

 

[Mickey13]

it's a 75 gallon tank with a 60 gallon sump about half way full. up until today I have been using ro water with instant ocean. I'm the first house on a lagoon next to the Bay. I changed out 5 gallons for untreated water from off my dock. skimmer is behaving.

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[RobbyG]

I would not use NSW in my tank. Besides the obvious pollutants their is also the issue of bacteria that can be in the water. It may not be a problem in the open ocean but in a tank it will multiply in the enclosed area until it can become deadly.


I think 4" is really shallow for this Skimmer so try to get it down to 8" as soon as possible.

 

[Mickey13]

do you have any evidence or experience that nsw will crash a tank? im not a marine biologist, so i can only go off of what other people say or what i read. everything ive read so far indicates that its OK to use. fed and state epa have not issued any warnings locally and the water is monitored very closely around here. further we have an abundance of wildlife and fish in our waters. i think im going to give it a shot and see what its about. my test kits say its ok, bit low in calc and kh.

 

[Mickey13]

last summer I found 12 terrapins on my property. they are a protected species so I returned them to the marsh, they must have swam over and crawled up the beach next to my home. state wildlife management was out several months ago throwing huge captive bred clams into the inlet of my lagoon. I pull up traps at the edge of my dock full of blue claws at any time during the season. I personally witness schools of minnows and stripers at the edge of my dock as well. I would say that the bay and beaches have been empty from September, I'm extremely comfortable with the water here as I and my family even swim in it. I will not be as comfortable in the summer with all the potential sunscreen. During those months I plan on grabbing water offshore as I'm out there fishing anyway.

 

[RobbyG]

do you have any evidence or experience that nsw will crash a tank? im not a marine biologist, so i can only go off of what other people say or what i read. everything ive read so far indicates that its OK to use. fed and state epa have not issued any warnings locally and the water is monitored very closely around here. further we have an abundance of wildlife and fish in our waters. i think im going to give it a shot and see what its about. my test kits say its ok, bit low in calc and kh.

Yes I tried it and the tank ended up with a lot of strange hitch hikers in the tank about a year later. I did not filter the water but it was from the open ocean gathered by a friends boat and the water was pristine. Another friend of mine who installs and services tanks in Florida said he tried it as a money saving tool and it ended up crashing several tanks. Your talking about water from NJ? I would imagine that there are a lot of chemicals and other not so good stuff in that water. Maybe if I lived in Fiji I would have no hesitation about using the water.
Read this:https://www.npr.org/2019/07/16/7420...it-s-not-all-due-to-climate-change-study-says


Yes there are a lot of good reasons not to use NSW unless your in some pristine part of the world.