Coralife Super Skimmer 65 HOB on a Glass 29 Gallon

[mjstech]

Hey guys, just got a tank started after 8 years away from the hobby. I used RO/DI water.
The Super Skimmer I got it off eBay for $30+s/h as a used returned item that looked brand new with box. I let it soak in hot water and rinsed for a few hours before putting into my tank. I still have a cleaned SeaClone 100, that I know people hate, from 8 yrs ago that I ran on my 29G seahorse tank. I never had issues with them. I had more problems with CPR Bak-Paks and Red Sea Prizm on some of my other smaller tanks from back in the day. My larger tanks had sumps with larger skimmers in them.
I knew it was going to be a sand storm for a while after adding live sand so I let it be for a while with HOB power filter and power heads only. When the tank was clear-ish I plugged in and watched the skimmer, knowing they could be finicky to start, from other users posts on the forum. I unplugged it after seeing that it was going to overflow. And then tried a few adjustments without liking the outcomes. I saw, on the forum, that people had a few mods for the skimmer. I decided I might as well do one now. I did the needle wheel mod with fishing line. I added a picture of how I did mine. I got it all put back together and am currently running it with full pump flow and the output air vent running to a tube under water, which seems to have also calmed it down. The power filter is a whisper 40 with the poly and carbon it comes with. I have an inch from the output tube to the white filter, and have some micro bubbles for now. I don't care if it produces skim-mate yet, I just don't want an overflow. I will continue to monitor the skimmer/tank parameters for a while. Maybe thinking of what to do for micro bubbles if they don't settle down.
Then onto getting live rock, and cycling the tank.
I keep hearing Reef Octopus and Eshopps on the forum, are these the new popular HOBs?
Anyone running a Super Skimmer 65 as HOB anymore? Most posts I searched seem a bit old. Any current or new tips/tricks with them?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[mjstech]

I know there is a break in time for all skimmers... is this normal though?

I know there is a break in time for all skimmers... is this normal though?

When I was adding live sand to the tank and running the skimmer I did get some fine skimmate all the way up the neck and collected. I have since cleaned the cup, only tap water and then rinsed with ro/di and then SW. The tank is crystal clear now and have continued to run the skimmer ever since. It also has the poly filter with carbon from the hob whisper filter too since filling the tank. I am only like 48 hours into running. I tested water and there is no nitrite/nitrate. I used RO/DI with Instant Ocean. I did check salinity and am still at 1.023.
I know there is a break in time for the skimmer and there really isn't any bioload to take out, but the skimmer seems to be weird to me. I produces microbubles up to the neck of the cup, then the bubbles seem larger there and nothing goes farther up the collection cup neck than in the video. I have done the fishing line mod. Skimmer is running full input and output.

I have included a video of what the skimmer has been doing since the first cleanout. No dryfoam/nothing collected.
https://vid.me/3vux

Also, I was thinking of getting some tube for the collection cup drain line. Does anyone know what size I need? It is not standard air tube, I have tried 3/16" ID 5/15" OD clear vinyl but doesn't fit over the drain nipple. I still think 1/4" ID is going to be too large.

Thanks, Mark