Curing Live ROck / New tank

[bmallia82]

Had my tank up and running for 1 week now. Yesterday I added a Protein Skimmer and now she is skimming beatuifully. However, I noticed that the water has a greenish/brownish/rusty color to it. What is that from??

I also do not have a light and will be purchasing one in about 3 weeks. I have to wait b/c of my budget.

Thanks guys

 

[Avi]

The protein skimmer will remove things that are suspended in the water that pass through it. There may well be a variety of algaes, cyanos, etc. in the water when you are at that stage of the process and so you'll see that kind of thing happen with the "skimmate." It sounds like your skimmer is working effectively.

 

[gtriamy]

adding to what Avi said, the darker the skimmate, the better, that means ur pulling all sorts of stuff from the water, slowing down the breakdown in ur tank.

 

[bmallia82]

ok, thanks guys. Now the first 3 hours the simmer was working beautifuly. The bubbles were really thick and nasty. It was creating a green motor oil type substance into the skimmate.

NOw few hours later I noticed that the bubbles arent as thick and its not overflowing into the skimmate. Seems that it is starting to build it back up. THe bubbles arent as thick and have more of a water texture to it.

any ideas why. Is this a normal process?

thanks


the protein skimmer i have is an MTC

 

[Avi]

Certain "events" will effect the progress of the skimmer's operation. So, for example, if you put food in the tank, it will generally stop the production of the bubbles...I believe it's because the fats and oils that enter the water from the foods....So might even just putting your hand in the water. So, don't be surprised if sometimes, the bubble making or the type of bubbles that the skimmer generates is different from other times.