Hello everyone, i'm new to the hobby... i had a small reef tank for about a year didn't do very well with coral but the fish did ok.... im hoping i can do better this time around. so anyhow im new to sumps/overflows/skimmers/socks and just purchased a reef octopus 110 internal protein skimmer.Well the directionbut s weren't the best but i managed to peace it together kinda easy(got a couple spare parts donno what to do with them) anyways i cranked it on and it filled the collection cup with water in about a minute.. so turned it off and went to home depot and bought some parts to raise it becouse the recommended water level is 7-8 in deep but my sump runs closer to 10 1/4 in deep so got the water level to about 7 1/2 inch... cranked it on again this time took a bitt longer but still filled with water. so theres a drain plug on the collection cup i opened the drain so i can run the skimmer and break it in... but i feel like im doing something wrong still. it has one adjustment i can see its a knob for the water flowing out the pipe i got it open all the way i tried chocking it back but it seemed to make the skimmer fill up faster with water any advise would help ill try and post some pics... oh its a 75g tank with a 20g trigger system sump... im running 2 power heads and a bag of carbon and a sock currently.. no heater yet. 1.023 salinity... about 50 pounds of dry pukani and about 10 pounds of dry sand. amonia reads around .7ppm.. planning on doing a 90% water change once amonia drops i know its dirty. didnt clean rock first. also i put some seachem seed bactiria and a damsel in tank last week.... the damsel didnt make it but i left it in my sump couse ive heard of people using dead shrimp to help cycle the tank so figured wouldnt hurt... i didnt put him in a stalking though. also if i dont choke back my return pump my overflow gargles a lot and i get a lot of foam in my sock i think i bought to strong a return?
Help with skimmer set up?
- Thread starter Isaac01
- Start date
NSimpkins
New member
Ok, first STOP using live animals to cycle a tank; it's cruel. If you plan to hurt things please get out of this hobby.
Onto your questions. The skimmer will take a week or two to break in under normal circumstances. Skimmers take that time to build up slime coating. Given that there isn't much to pull out it will probably stay "wet" skim and need adjustment anyway.
Maybe someone else can also weigh in but there probably isn't much use in skimming right now as it may even be harmful by stealing a food source from bacteria that are trying to grow their population.
What are your tank temps? You'd probably want to heat the water to the encourage the bacterial growth.
What return do you have (gph)? Do you have a gate or ball valve you can adjust on your return? What kind of drainage are you using (i.e. single, durso, bean)? If single and its full wide open will make that noise. the valves will help you tune in what you want to quiet it down. Most do not recommend that you restrict your drainage at all.
Patience is key. As long as animals aren't getting hurt it is best to give things a couple days in between making changes. It is hard because you have this big new tank to play with and you want to see the results. Resist the temptation to over fix things.
Onto your questions. The skimmer will take a week or two to break in under normal circumstances. Skimmers take that time to build up slime coating. Given that there isn't much to pull out it will probably stay "wet" skim and need adjustment anyway.
Maybe someone else can also weigh in but there probably isn't much use in skimming right now as it may even be harmful by stealing a food source from bacteria that are trying to grow their population.
What are your tank temps? You'd probably want to heat the water to the encourage the bacterial growth.
What return do you have (gph)? Do you have a gate or ball valve you can adjust on your return? What kind of drainage are you using (i.e. single, durso, bean)? If single and its full wide open will make that noise. the valves will help you tune in what you want to quiet it down. Most do not recommend that you restrict your drainage at all.
Patience is key. As long as animals aren't getting hurt it is best to give things a couple days in between making changes. It is hard because you have this big new tank to play with and you want to see the results. Resist the temptation to over fix things.
Scarface8
New member
You could also try raising the skimmer another inch or 2 so it's not over filling all the time while leaving that knob all the way open, once you notice it's not filling collection cup all the time you can lower it a little or start closing that knob again, adjust it doing say half turns at a time and waiting a minute or 2 between half turns, doing that will give the skimmer time to build up the foam level, with every half turn you will see where the foam bubbles are breaking will change and get higher, I'd wait until you start getting a bubbly foam that doesn't pop before you start adjusting, the skimmer may also go a little nuts for the first week or two, that is normal, patience is key and nothing good happens fast, I have an octopus skimmer and it is great, hasn't let me down and I've had it for a little over 2 years now, I hope that helps you out, remember, patients
Hi, thank you for responding to my post... yeah it wasnt my intintion to stress/kill a fish for cycling but the LFS advised me it would be ok as long as doing the bactiria but that didnt work.... anyhow im using a Aqueon Twin Flow Overflow Accessory Kit Accessory Kit. I has one drain pipe and i use the strainer on it it probably would drain better with out it. i didnt consider the heater promoting bactiria growth ill have to get a good heater.. to be honest i was holding out for cobalt to release there flat heaters in my tank size they said it should come out this year.....ok so im running a rio 2100 with 5 ft of head loss so according to rio 4 ft of head loss is 375gph and 6ft is 200 gph. if i take 375-200/2+200=287 GPH? sound about right? and i got a valve i choke back about half way on return pump or it makes funny noises and bubbles up my sock real fast. temp is about 73 so a little low i guess..
soeminpaing
Member
Help with skimmer set up?
You can run the new skimmer without the cup for 2-3 days. Or you can open the drain tube and let it flow back inside the tank. In my opinion, animals never should be put inside a tank when you dont have all the necessary equipments and didn't finished proper fishless cycling. In your case a heater is more of a necessary than a skimmer with your temp being too low.
You can run the new skimmer without the cup for 2-3 days. Or you can open the drain tube and let it flow back inside the tank. In my opinion, animals never should be put inside a tank when you dont have all the necessary equipments and didn't finished proper fishless cycling. In your case a heater is more of a necessary than a skimmer with your temp being too low.
Any suggestions on a heater? im thinking of going with the fenix titanium heater. thats what BRS used on the tank they doing 52 weeks of reefing with? like i said ide rather do the cobalt neo therm but they dont make them in my size? also should i go with the one thats rated for 80g or 100g? its a 75 tank and 20g sump but im assuming thats sump to brim? if so then prob like 10g sump and 60g tank with rock in it?
soeminpaing
Member
Help with skimmer set up?
I would use two eheim jager 200 watts with a temp controller. You can be fine with two 150 watts depending on the weather and room temperature. I have around 5 -6watts per gallon of water with eheim heater and it can increase around 20-25F when the room temp drop below 55F keeping my tank at steady 79F
I would use two eheim jager 200 watts with a temp controller. You can be fine with two 150 watts depending on the weather and room temperature. I have around 5 -6watts per gallon of water with eheim heater and it can increase around 20-25F when the room temp drop below 55F keeping my tank at steady 79F
Last edited:
