OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef

[Hop]

How long have you been going w/o foam?

 

[jnarowe]

1.5 hours

 

[prostaff]

Jonathan
That happens to my skimmer everytime I feed any oily foods. It usually only lasts like a few minutes though

 

[jjackson]

give it time... oils can do that even your hands in the tank can

 

[jnarowe]

thanks, i'll wait it out and see.

 

[NexDog]

Twice a day I add half a cube of mysis, half a cube of brine, half a cube of baby brine and 6 scoops/pinches of flake pellet - all soaked in Selcon (and Cyclop-eeze in the evening). This puts the skimmer out of actuon for 3-4 hours. It does foam but way down in the riser.

 

[jnarowe]

That's what I love about RC...I should be paying double!

 

[jnarowe]

8 am: Foam has started to form. There is a about a 10" head in the riser but still no foam exiting the skimmer. UNBELIEVABLE. I guess I won't be doing that again!

 

[Hop]

 

[jnarowe]

So what's happening is that as the foam rises, it's coating the inside of the riser with a sheen of oil and then the whole head collapses. I think if it is not working after the 3 "S"s I will pull off the riser cone and use an oil-sorb sheet on the top of the water column.

 

[Hop]

Sounds like a plan! Enjoy the S's

 

[jnarowe]

Well the 3 S's were indeed remarkable and then I spent 1.5 hours cleaning the riser tube and mopping up oil with an oil-sorb pad. The skimmer is now working again but an important lessen learned here!

It was down for about 15 hours so that tells me that even though I think something will have a low impact because of the volume of water, that is not neccessarily the case. If a tablespoon of oil can shut down a monster skimmer then I need to be a lot more careful.

 

[skatezen]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7199751#post7199751 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
If a tablespoon of oil can shut down a monster skimmer then I need to be a lot more careful.

That's a lot of oil man!

 

[jnarowe]

OK...full foam production for the last two hours. So glad that's over! I did get down and dirty and clean the whole thing so that was good and broke through my fear of taking it all apart. It's really just a lot of screws to deal with and that's a pain. Looking good now.

 

[Roland Jacques]

Jonathan
im planing out a system. and im trying to figure out how much temp rise can occure in a skimmer that is getting warmer air than the tank water. have you ever check the temp defferance of your water in and your water out of your skimmer?

 

[jnarowe]

I haven't checked it and I am not sure how I could. I know that there is a long-term rise in tank temp. after hooking up this air pump, but it does not get out of safe range. The reason why I know it is happening is that I ran the tank for 2 weeks with no skimmer or air pump. During that period I would get about 1 degree rise during the day and now I get 2 to 2.5 degree rise.

Keep in mind two things: I am using a very high volume air pump and reducing the flow (back pressure) significantly so it is working very hard, and my water volume is about 1,100g. It takes a lot of heat to move that much water up a degree. I would assume that the temp. in the skimmer is probably about 1 or 2 degrees warmer than the general tank temp.

 

[sharkinsand]

A tablespoon of oil, a little vinager and 1000g of alga.....quite a salad
I understand 1 s

 

[jnarowe]

LOL you are so right!

 

[Roland Jacques]

i have a sweetwater running some air stones and that air i would guess is at least 95 degrees by feeling the air hose. i figured that is about the same as yours.

this is for 2 400 gallon lobster tanks kept below 55 degrees. im going to use a down draft skimmer so the skimmer air will be room temp. but the skimmer air temp to tank defferance is about the same as yours, 15/20 degrees.

when you feel the water coming out of your skimmer you would guess 1 or 2 degrees defferance. thanks.

 

[jnarowe]

yeah it just feels slightly warmer. I'll test it and reply tonight if I can.