Oversized skimmer question

[yevgenb]

Hi,

I'm new reefer and it's my first experience with skimmers - I started Redsea reefer 170 system (43 gal) about 6-8 weeks ago with Bubble magus 5 skimmer. It took several day to break , than it started to produce very small bubbles. Currently it has very light bioload - only 3 fishes, 10 snails. I assume the skimmer is broken already but foam almost never reaches neck of the skimmer on the "min" (max for magus) settings. At some point it goes to the top but most of the time it stays in the middle of the body and leaves all gunk in the skimmer body instead of reaching the cup. My question is - is it just nothing to skim and I shouldn't worry about or the skimmer neck is to big for this tank size? Should I go for a smaller skimmer? Any other ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Bent]

The curve 5 on 170g is actually undersized I think.

It's only rated to 140g if I'm not mistaken.

 

[stingeragent]

It's a 43 gallon tank bent. There naming system always confuses me too. As for the skimmer, from what I've read it's best to try and match the skimmer to the actual water volume. Putting an oversized skimmer in can cause inconsistent performance.

 

[yevgenb]

Unfortunately there are not too many options under 100 gallons, and the ratings are misleading.

 

[Bent]

It's a 43 gallon tank bent. There naming system always confuses me too. As for the skimmer, from what I've read it's best to try and match the skimmer to the actual water volume. Putting an oversized skimmer in can cause inconsistent performance.

Sorry man. I'm a moron.

What depth is it sitting at? I think BM reccomended 8".

 

[yevgenb]

The sump is exactly 8" deep in the skimmer section.

 

[PirateLove]

Interesting problem, as you cannot lower it. I have a skimmer rated for 100 gallons on my 30 gallon but my sump level is 9 inches and my skimmer recommendation is 5.5. So I have the opposite problem as you do.

Tagging along the thread to see if you get anyone who can help you =)

 

[toothybugs]

You have a new, sorta-small tank with a light bioload - just give it time. I have a Curve 5 running my desktop system here at work (about 30-32 gal total volume, 4 fish) and it pulls plenty of crud but didn't for the first month or so. I wouldn't worry about it. All my rock was well cured in before I put the skimmer in so I didn't have the tank break-in period that you did. Give it a few weeks to sort itself out.

 

[sde1500]

For the numbers, I think the 170 is the total water volume of the system, in liters.

 

[yevgenb]

Yeah, it 170 liters total volume.