Protein Skimmer - Constant Frustration

[meverha1]

Some background:

Relatively new Biocube 29, with hood on. I have a ATO

Tried the Aqualife 115 and despite following multiple guides I never could get the thing to fit correctly in Chamber 1 of the Biocube.

Picked up a Tunze 9001, which is currently in Chamber 2, along with a InTank Media basket.

Broke the Tunze in with a Vinegar/Water solution for 24 hours, rinsed it and placed it in the tank.

It's been about 2 weeks and I have yet to get any skim off of the thing - wet, dry, or otherwise. The foam is sitting even with the top of the skimmer (right below the cup) but will not work it's way up into the cup. Air hose if fully open.

To make matters worse, the slightest water change requires me to readjust the skimmer. By slightest, I mean a change in water that wouldn't even trigger the ATO. I find myself checking and adjusting the skimmer level multiple times a day.

Am I doing something wrong? Are there other skimmer options available (keep in mind that I don't want to remove the hood)? Should I move the skimmer to my Aquafuge HOB? Am I just not getting foam because I don't have a good bioload?

Dealing with this skimmer is seriously stressing me out. I watch youtube video after youtube video of people using the skimmer with beautiful, foamy skim coming off the top and I can't replicate it.

 

[vhuang168]

Needs to break in. What is in the tank livestock wise?


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[Sk8r]

Your answer is in the line 'relatively new,' I think. Your water has nothing much to give a skimmer: it's probably light on detritus, nitrate and amino acids, and until the system ages, the skimmer won't produce much at all. Skim wet for now. Meaning get it to produce as much foam as you can get out of it. And don't sweat it: it may underperform for months, until the tank builds up a backlog of crud. It's a GOOD thing. Right now your system would probably do great for corals, which hate heavy bioload, but it will change.

 

[meverha1]

Needs to break in. What is in the tank livestock wise?

Not much, as it's still cycling. Just a couple of fish until I'm fully cycled and then I'll add coral, etc...

 

[meverha1]

Your answer is in the line 'relatively new,' I think. Your water has nothing much to give a skimmer: it's probably light on detritus, nitrate and amino acids, and until the system ages, the skimmer won't produce much at all.

That's reassuring. A lot of information about skimmers on the internet makes it seem like you should be getting skim, no matter how the tank is stocked.

 

[Potatohead]

Not much, as it's still cycling. Just a couple of fish until I'm fully cycled and then I'll add coral, etc...

Protein skimmer needs protein to be able to skim

 

[Brieninsac]

I know when I bought mine the instruction said it could take a couple weeks to break in. The reality is it took probably 6-weeks. A lot of it has to do with virtually no bio-load in the tank. It needs a little gunk (for lack of a better word) to start doing it's job. Just be patient and eventually it'll start working. Also, mine over flows sometimes after a big water change.

 

[fishchef]

When it does start producing there will be periods of non-production.

 

[vhuang168]

Not much, as it's still cycling. Just a couple of fish until I'm fully cycled and then I'll add coral, etc...

Fish to cycle!?! That's disappointing.


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[Sk8r]

Very. Don't take any more advice from the lfs that sold you them. Fish should be withdrawn to quarantine tank until cycle is past. Hopefully they didn't bring any pest in with them.

 

[meverha1]

Fish to cycle!?! That's disappointing.

If you ask 100 people how to cycle a tank you'll get 100 different answers. I'm doing what a saltwater specific aquarium store in my area told me to do. Is it the "right" way? I don't know.

 

[vhuang168]

Protein Skimmer - Constant Frustration

If you ask 100 people how to cycle a tank you'll get 100 different answers. I'm doing what a saltwater specific aquarium store in my area told me to do. Is it the "right" way? I don't know.

Go ahead and put up a poll here on RC and anywhere else.

You'll find that 99% if not 100% will advocate fishless cycling.

You are correct that there are many ways to cycle a tank. But using fish is 100% the WRONG way.

We worry when we see an ammonia reading in the tank but you are putting fish in to induce the ammonia spike.

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[Brieninsac]

OP, add some Bio-spira to your tank ASAP if you've got fish in there.

 

[meverha1]

OP, add some Bio-spira to your tank ASAP if you've got fish in there.

Did that a long time ago and I use a bit whenever I change water

 

[Sk8r]

Your lfs is 30 years behind the times. It's just not necessary, cruel to the fish, who may have a shortened lifespan, and for another major reason we don't do it any more---unquarantined fish may bring disease or worse, sand-dwelling parasites into your new tank. Ich, notably. Hopefully you have dodged that bullet, but don't omit the quarantine step. The pest completes part of its lifecycle in the sandbed, another part in the fish, and can be lethal.

 

[2015GaTor]

Same here, it took about a month for mine to start working right. I think I just didn't have enough garbage to pull out of the water initially. Also, mine doesn't like fresh saltwater either. It does seem to help if I pour the new water into the return section of my sump so that it circulates in the tank before it makes its way through the skimmer, if that is an option in the nano cube.