Question from a newbie

[john1979]

Hi everyone! I've been lurking here for several weeks, and finally decided to register and start posting. Thanks to all of the info on this site, as well as the guidance of my LFS, I was able to get my 29 gallon tank with 10 gallon sump up and running with little trouble. The tank has been running for a couple of months, and I've got it stocked with a pair of clownfish, some snails and hermit crabs, a cleaner shrimp, and a few soft corals. About 2 weeks ago I added a hang-on-back AquaC Remora protein skimmer. That leads to my first question...

The skimmer seems to be working fine, albeit a bit louder than I'd like, and there are lots of white bubbles coming out into the collection cup. From reading on the web, I understand that it takes some time to break in and that I shouldn't expect a lot of dark foam yet with my relatively small bioload. Most days the skimmer runs fine and there's an inch or two of greenish/brownish water in the 2-liter bottle that my drain fitting is connected to. However, every few days the skimmer goes crazy and I'll come home/wake up to find the return pump in the sump has run dry because the skimmer has overflowed the 2-liter collection bottle. After I replace the lost water and clean up the mess, everything is fine. It may go crazy in a couple of days, or be fine for a whole week. I don't know if I should turn off the skimmer at nights or when I go out until things settle down. I could almost understand this if the water that was pulled from the skimmer was really dirty, but it's not. It's a little greener/browner than the tank water, but not overly dirty. Any suggestions?

 

[Hiltonc57]

With a small bio- load I would only run my skimmer maybe twice a week all day, that way it is removing the most it can in a short period of time.

 

[Tonynlo]

Seems like you are skimming very wet. I am not familiar with that skimmer, but most that I have dealt with have water height adjustments to allow you to tune the amount skimmed. The HOB that i used when i first started allowed me to raise the collection cup. Make sure you check your salinity, because it seems as though you are pulling saltwater from the tank are replacing with fresh? If this is the case, slowly raise the salinity of the tank over a week or so, not too fast. I would add mixed saltwater to your top off until it's stable.

 

[NirvanaFan]

Welcome to ReefCentral and URS.

Is there something on your hands or something you are putting in the water? If something is stuck on your skin, you could be introducing it to the tank and it could cause the skimmer to go crazy. Wash your hands really well, and rinse them off even better after. See if that helps things.

 

[block head]

i've got the same skimmer on my 28. i've never had it pull out really thick stuff. it's kinda loud IMO . some people rig a silencer . it didn't help that much, and i stopped using it. it's quieter when i run wet ,and leave the cup partially full. a biofilm should develop and help a tiny bit with noise. the fit between the cup and skimmer varies from unit to unit. aqua c customer service is very good, they will most likely mail u a new cup if you ask. i'd run it 24/7. not so much for what it pulls out,but for the O2 it adds to the tank. it's about the best bang for the buck HOB you'll find. for all practical reasons, skimmers in this class are not strong performers. water changes are going to be your best bet, unless you want to upgrade to a in sump skimmer ,and the deal with the heat,cost ,and space they require. even then , a water change will be cheaper and better for the overall health of your tank. your skimmer should settle down more with age. a nice thing about your skimmer is that occassional flare ups drain back into the skimmer and aren't a big deal IMO .

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

some good advice above!

some good advice above!

welcome to the URS Forum, John :beer:

 

[john1979]

Thanks forms the help everyone. I'm sure this won't be my last post asking for your help!

I'm adding saltwater after these flare ups, so the SG is OK. I'll try washing my hands and rinsing them better before working in the tank, and I'll just try to be patient and give the skimmer some more time to break in.

Thanks again!

 

[MD Ocean Girl]

Welcome to URS!!

If the skimmer doesn't work out well, can you return it and purchase a different one?

If you can, and you're still going to use a hang on back skimmer, I'd recommend a CPR bakpak skimmer. I have one currently on the 5 gallon bucket "sump" for my 10 gallon tank, and it works great. It was on my bf's 29 gallon tank before mine (no sump, just straight on the tank), and it worked really well too. Takes a bit of adjusting with the skimmer cup to get it just right, and a couple days to really break in, but it pulls out nice, thick, gross green junk :dance:

 

[john1979]

Follow up

Follow up

I wanted to post the resolution to all of this in case there are people out there with a similar problem...

For weeks my problem continued, and my skimmer was pulling out around 3 gallons of water in a 24 hour period. Everyone I spoke to said that I should try to wait it out, and that eventually things would start working normally. I finally called AquaC and spoke to Steve in their customer service department. At first he said that it was probably my water - I was using tap water with an API water conditioner. I was planning on upgrading to a RO/DI system anyway, so I bought one from BRS at set it up. After several big water changes over the course of a couple of weeks, I fired up the skimmer again. Same problem.

I called Steve again and he said that it was probably my RO/DI unit, and that I didn't flush the membrane properly. He said you need to flush at least 30 gallons to get rid of any "bad stuff." Luckily I had bought the unit with the membrane flush valve, so I ran it overnight into the drain just to be safe. Again, did several large water changes over several days and fired up the skimmer. And again, same problem.

This time Steve told me to set up the skimmer on a bucket of fresh salt water mixed with tap water. He said that since there would be nothing in the water to create bubbles, I shouldn't pull any water out. He told me to do this overnight to test if the problem was with my water or the skimmer itself. I did as he instructed and within 2 hours I had drained the bucket dry!

Apparently the problem is that the Maxi-Jet 1200 I'm using on the skimmer is overpowered. Steve said this happens occasionally, and there are a couple of options. He could send me a valve to put between the pump and the skimmer to regulate the flow, but then I couldn't use the pre-filter box. Since I didn't want the pump just hanging in my display tank, I asked him for option two. He said that AquaC could fabricate me a new collection cup with a larger neck to accommodate the stronger pump. He said this would definitely solve my problem, and as an added benefit the new cup would hold more waste before it needed to be emptied. They are going to fabricate the new cup ASAP and ship it to me as soon as it's done.

I'm still waiting for the cup to arrive, but I"m confident that this will work (keep your fingers crossed for me!). I've really appreciated the customer service provided by Steve at AquaC. I'll keep everyone posted after I run the skimmer with the new cup.

 

[rjmayes34]

welcome and nice update!!! Sounds like they have excellent costumer service!!!! Good luck!!