Skimmer oversized?

[xtlosx]

So I've been experiencing some frustrating chain of events over the last now one week.... So just some background.

I have a 150G with a 40B sump, and chose to go with a Bubble Magus Curve 9 cone skimmer.. It's rated for 240-400G, but we all know how those recommendations are...

So for the 2.5 months with this tank, it skimmed, never lost foam regardless of feeding, or anything. It was a workhorse and kicked some butt.. Last Saturday, it just suddenly lost foam.. It would come back later that day, or the next morning, skim a bunch, then lose foam again.. I thought there was some issue with something in the tank so I did a WC, cleaned out the skimmer, etc, and it worked awesome all day yesterday, overnight pulled out gunk, and it's been just sitting there trying to build foam all day.

Question is... do you guys think this thing is just too darn overpowered for my tank? We are randomly getting cyano in some spots on the rock which is very plausible for a new tank but I think it's doing me more harm than good at this point...

Do I just keep rolling with it in the hopes it will break in again and start kicking butt or do I need to add more fish and get my bio load up?

After research about this all week because it's been driving me insane, it is possible the skimmer pulls out all of the organics, and then struggles to keep a good foam head until more organics are present... problem is, it's not skimming all of the time and it's just doing a part time job.

Thoughts? Am I insane for thinking of swapping it out, or do I just let it keep working? Someone talk me off a ledge here or trade me for a smaller skimmer.. heh.

 

[Timber77]

your skimmer would not be hurting you on the cyano you would want as much out via skimmer as possible. They do go on and off again...sometimes if you use cleaning products in a different room etc... wouldnt worry too much on a day by day basis

 

[Dre59]

When this happens.. Did you have your hands in the tank that day?

 

[DopeCantWin]

I was doing a lot of research on skimmers, and thought this skimmer's rating was quite a bit high. I'd personally put it somewhere on a 90 gallon tank rating.

 

[badsmitty]

I've always believed in over skimming per say, if your going to grow sps's
there's really no such thing as over skimming, unless your just doing zoa's, then the water would be 2 clean for them to grow

 

[xtlosx]

I cleaned the cup completely a couple of hours ago, went to a couple of shops and came home to no foam head, and some dark skimmate in the cup. I stopped my GFO right now and won't turn it on for a couple of days and we'll see how this changes, if anything..

One thing I'm going to try is to turn off my skimmer overnight, and let it turn on again in the morning and see if anything changes..

When this happens.. Did you have your hands in the tank that day?

On the first day when this started (last saturday) yes my hands were in the tank...

I was doing a lot of research on skimmers, and thought this skimmer's rating was quite a bit high. I'd personally put it somewhere on a 90 gallon tank rating.

How so? I've seen tanks with Curve 9's that are twice the size of mine with a heavy bioload.. These are great skimmers.

 

[Dre59]

Stop putting your hands in the tank...lol!! I get the same thing with my G3 and starts right after a few hrs..

You could run the skimmer for 20hrs and off 4 hrs if needed

 

[ptr13]

I do not think you can overskim Tom, in fact, it gives you wiggle room when you overfeed or you forget to water change.

 

[keithhays]

Skimming will generally not help much with cyano except for helping rid the tank of Co2 which would be mean the bigger the better. Over skimming is a myth created by people who were confronted by the reality that it is tough to keep enough microscopic living organisms in an enclosed environment to "naturally" feed their coral or fish. Skim away, the only true over skimming I have ever seen is when it goes nuts and starts sucking your tanks dry.

 

[xtlosx]

Well it's not over skimming I'm concerned about, it's just that the darn thing won't push bubbles up past 1\2 way up the cone when left on my normal setting, that's it been at for 2.5 months....

I left today for a couple of hours, with a clean collection cup, I came back and there was some skimmate... not much, but a little...

Is it honestly possible this darn thing has caught up to my tank and now it doesn't need to run 24x7???? I've just never been used to a skimmer doing that.. I'm using to seeing a foam head consistently..

In the messing around racking my brain about this I noticed that when it can't move bubbles up the cone, I crank the gate valve completely, and it moves stuff up to the middle of the collection cup... It seems like whenever it just gets out whatever it ****ing it off, it starts to work again until it stops...

So while I was posting this (sorry for the rambling) I heard water downstairs... I had the valve all the way up, and the cup drain going to a bucket. I heard the water going into the bucket, went downstairs, turned the valve down and now it's skimming normal again... it just seems like there is something in the system that is preventing the skimmer from keeping its head... What the heck is it?!?!?! My hope is, if I overskim and do this enough, eventually I'll get it all out.

 

[wipe]

Well it's not over skimming I'm concerned about, it's just that the darn thing won't push bubbles up past 1\2 way up the cone when left on my normal setting, that's it been at for 2.5 months

Try the air intake it is prob calcified clean the orfice.

 

[xtlosx]

Try the air intake it is prob calcified clean the orfice.

Cleaned it in vinegar, as well as the pump on Friday.... bubble plate, all of that was cleaned... it was near spotless.

 

[keithhays]

How deep in the water is it? I am translating because my skimmer uses a totally different technology, but I think if this type of skimmer were too deep in the water, it could affect the amount of air being pulled into pump because of water pressure above it.

Now that I think about being too shallow could cause a problem as the pump is trying to push water and air into the chamber.

Anyway, I think, with next to no knowledge of this skimmer , that adjusting the depth in the water could have a pronounced affect.

 

[DopeCantWin]

How so? I've seen tanks with Curve 9's that are twice the size of mine with a heavy bioload.. These are great skimmers.

I could say I've seen an airplane pulled by a donkey, doesn't make it right. Let's consider the stats.

Needlewheel Protein Skimmer
Model: BM-NAC9 CONE SKIMMER
Tank Size: 395-530 Gallons
Pump: Bubble Magus SP4000 (Made in China)
Pump power: 25W
Air Intake: 1020 L/hr
Dimensions: 12.2" x 10.2" x 22.4"
Cylinder: 9"
Water Level: 9.5"-11"

which compares to

Item #: SRO-XP2000SSS
Super Reef Octopus® 8" Space Saver Cone Skimmer
Dimensions: 10"x9.5"x24"
Manufacturer rates skimmer for tanks up to 180 gallon
BRS Recommends this skimmer for tanks up to 140 gallons Optimal Sump Depth: 5.75"
Features the new Bubble Blaster HY2000S
High quality machine welded cast acrylic construction
High performance design
3 year warranty on Bubble Blaster pump
1 year warranty on skimmer
Lifetime warranty on support

Both have roughly the same air intake, with the Reef Octopus possibly getting less water. The reaction chamber is basically identical in volume. One is up to 140, the other is up to 530? I don't think so. Look into the stats for other skimmer manufacturers, you'll see that the pump strength and reaction volume are vastly overestimated by Bubble Magus.

 

[xtlosx]

How deep in the water is it? I am translating because my skimmer uses a totally different technology, but I think if this type of skimmer were too deep in the water, it could affect the amount of air being pulled into pump because of water pressure above it.

Now that I think about being too shallow could cause a problem as the pump is trying to push water and air into the chamber.

Anyway, I think, with next to no knowledge of this skimmer , that adjusting the depth in the water could have a pronounced affect.

That was one thing I looked at as well initially... the skimmer is sitting in 9.5" of water which the recommend is 9-11" I believe, so that should be just fine. Not to mention, on the air intake adjustment pipe the waterline is the exact same it's been for 2.5 months.... so I'm thinking water depth isn't likely an issue..

Like I said, I just had it turned up all the way, it got that top layer or stuff off (more foamy than anything else) and it drained into the bucket... now all of a sudden it's just acting normal again...

Whatever my hands touched last Saturday ****ed the system off... I cleaned, washed them like usual but apparently didn't help. I'm hoping.... hoping, over skimming and getting the gunk that's causing this will get it back to normal at some point.

 

[keithhays]

That was one thing I looked at as well initially... the skimmer is sitting in 9.5" of water which the recommend is 9-11" I believe, so that should be just fine. Not to mention, on the air intake adjustment pipe the waterline is the exact same it's been for 2.5 months.... so I'm thinking water depth isn't likely an issue..

Like I said, I just had it turned up all the way, it got that top layer or stuff off (more foamy than anything else) and it drained into the bucket... now all of a sudden it's just acting normal again...

Whatever my hands touched last Saturday ****ed the system off... I cleaned, washed them like usual but apparently didn't help. I'm hoping.... hoping, over skimming and getting the gunk that's causing this will get it back to normal at some point.

hmmm..brainstorming, but have you adjusted your salinity in that time. This would affect the depth at which it would need to sit in the water. More salt would be mean it needs to be shallower, less salt deeper.

 

[sonict72]

i was doing a lot of research on skimmers, and thought this skimmer's rating was quite a bit high. I'd personally put it somewhere on a 90 gallon tank rating.

+1.

 

[xtlosx]

hmmm..brainstorming, but have you adjusted your salinity in that time. This would affect the depth at which it would need to sit in the water. More salt would be mean it needs to be shallower, less salt deeper.

Interesting... I had ket it at 1.026, but with water changes it's gone to 1.025.... last weekend though when this started happening, there were no water changes, and salt was the same........ so not sure that is the case.

 

[xtlosx]

I could say I've seen an airplane pulled by a donkey, doesn't make it right. Let's consider the stats.

Needlewheel Protein Skimmer
Model: BM-NAC9 CONE SKIMMER
Tank Size: 395-530 Gallons
Pump: Bubble Magus SP4000 (Made in China)
Pump power: 25W
Air Intake: 1020 L/hr
Dimensions: 12.2" x 10.2" x 22.4"
Cylinder: 9"
Water Level: 9.5"-11"

which compares to

Item #: SRO-XP2000SSS
Super Reef Octopus® 8" Space Saver Cone Skimmer
Dimensions: 10"x9.5"x24"
Manufacturer rates skimmer for tanks up to 180 gallon
BRS Recommends this skimmer for tanks up to 140 gallons Optimal Sump Depth: 5.75"
Features the new Bubble Blaster HY2000S
High quality machine welded cast acrylic construction
High performance design
3 year warranty on Bubble Blaster pump
1 year warranty on skimmer
Lifetime warranty on support

Both have roughly the same air intake, with the Reef Octopus possibly getting less water. The reaction chamber is basically identical in volume. One is up to 140, the other is up to 530? I don't think so. Look into the stats for other skimmer manufacturers, you'll see that the pump strength and reaction volume are vastly overestimated by Bubble Magus.

I respect your research and opinion, but I don't think it's really relevant to the problem here per say.. I'm trying to figure out what happened last weekend that has made keeping foam finicky. Appreciate your contribution, as I'm hoping to get to the bottom of this soon.

 

[DopeCantWin]

I respect your research and opinion, but I don't think it's really relevant to the problem here per say.. I'm trying to figure out what happened last weekend that has made keeping foam finicky. Appreciate your contribution, as I'm hoping to get to the bottom of this soon.

Personally I'd just clean it, leave it alone and not change anything for a week. Nothing good ever happens quickly.