Skimmer ?'s

[irky]

I recently purchased a Seaclone Skimmer and I run a magnum with no carbon. I know the seaclone is not great but it was all I could afford for now...

1) Do you run the skimmer all the time?
2) It is real finnicky I have to let it run for a while then it will bubble up at the top then it wil stop and I wil have to adjust is this normal?
3) I have seen at LFS they put a valve where the water empties does this help and is it hard to do?

Thx

 

[steri]

1) I run mine 24/7. I believe most people run theirs 24/7 as well.

2) All skimmers have a "breaking in period" that lasts a couple of weeks. In that time, you see a lot of microbubbles, and the skimmer generally needs to be "tweaked" to get it to work how you want it to. After that, things should even out.

3) The valve you see at LFS's is a pretty simple mod that they do so they don't always have to worry about emptying the skimmer cups on all their tanks. Usually they have the skimmer empty into a larger bucket or whatever. There are a few DIY threads on this mod, but ya, it's pretty simple if you want to do it. One drilled hole, attch tubing, use 100% silicone to seal the hole where the tubing is placed. That's pretty much it.

I hope that helps. I'm sure you know the rep on Seaclones by now. Most people do what you did though. They buy what they can afford in the beginning and six months later end up upgrading and wishing they never bought the original peice of crud. I did the same thing. I'm guilty. I skimped on the skimmer the first time around, and then bought a good one the second time around.....less then two months later, after I had many problems with the first one I bought.

 

[steri]

BTW, running carbon in a canister is not a bad idea. It's running the other media filters that causes most of the nitrate issues, IME. I run canisters on my tank and I use Live rock and live rock rubble in mine. In one of mine I run carbon. Just don't use the media filters, clean when needed, and you'll be fine.

For example, in the magnum I have running, I put LR and LR rubble in the black media holding container. I just didn't use the blue filter pad around the container. make sense? Hope some of this helps. Good luck.

 

[irky]

Nice info guys... I like the idea of LR in the filter...
I have a pretty even share of live rock and cured base rock. How long will it take the baserock to be "live rock."

 

[steri]

I think the general concencous is about 4-6 months depending on how much LR you have mixed in with your base rock. When you see coraline on it though, you are well on your way