Skimmer working?

[cotter4601]

I have a bak pak 2R skimmer and since i have switched to ro/di water I don't think I had to empty the cup once, which is about 2 weeks. I have a 55 gallon tank with a DSB and 90 lbs or fiji rock.

Fish:
YWG
Coral Beauty
Blenny
2 True Percs
Fire fish

Clean up crew:
Blood shrimp
Skunk shrimp
tiger tail
sand sifting star
Couple hermits, snails of various species.

I have a 4 gallon fuge running for the time being which also has a dsb. I also have about 1840 GPH of flow in the tank. Is my skimmer not working like it should or do I not have a big bio load? I have the cup pushed down as far as it will go and there are bubbles in the cup, but there is only like 1/2" of dark crap in there. It accumuates about 1/16" a day if that.

 

[saveafish]

you may not have a big enough load to pull out.

 

[cotter4601]

So I should be ok with adding another fish or two?

 

[GSMguy]

um id be carefull with more fish pick them carefully dont want to any tangs or any more pygmy angels

 

[cotter4601]

well i'm in luck there. The tank isn't big enough for a tang and I would really only want to keep one dwarf per tank anyway. I was thinking about a mandarin and/or 3 chromis.

 

[skimmy]

i dont think adding more fish to your 55 is the answer to getting your skimmer to work...
have you checked the pump and venturi for blockage or detritus/salt creep?
which pump do you have on your bakpac?

also, you could always modify it with a thread wheel if it's not performing for you.

 

[BrokeColoReefer]

what do your nitrates read?

 

[cotter4601]

I have the rio 600 and have been thinking about upgrading to a rio 800. I'm not adding fish just to get the skimmer to work, but because I want to add more fish. Just how would I put the needle in there? I just recently cleaned it and it looks normal, but I guess I could check again.

My nitrates are about 25 right now, but I just switched over to ro/di water and almost all my nitrates were coming from my tap. I won't be adding fish until they are down.