skimmer

[saltwaterpicaso]

tank is a 75g with 20g sump have had running for 2 years with a cpr backpack skimmer with maxi jet 1200 with the pin wheel mod. tank has had about 100 pounds of live rock in and various fish now i still have the rock and some coral but only two fish a chromis and a six line wraise. my question is i updated my skimmer to a mrc 1 skimmer with a mag 12 pump i have the skimmer set to do a mediam skim looks like a dark tea it produces about a gallon of skim a week at what point will my tank be clean enough to not produce skim. i think becouse my tank had such a bad skimmer that the rock is really dirty and now the new skimmer is working its been running a month but i figured by now it wouldnt produce so much just wondering if this was normal or not

 

[tmz]

It should always produce skimmate if the tankihas fed fish or has photosynthetic organisms in it producing organics. Not sure I'm following your question.

 

[Jstn]

Do you have an algae problem? I recently upgraded from a remora to an octopus nw110 and it produced alot more skimate than the old hob.

 

[pascal32]

as mentioned the skimmer should keep chugging along, though i have noticed that on tanks which are a little behind the skimmer will pull more for the first few days to a week.

If you adjust the skimmer down a tad it will make a thicker mixture, compared to the "tea" you have now. I'm not familiar with that skimmer, seems like a lot for a 75. if the skimmer does stop producing down the road it could be because it's too much for the tank. A skimmer that is too large for the system can stop producing.

If the tank has algae you will need to do more than just a skimmer. start by checking phosphate and nitrate, post up the results and folks will help from there. If you do not have kits consider getting some. for phosphate the Hanna ULR phosphorous (not phosphate) is nice at about $50, for nitrate salifert or elos are generally preferred.

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

there is a small amount of hair algea im getting under control now and some cyano that hitch hiked on some rock i dont use ro water but the local fish store uses the same city water without problem it just seems like the skimmer shouldnt be pulling out anything for the bio load that is in there i only have two small fish that i only feed every other day. my question is becouse i had an under rated skimmer on there for so long are the rocks leaching phosphates and what not into the water and thats why the skimmer is skimming so much. the skimmate is a very dark brown tea