So my protein skimmer goes fritzy, and...

[hbrochs]

For about three weeks now my protein skimmer has slowly gotten less productive. Less bubbles, less skimmate, until it basically was not producing anything at all. The thing is, my tank never looked better! All my SPS got really bright with great polyp extension. So I finally took apart my skimmer this weekend and gave it a good cleaning. Fired it up and its working overtime, putting out lots of foam. But now my corals are looking pale again. My nitrates had gotten down to maybe 1, and I typically like it a 5 or so. So I dosed a little Nitrate and unplugged the skimmer.

My question is, how does everyone run their skimmer?

24/7 ?

On a timer?

Controller?

or do you tweak it my adjusting the height of the cup, or bubble flow?

I'm trying to figure out if I should break down and buy a controller so I tweak my skimming better.

Appreciate any thoughts or advice.


Howard

 

[Cyberdude]

Great question. In the same boat I think I'm over skimming

 

[Tweaked]

Clean the air line and pump from time to time. I had carbonate build up blocking the air.

I recently just added neck extensions to mine and am getting some nice dark skim. I also run an ANC and dump it into a reservoir with a overflow switch on the Apex. Skimmer runs 24/7, and never adjust it really.

 

[toothybugs]

Sounds like you should be opening up your outflow a bit for a greater pass rate.

I run both my skimmers 24/7. My RO at home has a neck extension which gives me a lot of flexibility and improved performance. I might pick up a second one just to see what it lets me do. It runs like a champ but does an incredible job with continual carbon dosing.

My Magus at work does the job but I think is overpowering the tank it runs - it's a Curve 5 running 30 gallons of water. The output is erratic, which gets to be frustrating from time to time. It does well but is the first skimmer I have ever had that builds up carbonate in the air inlet.

 

[scrapz]

Probably nothing left to skim out. My skimmer hasn't skimmed anything out in 2 weeks.

 

[hbrochs]

Anyone use a timer for their skimmer?

Anyone use a timer for their skimmer?

Or a controller to run it 15 or 20 hours a day?

 

[nmotz]

I skim constantly, but my skimmer only ever produces something right after I feed.

I've heard about low nutrient systems occasionally having more pale coloration. My nitrates are about 10ppm and my colors are decent on all my SPS but the Acros. Those are still brown, but slowly starting to color up. I think that's actually a lighting issue though.

Maybe feed more and see what happens? Do you add any coral food supplements? If not, remember that anything with a mouth eats. SPS coral are no different and that might be why you're seeing better results when there is more "stuff" in the water. Try running the skimmer constantly and feeding a high quality coral food. I use KZ coral vitalizer and it seems to do the trick. Good luck!

 

[hbrochs]

Feeding

Feeding

Thanks, I do feed a mix of coral delight, which is a fine coral food powder.

I mix some of that with a half cube of mysis or brine shrimp, a squirt of oyster eggs, a bit of selcon and a few mls of reef energy A.

I usually do the mix at night when the polyps are all out.

I give some thera A pellets in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon.

I did raise my Protein skimmer cup a little higher so it will skim more dry / skim less. I'll try feeding more too, but I thought I was feeding pretty heavy.

Howard