Skimmer Q&A thread.....

[Troylee]

i don't know everything about every skimmer, but enough to get by lol.... please post your questions here on any skimmer and i will try my best to answer them... anyone else with knolodge on the subject feel free to post also.....
all the other sites got one so we might as well join the club....lol ;)
im making it a sticky like the others... if any officer object's please unstick or delete thanks......

[iap]

What is the difference in wet and dry skimming? And how should a skimmer act when it's dialed in right?

[Troylee]

There really isn't much of a difference, wet skimming will fill the cup faster... If you skim dry and pull black nog out it takes awhile to fill the cup...but then dilluted that down with water to the same color as your wet skimate and you will see it produced about the same amount of skimate in the same amount of time... I perfer skimming dry just so my salinity doesn't get out of whack, like it did any way...:(

[tomgl]

What's a skimmer.


Sorry had to go there. I also believe dry skimming will pull larger debris out. Check out this video on adjusting skimmers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLAgZopwyDM

[iap]

I know that when you got the black junk in the cup it's good.. But will your system be ever clean enuff that you skimmate be almost clear? Or will it always be on the darker side?

[tomgl]

Depends on the bio load.

[Troylee]

Oh now you wanna open a can of worms huh Eugene!!!!! For the record no your water will never be to clean and come out clear.... A skimmer can only remove 30% of the docs in a Aquaria period.. the other 70% will have to be diluted by water changes a a oxygeon rich bubble can only pick up certain things.... You can have a skimmer that is over rated for your tank that will not produce all the time but it can't strip the water of everything....

[Troylee]

Just so everyone knows this is not a stab at Tom... I thought it was a great question for newbs who don't know what a skimmer is or what it does... Sorry for confusion on the subject...
What's a skimmer.


Sorry had to go there. I also believe dry skimming will pull larger debris out. Check out this video on adjusting skimmers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLAgZopwyDM
“Protein Skimming” or “Foam Fractionation” is a process of removing Dissolved Organic Compounds (DOC’s) from seawater by way of ionic attraction and adhesion. DOC’s are ionically attracted to the surface of the tiny bubbles created by the skimmer pump or airstone.

As the bubbles rise in the skimmers “Reaction Chamber”, their surface becomes coated with these DOC’s and when they reach the top of the skimmer, they condense in a frothy head called “Foamate”, much like the billows of foam you might find on the seashore after a storm. The foamate is pushed over the “Neck” of the skimmer where is falls down into the "Cup" and liquefies (like beer when it over-foams in a glass). This concentrated liquid is called “Skimmate” and is a collection of DOC’s, algae, miscellaneous floating particles, and water.

The removal of this DOC’s is critical in providing optimal water quality in closed marine aquarium systems. If the skimmer is correctly sized for the system, it will be able to remove most if not all of the DOC’s before they become oxidized by nitrifying bacteria. Since the job of these bacteria is to convert DOC's into Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate, subverting this process is ideal since the goal is to limit the accumulation of Nitrates and other toxins in the system.

[Narazbad]

I have two. One, I have a skimmer here that is just too...something. I try to dial it in to where it will sit at a good speed for the tank, but the cup overflows with water in a matter of moments, making a gigantic mess everywhere. Even when I put it down to the lowest possible setting it still does it. Any ideas on how to fix it or anything? Maybe the pump is incorrect on it?

Two. Is there any way to modify a skimmer with an extra length of tubing from the pump to the unit itself? My skimmer is oversized to sit in my tank so I was hoping to try and find a way to modify it to work a little outside, and unfortunately I don't have an overflow, sump or fuge on that system.

[iap]

Lol thanks professor lee. I always wondered if you could skim out too much and cause your water in the cup to be clear. I guess not ;)

[Narazbad]

In my head, there is one simple reason that you cannot skim to a clean tank, and that's because you have livestock in there. They will always be adding more waste to the tank. Hence the skimming to keep the total volume from rising too much over the time between water changes. Correct?

[Troylee]

I have two. One, I have a skimmer here that is just too...something. I try to dial it in to where it will sit at a good speed for the tank, but the cup overflows with water in a matter of moments, making a gigantic mess everywhere. Even when I put it down to the lowest possible setting it still does it. Any ideas on how to fix it or anything? Maybe the pump is incorrect on it?

Two. Is there any way to modify a skimmer with an extra length of tubing from the pump to the unit itself? My skimmer is oversized to sit in my tank so I was hoping to try and find a way to modify it to work a little outside, and unfortunately I don't have an overflow, sump or fuge on that system.
first things first!!!! Run the skimmer in a tub of vinegar water to clean everything out... If that don't cure the problem will work from there...

[Narazbad]

Have done that. The skimmer was brand new when I got it.

[Troylee]

what kind of skimmer is it??? i can only guess by the sounds of your problem its seaclone or coral life superskimmer...lol

[tbone74]

Hey Lee,

My Vertex gets a little brown diatom alage growing in the main body of the skimmer where the fuge light shines on it. It usually takes a few weeks. Does this effect the performance, I do clean the cup and neck every three days or so.
Thanks :confused:

[Narazbad]

Worse..one I got on ebay from a foreign manufacturer. lol. Shkerry Aqua Skimmer SHK-1822

[Troylee]

Hey Lee,

My Vertex gets a little brown diatom alage growing in the main body of the skimmer where the fuge light shines on it. It usually takes a few weeks. Does this effect the performance, I do clean the cup and neck every three days or so.
Thanks :confused:

It's not a huge deal since a skimmer won't work properly anyways without a slime coat inside of it.." hence the break in period" I would give it a quick wipe maybe once a month so it doesn't become impossible to clean... A piece of a black trashbag will prevent that from happening again if ya wanna scrub it out real good...

[Troylee]

Worse..one I got on ebay from a foreign manufacturer. lol. Shkerry Aqua Skimmer SHK-1822

I'm not sure about that but swing it by one day I will make it work!!!!! lol ;)

[Narazbad]

Okay. Good deal was, I ended up with two of them. When the first one came, the cup was cracked. I told the company and they sent me a whole new unit for free as a replacement. I was then able to just seal the crack with aquarium silicone.

[tbone74]

This is great.... It's like ask Dr. Phil! :cool:

[Narazbad]

But...without the porno star moustache and lack of knowledge! :D

[lvsuckerfish]

Yo Lee what pumps can i swap out on my in80 skimmer If I have to mod it I do not have an issue doing so. this re-sum pump Blows!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

[Narazbad]

I still need to take one of these skimmers by your house sometime, Lee. See if you can get it figured out.

[Troylee]

Yo Lee what pumps can i swap out on my in80 skimmer If I have to mod it I do not have an issue doing so. this re-sum pump Blows!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

sicce psk2500.... you will have to make a venturi for it but thats easy enough..... but then you run into start up issuses......
ataman makes decent pumps also....... prolly better than the sicce for your application, since you dont like to play with stuff like me lol....

[Narazbad]

I think I might have gotten the skimmer to work right, Lee. Now I just have to let it run and see what happens.

[Troylee]

Cool.... Keep is updated...;)

[Narazbad]

I'll put up some pictures tomorrow afternoon of how it is running...and how I jury rigged it.

[Narazbad]

HELP! I don't understand it, last night the thing was running perfectly until after 5 am when I went to sleep finally. Today I wake up, its spewing over the sides of the cup, I empty it and not 2 minutes later the cups overflowing again! I don't get whats going on but this always happens to this **** skimmer. Any suggestions? I didn't change a single thing on this system between going to sleep and waking up.

[Troylee]

just part of the break in..... take the cup off and let it overflow for 2 days or so and readjust it and see where it goes.... it's a in sump correct?

[Narazbad]

No, I have it sitting in my fuge atm. I worked a length of 3/4" hose from the pump to the input on the canister so I could get it all to fit correctly. I'm worried if I let the cup off to overflow for that long its going to flood the house :/

Why was it working so well for 8+ hours just to do this again? This is the reason I stopped using them in the first place..lol

[Narazbad]

Alright, I've had the cup off for several hours, found all the possible spillover points and shored them up, now I'll leave it be for a few days. I'll get back to you on sunday and see what you think.

[Narazbad]

Okay, its now been two days the cups been off, I've cranked down the flow from the powerhead as much as possible but the flow still looks extremely fast. Maybe they shipped too powerful a head with this unit?

[Troylee]

Could be..... It's hard to say with out actually playing with it my self.... You can restrict the intake and it should help...

[Narazbad]

I've turned down the intake as much as the powerhead itself will let me, I'm not entirely sure how else to do it other than that. I'm gonna put the cup back on for a bit before I crash tonight and see what happens with it.

[Narazbad]

So I've had the cup on for 24 hours now, its mostly full, but no overrunning. It filled to halfway within 10 minutes of being on, but I opened the airway all the way on the tubing and turned the pump speed down as low as I can. Since then, everything seems to have settled. I'm about to empty the cup and see if it will refill itself to half again or keep slow as it has been.

[B.Webb]

I have an aqua medic skimmer with no pump and from what I understand I need a pump that has the metal blades on the impeller. Or if I use a regular power head I need to add a venturi. Am I anywhere close to the right path?

[tbone74]

I your skimmer is a turboflotor, you need an ocean runner 2700.
http://www.marinedepot.com/Aqua_Medic_Ocean_Runner_2700_pump_for_Turboflotor_ Protein_Skimmer_Replacement_Parts_for_Aqua_Medic_P rotein_Skimmers-Aqua_Medic_USA-AQ1171-FIPSRPAQ-vi.html

[Troylee]

I have an aqua medic skimmer with no pump and from what I understand I need a pump that has the metal blades on the impeller. Or if I use a regular power head I need to add a venturi. Am I anywhere close to the right path?
Your gonna need a Venturi regardless of the pump... I'm pretty sure this metal blade your referring to is a pin wheel... Pin wheels are plastic but have a bunch of needle looking plastic prongs it chops the water up better and produces smaller bubbles for more contact and improved skimming... A skimmer works by binding particulites to each bubble the more bubbles the surface area you have and better skimming...;) mesh wheels are popular also I love them myself but they do need regular maintenance since it's not a factory thing it's more of a diy mod...
This is a pinwheel impeller it replaces the factory fins or blades if ya will...
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p160/aliyasue/work/2ec539f6.jpg

[jetwet1]

I have 2 aquaC remora's, i'm doing my quarterly cleaning, i'm running both of them with distilled vinegar, roughly how long should I let them run ?

[Gsxr1000rider]

Got one for ya Troy, I just upgraded to a ASM G3 skimmer for my 135g, I have it in its own dedicated sump connected to my refuge by 2 1in bulk heads anyhow, it seems like the skimmer is working as it should but I'm not getting any skim in the cup, I have it set right about the cup neck and the water line stays there but I'm not getting any foam going up the neck into the cup producing skim.. Here is some pics. The water level in the sump is approx 7 1/2in, my ATO keeps the water level stable.
http://img.tapatalk.com/4b526c94-b6a3-bca9.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/4b526c94-b6b6-e534.jpg

[Gsxr1000rider]

Also my bubbles seem alittle big, any way or easy mods to make
Micro bubbles??

[five O]

Looks like its running properly. Give it a few days to break in & I'm sure it will start pulling some skimmate.

[five O]

You can always upgrade the pump. The bubble blasters are the shiznit. Im switching my Atman 2500 in my Bubble Magus Nac 7 to a Bubble Blaster 1000 next week. Plus they are almost silent @ have a three year warranty.

[Gsxr1000rider]

Thanks five 0, I'll give it a couple of days.. I'll go from there, I read people were drilling the air inlet hole bigger and using a air tube that has a bigger inner diameter for more air flow

[tomgl]

Also my bubbles seem alittle big, any way or easy mods to make
Micro bubbles?? I was tought for smaller bubbles dial back on the air.

[tomgl]

This video may help.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6_t5ziZ3vU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Troylee]

Just give it time to break in... Give it a good week before you make any mods it shouldn't need any but if you want to there is a few that will help it but it makes it more temperamental so its not worth it to some....

[Gsxr1000rider]

Here we go, haha I got some skimage!!!
3444

[Gsxr1000rider]

Thanks Tom, actually the vid did help, thanks buddy