Adjusting a Skimmer

[BlennyMan1]

I just purchased a PS 100 protein skimmer for my 55 gallon tank. It is about a week old now and im not sure if i have it adjusted right. the pump that i operate it on is a rio 2500(it seems to powerful but i dont know) i have the skimmer in the sump. for the past week it has been producing a liquid instead of a foam in the collection cup but some people on here had said this is normal and/or ok, but now it hasnt produced much at all in the past day and half...the bubbles arent even reaching the collection cups funnel i was wondering if theres something wrong or if this is normal? ill also say that the bubbles look like there are wetter and moving faster(on surface before collection cup funnel) in the skimmer but they arent doing that slow climb thing that they had been doing a couple days ago the bubbles are forming but they arent climbing barely at all. the only thing that i tried for about an hour around that time was connecting an air intake tube with a silencer that came with one of my powerheads...and connecting it to the skimmers air intake...this made more bubbles but i wasnlt sure if i should keep it there so i took it off the skimmer. id really appreciate anyones help i just want to make sure the skimmer is working correctly. thanks alot

[reef madman]

not sure if this will help you or not as i am a newbie, but i bought a sump that came with a skimmer in it powered by a maxi-jet 120, and it came with the air intake tube attached to it already. only way i can get bubbles to climb tube into the cup is to have air tube valve opened up. when i turn off air valve or close it slightly, i do not get any bubbles or skim in the cup. i get mostly foam but do get about 1/4 cup liguid in the cup every 2 days. dont know if thats normal or not? hopefully someone else more knowlegable jumps in cause i am curious to what normal output should be in the cup per day.

[skeety]

does you skimmer have anything that adjusts the air intake on it?

See...a new skimmer takes a while to break in...so what that means is,
now that yours is getting more broken in, it's getting more gunk out of the water, which probably means it's heavier, and having a harder time getting to the top. So this is a good thing.

Just need more bubbles, and there should be an intake adjustment or somethign that can regulate this. Play with it for a while to get it set right.

As for normal amounts, I'd be interested to hear this as well. I have to empy mine once or twice a day, but I run it a little wetter than normal. But if I dont', I get dark brown gunk, but I'd probably only have to empty it once or twice a week, instead. I just feel better emptying it, so I run it wetter. hehehe

[burkleman]

When Anthony Calfo spoke at a club meeting in denver a few months back he touched on the subject and stated that he and his colegues suggest that on a tank with a normal bio load one should be able to get about a cup of the really dark brown skimate per day.

~Brandon

[VWD]

what size it the cup?



Vince

[burkleman]

Just a regular measuring type cup (8oz). I did not mean that the collection cup should be full but 1 cup of skimate in the collection cup.

~Brandon

[Tim224DT]

Ehh who needs a skimmer, I havnt been running a skimmer since mine overflowed and almost ran my sump dry and burned up my pump. I do 10 gallon water change every other week. My tank is a FOWLR as of right now so i can get away without skimming.

Tim

[wharyat]

Originally Posted by Tim224DT

Ehh who needs a skimmer, I havnt been running a skimmer since mine overflowed and almost ran my sump dry and burned up my pump.

That reminds me, I over-adjusted my DIY skimmer on my 20L; and yeah, there went 4 gallons. But I knew I'd do something like that so the collection bottle was sitting in a 5 gallon bucket, which BTW I recommend .

[burkleman]

I had the same thing happen when i added a skimmer to my tank but it was mostly because the pump i had was pushing too many gallons and i had no way to adjust it.

Brandon

[reef madman]

[quote=skeety]does you skimmer have anything that adjusts the air intake on it?

See...a new skimmer takes a while to break in...so what that means is,
now that yours is getting more broken in, it's getting more gunk out of the water, which probably means it's heavier, and having a harder time getting to the top. So this is a good thing.

Just need more bubbles, and there should be an intake adjustment or somethign that can regulate this. Play with it for a while to get it set right.

As for normal amounts, I'd be interested to hear this as well. I have to empy mine once or twice a day, but I run it a little wetter than normal. But if I dont', I get dark brown gunk, but I'd probably only have to empty it once or twice a week, instead. I just feel better emptying it, so I run it wetter. hehehe[/QU

what do you do to make it run wetter? i have venturi type with air hose and adj. valve coming out of the maxi-jet plugged into the skimmer. if i dont have air valve opened all the way up, i dont get enough bubbles to raise up into the cup. i mostly get a lot of foam which eventually turns to brown gunk in the cup.

[wharyat]

Originally Posted by reef madman

what do you do to make it run wetter? i have venturi type with air hose and adj. valve coming out of the maxi-jet plugged into the skimmer. if i dont have air valve opened all the way up, i dont get enough bubbles to raise up into the cup. i mostly get a lot of foam which eventually turns to brown gunk in the cup.

With the increase of air, you will have a decrease of water flow through the skimmer. If you have an water outlet adjustment close it off more to raise the water level in the skimmer. If not, decrease the air till you have a light brown (weak tea) colored skimmate; or if that doesn't work, check if you can upgrade the PH and get higher water flow.

EDIT:

I misread, I thought you said if it's open all the way then the level drops. If it raises when you open it, adjust it till you have a weak colored skimmate.

[BlennyMan1]

Thanks alot for the replies i was kinda worryin that nobody would reply on this one but yeah it seems to be working better now i think it just wasnt primed enough. the skimmate is still wet but its getting thicker and thicker so im thinkin its workin better now. Id say if you want a different type of bubble you should try sticking one of those air diffuser on your skimmer air inlet (the ones you use for air injection on powerheads.) and see if that makes any kind of a difference. but yeah the skimmer is workin better daily thanks