Skimmer problems?

[scotty]

Hi all!

Currently I have a 55 gallon up and running for about three months. Everything seems to be fine. No deaths, no disease... I have 60 lbs of LR, a wet dry with a sump and a protein skimmer. Also, I have a Fluval 404 running some chemical media.

Anyway, here's my question. Although all seems well I am a little worried/disappointed that I do not have anything ever in my skimmer cup. I am not sure if it's because it is not working properly or that my filter redundancy takes care of the dissolved organics. By the way, as the water enters the column to trickle down into the wet-dry I have about four filter pads which I take out and clean (or replace) religiously; I am wondering if I am actually doing the job for the skimmer by being so diligent with cleaning the debris from the pads. The skimmer itself seems to be bubbling okay but no foam seems to make it to the top. What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance.

PS I don't see any controls to raise the bubbling capacity on the the skimmer pump. (I bought it used so have no idea how it is designed...)

[hooked]

I feel your pain. I have a 38g with a filstar 2 and whisper 2 on it. I tried a seaclone skimmer for about 3 weeks and just took it off last night to take back to the store. In a week the collection cup would only fill up about 1/4 inch, this can't be right. I think the same as you, my filtration must be taking care of the load.

[scotty]

Are you removing it altogether? Actually, I really do want to keep the skimmer on I just wanted to find out if the skimmer was functioning or not. If it is, then great, our tanks are as well as can be expected and the skimmer will be there when necessary. Come to think of it I am wondering if the fact that my tank is only three months olds has to do with the paucity of dissolved organics.

[FishDaddy]

Scotty,
What kind of skimmer is it? Most will have some adjustments, even if it's just raising or lowering the collection cup. Skimmate production depends on a good bubble column within the skimmer body which allows sufficient contact time between the bubbles and the organics that will allow the gunk to adhere to the surface of the bubbles and be dumped into the cup. It is possible, though improbable, that your other filter systems are keeping the water pristine but I'd rather think that the skimmer isn't tuned right.
Dick

[Jimbo]

Hi,

Skimmer info, You need to adjust the skimmer so there is not much turbulence. I believe yours uses a spinning design which should work well if adjusted right. You don't want so many bubbles that they get big and cause turbulence, this just mixes up the organics back into the water column. If you have pics that would help. Also if you don't have much in your tank you can't expect it to extract much. Do you feed your tank?

Hope this helps