Cyano.

[kilralpine]

Should be a good investment, get used to making sure its still adjusted before you leave your house tho. On a small 10G tank your skimmer WILL be pulling small amounts of water out so keep a sharp eye on your water level/salinity. Ill take some pics later today when i clean the NWB-110 that I have, its pretty disgusting and totally reassures me every time why it is necessary. Another thing to note is that skimmers can pull out excretions from corals, something that is pretty important to not let build up as it can be toxic.

 

[oceandeep85]

kilralpine;980526 wrote: Should be a good investment, get used to making sure its still adjusted before you leave your house tho. On a small 10G tank your skimmer WILL be pulling small amounts of water out so keep a sharp eye on your water level/salinity. Ill take some pics later today when i clean the NWB-110 that I have, its pretty disgusting and totally reassures me every time why it is necessary. Another thing to note is that skimmers can pull out excretions from corals, something that is pretty important to not let build up as it can be toxic.

well, you've sold me.


However, isn't it possible to 'tune' these things so that I can make the decision as to whether or not I want the skim to be more solid or more liquid?

 

[kilralpine]

Yes but you will always skim some amount of liquid, wet skimming will pull more out but also pull more water out. The water that is coming out is saltwater and cannot be replenished by just adding RODI because it will decrease salinity; keep this in mind. If you are doing regular water changes every couple of days you should be fine but on a tank that small i would skim sort of dry.

 

[oceandeep85]

kilralpine;980528 wrote: Yes but you will always skim some amount of liquid, wet skimming will pull more out but also pull more water out. The water that is coming out is saltwater and cannot be replenished by just adding RODI because it will decrease salinity; keep this in mind. If you are doing regular water changes every couple of days you should be fine but on a tank that small i would skim sort of dry.

Got it. Luckily, I'll have plenty of time this weekend to mess with it and see how to set it up.

Doesn't it take a few days to 'break in' and really start becoming effective? or will I probably see instant results since I've not been skimming?

 

[kilralpine]

Until a film builds up in the neck it will not seem to do much yes, it takes about a half a day on my tank. You normally want to adjust it to where the bubbles are even with where the neck splits from the body and let it sit for a few minutes while it settles. As the film builds up the bubbles will eventually get larger and fall over the lip and into the cup.

 

[oceandeep85]

kilralpine;980531 wrote: Until a film builds up in the neck it will not seem to do much yes, it takes about a half a day on my tank. You normally want to adjust it to where the bubbles are even with where the neck splits from the body and let it sit for a few minutes while it settles. As the film builds up the bubbles will eventually get larger and fall over the lip and into the cup.

I gotcha. I may be hitting you up on Sat/Sun to set it up and get it going right.

 

[marquiseo]

Zeovit Coral Snow works. I've used it in the past with small cyano issues. You will need a skimmer though. It also improves water clarity and doesn't harm your livestock.

 

[jdavid]

kilralpine;980528 wrote: Yes but you will always skim some amount of liquid, wet skimming will pull more out but also pull more water out. The water that is coming out is saltwater and cannot be replenished by just adding RODI because it will decrease salinity; keep this in mind. If you are doing regular water changes every couple of days you should be fine but on a tank that small i would skim sort of dry.

Not to mention any small hob skimmer is going to have a tiny cup, so that's another reason why you want to stay on the dry side

 

[oceandeep85]

JDavid;980576 wrote: Not to mention any small hob skimmer is going to have a tiny cup, so that's another reason why you want to stay on the dry side

is a skimmer rated for 75 gal considered "small"?

 

[jdavid]

OceanDeep85;980584 wrote: is a skimmer rated for 75 gal considered "small"?

Well any of the skimmers that I recommended for you have small collection cups, I actually have the same eshopps skimmer laying around only it's the in-sump version and I have previously owned the reef octopus BH-100 so I can tell you the eshopps psk-75 has a larger cup out of the two, and yours is a newer generation so it has the drain line attached which is a huge positive.

But relatively speaking it's a small cup. I wasn't considering the fact that yours will have the drain line so that sort of eliminates the need to change the cup out really often, but yours won't be hidden away where you don't have to look at it so you'll probably want to change it often anyway

Either way- what kril said is correct, skim dry on a small tank.

 

[kilralpine]

Any hang on back skimmer is going to sport a small(er) cup and is considered small in the world of skimmers yes

 

[oceandeep85]

JDavid;980589 wrote: Well any of the skimmers that I recommended for you have small collection cups, I actually have the same eshopps skimmer laying around only it's the in-sump version and I have previously owned the reef octopus BH-100 so I can tell you the eshopps psk-75 has a larger cup out of the two, and yours is a newer generation so it has the drain line attached which is a huge positive.

But relatively speaking it's a small cup. I wasn't considering the fact that yours will have the drain line so that sort of eliminates the need to change the cup out really often, but yours won't be hidden away where you don't have to look at it so you'll probably want to change it often anyway

Either way- what kril said is correct, skim dry on a small tank.

haha.. I have a feeling it's going to be all over the place until I get comfortable with how it works.

 

[oceandeep85]

I suppose it is small with respect to others... I've been looking at tank DIY pron all day on youtube and some of these guys have skimmers the size of air compressor tanks. It's wild.

I've been fascinated with the DIY Plywood tanks.

 

[kilralpine]

If its all over the place either something is in your water causing a reaction in the skimmer or the skimmer itself has an issue. All good skimmers are fairly stable after you tune them, at least for a couple of days as long as the water they are sitting in doesnt change levels.

 

[jdavid]

No it's easy you just adjust it on the lower side and let it build up on it's own. You'll figure it out, it's pretty elementary

 

[oceandeep85]

kilralpine;980596 wrote: If its all over the place either something is in your water causing a reaction in the skimmer or the skimmer itself has an issue. All good skimmers are fairly stable after you tune them, at least for a couple of days as long as the water they are sitting in doesnt change levels.

oh, kil- perhaps I should clarify. I meant, 'all over the place' as in.. wet, dry, nothing, too much, too little, big bubbles, small bubbles... hahaha.. you know, all over the map until I get it honed in... unless that's what you meant as well.

 

[kilralpine]

The higher up the neck you adjust it the wetter it comes out. If you adjust it lower it will take a little bit longer to get started (few hours) but after it does it will only pull mostly dry gunk out.

 

[oceandeep85]

and so I guess what I'm looking for is a good compromise between wet and dry 'gunk'

 

[jdavid]

It will all be clear once you have some hands on experience

 

[kilralpine]

OceanDeep85;980601 wrote: and so I guess what I'm looking for is a good compromise between wet and dry 'gunk'

Correct ^^ it will be fairly strait forward, just make your adjustments slow and give it a minute to settle before adjusting it more. With a HOB skimmer you wont have to worry about the water level that its sitting in because its not sitting in a sump, this is generally what causes them to run weirdly.