Hi, new to the hobby

[spiderman097]

Hello everyone, I'm just starting out in this hobby survived a lot of headaches. Had some planktonic algae grow, killed a $60 coral with my algae bloom. Rented a UV steralizer, seemed to fix it all.

Now I can't seem to get my protein skimmer working. The pump is producing billions of small venturi bubbles, but it's not creating any giant bubbles at the top. It's been running for about a month and it's been hit or miss. I just took out my uv steralizer and I'm already producing some green film on my socks.

Anyone got any ideas on how to produce foam? I have no clue what "skimming wet or dry" means.

Thanks everyone

 

[mufret]

Welcome!!

What's the manufacturer and model number of the skimmer? If you have any pics of how it is currently setup and configured, that would be helpful in diagnosing a problem and allow members to make some recommendations.

 

[ralph atl]

Welcome!

What kind of system do you have? and what type of skimmer? You'll need to adjust the skimmer outlet to "fine tune it".

 

[spiderman097]

I run a cpr sr6

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[spiderman097]

I can't really lower my outlet because of the height of the ballast next to it. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[ralph atl]

add a gate valve if doesn't have one already.

 

[spiderman097]

gate valve where? The intake or outflow?

 

[courterbobby]

Im not sure about the skimmer, but I run a UV sterilizer 24/7. I was told, from WWM and from LFS to run it 24/7. Keeps my H2O nice and clean of algae, and I have not seen a spike in nitrates.

 

[dartfrog]

I recently had the same problem and it turned out it was from the mortor I used in the liverock. I simply added some carbon to my sump and it started working fine in a few hours. Some types of chemicals have an effect on the surface tension of the bubbles which causes the skimmer to act crazy...or can you raise the skimmer higher in the sump or lower the water level in that section, that can also effect the performance. Ideally from what i've been told the least amount of backpressure on the outflow is the best.

 

[drnecropolis]

I just want to say Hi and Welcome to the forums!!

We have a pretty good base of people here that are more than willing to help a fellow reefer...

If you have any questions about how the forum is ran or anything, feel free to send me private message and I will try my best to answer any questions..

 

[chefrepo]

What is the bio load on the tank? If it is real light (i.e. not alot producing waste) then it is possible that you wont get alot out of the skimmer as there is nothing to skim. On the other hand if you have a heavy load then you should be getting alot.
The gate valve will go on the output. You want the water to hang around inside the skimmer so it will have time to work and not just run in one side then out the other. Hope this helps and welcome to the ARC.

 

[spiderman097]

Ok, I'll give it all a try. Thanks for all the input. My bio load is pretty light right now, just running 2 clowns, a blue hippo tang, a dragon goby, and a good bit of small inverts. I know I have a big skimmer for a small tank, but I always thought to buy big and I can bring it down to my tank level.

 

[cr500_af]

spiderman097;513414 wrote: Ok, I'll give it all a try. Thanks for all the input. My bio load is pretty light right now, just running 2 clowns, a blue hippo tang, a dragon goby, and a good bit of small inverts. I know I have a big skimmer for a small tank, but I always thought to buy big and I can bring it down to my tank level.

If you do have a "small tank", then that's a reasonable bioload (tangs produce a lot of waste)... though a hippo should be in a pretty good size tank. I guess it depends on what "small" is.

If your tank is less than a 90 or so, (and preferably larger), you may want to consider what you'll do when the tang gets big.

And to answer your question about the gate valve, it goes on the outlet. You close it slightly to raise the water level (and therefore the foam level) in the skimmer, and vice versa.