oily slick

[roundman]

I have a 75 gal fowlr tank with a prizm pro skimmer, a fluval 304 that only has the sponges and small pieces of lr in it, and 77 lbs of live rock.I have the following 2 clowns, copperband, 6 line wrasse, 3 chromis, royal gramma, 12 blue hermits, 2 red hermits, serpent starfish, emerald crab, 10 snails.
There is a oily slick on the top of water is this normal and if not what can be done about it.
thanks

 

[james s_]

If you do not have an overflow or the surface skimmer for your Prizm then it may be hard to get rid of the "slick" that you have.Maybe someone else can chime in with a suggestion,but I noticed the same thing in my 46 Bowfront when I was using a Prizm skimmer.The "slick" is from all the organics that are building up on the surface and have no way of being filtered out.You need some surface aggitation to keep that stuff from settling.Hope that makes sense,Good luck!

 

[jeep9783]

Try getting a power head and breaking the surface of the water, that always does the trick for me.

Chris

 

[roundman]

I'm a noob and still learning how to get things set right. I adjusted by fluval return to break the surface and readjusted the surface skimmer on the prizm and tada oily film gone just like that
Thanks again

 

[jeep9783]

No problem, i had that problem with very little flow, adjusted now have 1900gph and i barley keep the coral on the rock, good luck with the tank

 

[dakota9]

Just FYI, you can make a quick (but ugly) surface skimmer by modifying an old aquarium vacuum tube, all you do is clog the hole on what should be the hose end, and cut small slits in the in the open end, secure it to your uptake on your skimmer, and it works great. Takes the stuff out of the water instead of mixing it in. I used that method every 3 days or so (too ugly to stay in the tank) until Noah (forget his handle, but very nice guy) sold me a surface skimmer for my prizm. The homemade method worked every bit as well as the one made for the Prizm, oddly enough.

 

[roundman]

OK another question. How do you adjust the prizm intake should the water level be lower in the skimmer bucket then the top level of the tank. I am confused on how the skimmer should be set. I keep getting wet bubbles in the top and I thought that it was suppose to be dry bubbles. Am I correct that the bubbles should be dry and the level in the skimmer below the tank level
Thamls

 

[james s_]

Ahh prizm skimmer adjustment.Well on mine I would raise the surface skimmer as high as it would go to the top of the tank.And I would lower the collection cup as low as it would go,that was the only way I could get it to skim.Its really just a matter of playing with it and trying to figure out what works best.Typically I would try to keep the water level in the skimmer right around where the cone starts to go into the collection cup.The skimmate I got was always a wet light tea color,and was never a dry skim.

Btw,I recommend buying another skimmer at some point.In my experience as well as plenty others,these skimmers are worth exactly what you pay for them.Of course everyone has got to start somewhere.Once you get something a bit better you soon realize the difference between a good skimmer and a Prizm.Good luck with it.

 

[dakota9]

I have a 30g long tank, I still use the Prizm Skimmer. That whole "Dry Foam" is just hype with these skimmers, but they work fine for a tank the size of mine or less. Yes, the level of water in your skimmer will be above the water level in your tank. I'm looking at mine as I type and the skimmer water is about an inch and a half above the water level in my tank.

Instead of dry foam, shoot for yellow water, green water, brown water, yellow cloudy water, green cloudy water, brown cloudy water, or any combination on any given day, depending on your bio-load.

Here's what you do.

Assemble the unit, assuming you've done this correctly, Place intake side in the water, and plug the unit in.

You need to pour about a cup of water into the main compartment,

Place collection cup firmly ontop. Make sure the black O ring is still inplace.

hold your finger over the end of the black air hose, slowly you'll see water coming up the intake tube due to the suction you're creating by holding the black air tube closed.

Continue holding black air tube until water starts flowing out the other side of the unit. NOTE... if you hold the tube closed too long, water will flow out the back of the unit and hit the floor, but will stop when you LET GO of the air tube.

At first, adjust the valve on the intake tube to almost off, only allowing a little water to flow for the first day or so

NEVER TRY TO ADJUST A SKIMMER THE FIRST DAY YOU INSTALL IT, IT WILL DRIVE YOU MAD!

Let it operate a day or so and then attempt any adjustment, but it might be several days before you get anything in the collection cup.

If it's filling the collection cup too fast, empty the cup and turn the flow down, just a little bit!

If foam isn't coming out at all, raise the floor, just a little bit.

It's very important that you move the valve in small incriments, and its best if you try to adjust it on a day you'll be home all day so you can keep checking on it every hour or so.

Very important, the water level in your tank changes the output of this skimmer. If its working great one day, and then not the next, don't adjust the skimmer yet, best to top off the tank first, then adjust the skimmer if needed. Chances are the water level in the tank dropped causing the suction level to drop.

Let me know if any of the helps!

 

[roundman]

OK thank to all that responded. It sounds like I have it set right just didn't understand it. Ya'll have been a big help in this confusing but wonderfully addictive hobby.
Thanks again