skimmer and skimmate

[dawgface]

How do you know if your getting enough skimmate? Or better yet how do you know if your skimmer is sufficent for your tank. My skimmer is rated for double my tank but it produces less than half a cup every two weeks and its very copious with liquid.

 

[mvm]

Post more details. Tank size and skimmer would be a start.

 

[dawgface]

Maybe I didn't phrase this right. My skimmer is rated far above the tank size but I feel the skimmer maybe defective because of the low skimmate. How much skimmate do you produce in let's say a week? Is it mostly solid or liquid in nature? Is there a test to check performance of skimmer? Surely after time these need to be replaced.... what is the factors that prompt that.

 

[merkywater]

What size tank and what size skimmer? Like Matt said if we had a little more info on sizes of the two we could maybe come to a conclusion.

 

[sharkbait]

ja4207;605347 wrote: How do you know if your getting enough skimmate? Or better yet how do you know if your skimmer is sufficent for your tank. My skimmer is rated for double my tank but it produces less than half a cup every two weeks and its very copious with liquid.

It also depends on your bioload for the amount that gets pulled out of the system. Water volume ratings are only part of it. If you have a 125g tank and like two fish and a skimmer rated for 300g then there isnt much waste in the system. I have a 92g with a skimmer rated for 210g and I pull a cup a week but I also have a ton of fish, so I have a lot of bio waste in my water column.

 

[dawgface]

I should have a ton of bioload, I have a puffer, lion, two clowns and two goby in a 75 gallon. BeforeI get flamed for the fish in this take know that the puffer and the lion were salvaged from a friend that was slowing killing them by means on neglect. I'm working on getting a 220 in my office, until then they are fine here as they are all relatively small.

 

[merkywater]

ICEMAN832;605398 wrote: It also depends on your bioload for the amount that gets pulled out of the system. Water volume ratings are only part of it. If you have a 125g tank and like two fish and a skimmer rated for 300g then there isnt much waste in the system. I have a 92g with a skimmer rated for 210g and I pull a cup a week but I also have a ton of fish, so I have a lot of bio waste in my water column.

+1

What is the skimmer rated for?

 

[dawgface]

150

 

[sharkbait]

What is the skimmer? brand and model? I had a old ASM G2 and it pulled maybe a 1/4 of a cup a week and then I upgraded to a reef octopus with bubble plate and I pull a full cup a week. Note that both skimmers were run on the same setup with the same amount of fish.

 

[cr500_af]

ja4207;605378 wrote: Maybe I didn't phrase this right. My skimmer is rated far above the tank size but I feel the skimmer maybe defective because of the low skimmate. How much skimmate do you produce in let's say a week? Is it mostly solid or liquid in nature? Is there a test to check performance of skimmer? Surely after time these need to be replaced.... what is the factors that prompt that.

If skimming "wet", I get a 2L coke bottle full in a little under two weeks. If skimming "dry", then there is very little in the cup, but the neck is thick with goop.

A skimmer's performance can be tested, but it isn't the kind of thing that is easy to duplicate at home... IMO with that bioload you should be getting more skimmate than that, but as the above suggests, the adjustment of the skimmer has a lot to do with that. The best skimmer in the world, improperly adjusted, won't pull poop out of the water very well. If you are only getting the amount you stated, AND it is watery, then I think something needs attention.

To address your question about replacement, basically if the pump is working properly there is nothing to replace... it is, after all, the only moving part.

Pending the actual make and model of the skimmer, though, it's all speculation. There are some skimmers that are such pieces of crap that you are lucky to get what you are getting now (Seaclone comes to mind).

 

[dawgface]

Alright solved the problem, it seemed that I had salt in the venturi. I used scalding water and tah-dah it's pumping out skimmate. Thanks to those of you that helped me.