Defective_Weeble
Salty
40 breeder
20 long sump
~50 gallons TWV
RODI + Red Sea Coral Pro, 5% weekly
Clownfish
Mandarin Dragonet
Firefish
RBTA
After dealing with slightly cloudy water for a couple of weeks, I tossed a bag of Chemi-Pure Blue into the sump. It cleared the water like a champ, but that got me thinking about running biopellets versus GFO. I bit the bullet, bought a used Eshopps skimmer rated for 200 gallons and started running 1/4 the recommended dose of biopellets. I'm now on day 18.
I'm having the typical "LPS are angry" time right now, but most of them are doing well. I might end up losing my hammer, but it's only a single head so it's not a huge deal. SPS are all doing very well. Great color, great growth. Not seeing as much extension out of my Red Planet as I used to, but otherwise I see no negative impact from the changes.
My question is this: The first week, my skimmer ran like a beast. I had not previously been running a skimmer because I wasn't having any problems that I couldn't control via water changes. It wasn't until I started seeing some issues that would be cleared by a skimmer that I really felt the need. In that first week, I pulled about 3 inches of thick, dark skimmate.
I cleaned the skimmer cup and neck after the first week and since then I really don't see a lot of skimmate. This leads me to believe that I went too big with the skimmer, even though I purposely wanted to overskim to make up for the pellet waste. Right now it really only bubbles into the cup a couple of times daily. When it does it's still dark and thick, but it's nowhere what I've seen other skimmers do.
Thoughts, advice? Thanks for your help.
20 long sump
~50 gallons TWV
RODI + Red Sea Coral Pro, 5% weekly
Clownfish
Mandarin Dragonet
Firefish
RBTA
After dealing with slightly cloudy water for a couple of weeks, I tossed a bag of Chemi-Pure Blue into the sump. It cleared the water like a champ, but that got me thinking about running biopellets versus GFO. I bit the bullet, bought a used Eshopps skimmer rated for 200 gallons and started running 1/4 the recommended dose of biopellets. I'm now on day 18.
I'm having the typical "LPS are angry" time right now, but most of them are doing well. I might end up losing my hammer, but it's only a single head so it's not a huge deal. SPS are all doing very well. Great color, great growth. Not seeing as much extension out of my Red Planet as I used to, but otherwise I see no negative impact from the changes.
My question is this: The first week, my skimmer ran like a beast. I had not previously been running a skimmer because I wasn't having any problems that I couldn't control via water changes. It wasn't until I started seeing some issues that would be cleared by a skimmer that I really felt the need. In that first week, I pulled about 3 inches of thick, dark skimmate.
I cleaned the skimmer cup and neck after the first week and since then I really don't see a lot of skimmate. This leads me to believe that I went too big with the skimmer, even though I purposely wanted to overskim to make up for the pellet waste. Right now it really only bubbles into the cup a couple of times daily. When it does it's still dark and thick, but it's nowhere what I've seen other skimmers do.
Thoughts, advice? Thanks for your help.
