Dialing in my Skimmer After 6 Months

[rowdyreefing]

Hi Guys,

I have been running the Reef Octopus INT 220 for about 6 months. I purchased it used, but did a very through critic acid bath and clean. My issue is that I cannot get much nasty skimmate. When I look in the head at times there will be a thick foam, and sometimes it will be water bubbling. The skimmate is almost never smelly.

I have the skimmer in 8" of water as recommended. I have played with running full power and adjusting the wedge on the skimmer. I feel very heavily and have several large fish in the tank.

I run a filter pad just before the skimmer. However I noticed the skimmer working better when he pad is clean versus win the pad is dirty.

Any help would be great!!

Thanks

 

[ReefGeezer]

Why are you running a filter pad? Do you adjust the "wedge" so that the water line is at the bottom of the cup? Are there micro bubbles in the water at the intake?

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Is your tank and sump also only 6 months old as well? New, sterile systems aren’t going to pull out much. How many fish, inverts, corals do you have and what size of a tank? Dead rock or live?

 

[jda]

You should be seeing some nasty skim mate if you have large fish that get fed a lot assuming that you surface skim and turn over a decent amount of water into the sump. I in no way mean to throw shade with this, and some people do get offended when I offer it, but not all RO skimmers are capable of such things... some are/were better than others. The older ones with the Sicce PSK pumps are better than the newer ones with the DC pumps, IMO. YMMV, but honestly just trying to help and suggest that you don't get too discouraged if the skimmer just never looks like others do. If it works better without the pad, can you move the pad to after the skimmer chamber?

 

[rowdyreefing]

Please ignore the wires.

I get plenty of flow through the sump. The tank is a 330. About 1/4 of the rock is established live rock, the other was dead. I feed fairly heavily. I have to keep up with water changes or my nitrates will rise, so there is definitely dead organics that could be skimmed.

As you can see, still fairly light bioload, but enough to be getting some skimmate out of the skimmer

 

[rowdyreefing]

Why are you running a filter pad? Do you adjust the "wedge" so that the water line is at the bottom of the cup? Are there micro bubbles in the water at the intake?

I run the bubbles at the bottom of the cup. No bubbles in the skimmer, sometimes there are micro bubbles exiting the skimmer, but they do no return to the intake

 

[pecan2phat]

Is your airflow adjustable?
What I have found with some skimmers are that the airflow needs to be a bit more restricted so that the bubbles near the neck are not that large and crashing.

 

[jda]

That ^ reminds me. Check the air tube for calcium or salt creep build up. You could be getting too little air if it has not been cleaned in a while.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I run the bubbles at the bottom of the cup. No bubbles in the skimmer, sometimes there are micro bubbles exiting the skimmer, but they do no return to the intake

If you look at the top of the bubble column, you will notice a definite line between the top of the water level and then bubbles building above it. That line should be at the bottom of the skimmer cup. The bubble should be up in the neck. Generally, you have to keep adjusting the level up until skimmate is collected.

 

[rowdyreefing]

If you look at the top of the bubble column, you will notice a definite line between the top of the water level and then bubbles building above it. That line should be at the bottom of the skimmer cup. The bubble should be up in the neck. Generally, you have to keep adjusting the level up until skimmate is collected.

My concern is sometimes there is a thick foam, and sometimes there are bubbles just breaking and no water at all.

The bubbles are around the top of the neck. I can try to get photos