Frustrated with my old skimmer

diastech · Jun 8, 2017

Hello all, first thread here. More of a reader than a poster.

I setup my old 90 gallon reef ready about 8 months ago and is fully cycled. The tank isn't stocked too heavy. Only about 8 fish at 1 inch each. Not much dead rock either, probably about 20-25 lbs.

I have a older reef octopus that just isn't skimming right. i dont have the paperwork that came with it so i have nothing to reference. doing some searching on google, i think its a nb-150 skimmer. it has a 6 inch cup.

i had a old megaflow sump that was right under the display tank and from what i can remember it was working well. i do remember getting some nasty skim mate out of it. this is going back about 8 years, but i did clean the skimmer before and after i stored it thoroughly.

when i setup the 90g again, i ended up making a new sump out of a 40g breeder. so currently i have the display tank on the main floor of my house and the 40g breeder sump in my basement with pvc plumbing going through the floor. the skimmer currently sits in 8.5 inches of water. i dont remember what the level was on my old sump, it cracked during my move and i threw it out.

i do get some wet skim, its not what i was looking for. its not very dirty, just slightly cloudy. the bubbles are very large and i have it set to just about 1 inch below the edge of the skimmer cup giving it 1 inch before it overflows. i will add some images/and video i took once i figure that out on the forums.

i have played with the skimmer for a while and i just cant get it to make any decent skim. what i have tried was raising it temporarily using some pvc and that didn't help. i tried different settings on the valve with the bubble level higher and also lower and still nothing. i originally had my salinity set to .022 and raised it to .024 and the results the same. the skimmer does have a full chamber of bubbles, but they dont seem fine enough. the pump for the skimmer does make noise, but it doesn't seem to affect the amount of bubbles it creates.

any help is appreciated, i am trying to avoid buying another skimmer. anyone have any tips on how i can get this skimmer to create finer bubbles? or does anyone know what the water level should be? i did some searching and i think its 6-9 inches, but i could be wrong.

diastech · Jun 8, 2017

added a image, and embedded video below:

diastech said:
Hello all, first thread here. More of a reader than a poster.

I setup my old 90 gallon reef ready about 8 months ago and is fully cycled. The tank isn't stocked too heavy. Only about 8 fish at 1 inch each. Not much dead rock either, probably about 20-25 lbs.

I have a older reef octopus that just isn't skimming right. i dont have the paperwork that came with it so i have nothing to reference. doing some searching on google, i think its a nb-150 skimmer. it has a 6 inch cup.

i had a old megaflow sump that was right under the display tank and from what i can remember it was working well. i do remember getting some nasty skim mate out of it. this is going back about 8 years, but i did clean the skimmer before and after i stored it thoroughly.

when i setup the 90g again, i ended up making a new sump out of a 40g breeder. so currently i have the display tank on the main floor of my house and the 40g breeder sump in my basement with pvc plumbing going through the floor. the skimmer currently sits in 8.5 inches of water. i dont remember what the level was on my old sump, it cracked during my move and i threw it out.

i do get some wet skim, its not what i was looking for. its not very dirty, just slightly cloudy. the bubbles are very large and i have it set to just about 1 inch below the edge of the skimmer cup giving it 1 inch before it overflows. i will add some images/and video i took once i figure that out on the forums.

i have played with the skimmer for a while and i just cant get it to make any decent skim. what i have tried was raising it temporarily using some pvc and that didn't help. i tried different settings on the valve with the bubble level higher and also lower and still nothing. i originally had my salinity set to .022 and raised it to .024 and the results the same. the skimmer does have a full chamber of bubbles, but they dont seem fine enough. the pump for the skimmer does make noise, but it doesn't seem to affect the amount of bubbles it creates.

any help is appreciated, i am trying to avoid buying another skimmer. anyone have any tips on how i can get this skimmer to create finer bubbles? or does anyone know what the water level should be? i did some searching and i think its 6-9 inches, but i could be wrong.