Man i hate skimmers.

[doubleshot00]

Just turned this on for the first time. Red Sea skimmer 300. I just did a tank transfer on Friday and this is the last puzzle piece to put together.

The skimmer is on a stand that I built so its sitting at the proper height. The regulator is turned all the way down “-“ to. But as soon as you turn it on its just fills up and dumps over.

I understand there is a so called break in period. I had this tank running in the garage for a week with evon but I guess once you put salt in it it doesn’t make a difference.

Anyone have any suggestions and the micro bubbles holy cow. I went from a tunze in take 9012dc that always had a micro bubble problem. But man a dc skimmer is so much easier to tune.

 

[doubleshot00]

 

[vabben]

Just open up the drain line and let it drain back into your sump until it breaks in.

 

[LeftyReefer]

I understand there is a so called break in period. I had this tank running in the garage for a week with evon but I guess once you put salt in it it doesn’t make a difference.

huh?

lets start with the basics.

There is saltwater in this tank, correct?

 

[LeftyReefer]

If there is only freshwater (evon = evian?) then the skimmer will just overflow like that.

if you haven't added the salt yet, then go ahead and turn the skimmer back off until you've added saltwater. you can't skim anything out of fresh water.

 

[doubleshot00]

huh?

lets start with the basics.

There is saltwater in this tank, correct?

Yes i had a test run / leak test for a week in the garage before i had it set up in the house

This tank has saltwater in it from my old tank.

 

[doubleshot00]

If there is only freshwater (evon = evian?) then the skimmer will just overflow like that.

if you haven't added the salt yet, then go ahead and turn the skimmer back off until you've added saltwater. you can't skim anything out of fresh water.

And when it only had fresh water running; it did nothing. Didn’t create any foam. If you were wondering.

 

[Mark Goode]

As said above, open your drain line until it settles. I've a Red Sea 600, and it took at least two weeks for it to turn from a bubble machine into a skimmer.

 

[LeftyReefer]

OK, then it sounds like it just needs to be broken in yet. As @vabben said above, just let it overflow or drain back into the sump until it breaks in.

The last time I set up a brand new tank and brand new skimmer, it took almost a month to actually start skimming anything. I thought my new skimmer was broke at the time too.

 

[zdrc]

FYI skimmers work in freshwater. They aren't quite as efficient, but they still work. Skimmers are used on Koi ponds sometimes. The reason most freshwater aquarists don't use skimmers is they just do regular large water changes instead. Saltwater aquarists are stingy about their water changes because of their cost, and non-water removing methods of nutrient export, like skimmers, are needed.

 

[Floyd-]

If you went full (-) on the dial then you closed the drain. The water has no where to go and it fills up the cup. You need to open it up (+) and the level in the skimmer will go down.

 

[Crustaceon]

If you want to speed things up, put additional spaces under the skimmer and raise it above the recommended install height until you pull whatever that's driving it nuts out of the system. Sometimes you get detergent from a filter sock, something that's adhered to one of your new toys or you accidentally dumped some chemiclean in the sump that'll drive your skimmer berserk. It's not unreasonable to assume that's what's happening here.

 

[doubleshot00]

Ok i took the drain line off and just have it running.
What about the micro bubbles. Holy cow its bad.

 

[LeftyReefer]

could just be the new pvc glue or something causing the skimmer to go crazy.

 

[doubleshot00]

If you went full (-) on the dial then you closed the drain. The water has no where to go and it fills up the cup. You need to open it up (+) and the level in the skimmer will go down.

I turn it the other way and it gets WAY worse.

 

[Stanley Wong]

Could you turn down your DC pump to the skimmer ?

 

[Floyd-]

I turn it the other way and it gets WAY worse.

Sorry, my skimmer is setup that way. I figured they were all about the same.

 

[Floyd-]

I read the manual for the 300 and you are 100% correct.
It states to have the skimmer in 6"-8" of water. Where are you at with your stand?

 

[Reefing102]

Is your return pump in the same chamber as your skimmer? That may be causing the micro bubble issue. If it is, is there anyway to put a sponge or filter floss as a baffle between them to catch the micro bubbles?

 

[Pkunk35]

If you want to speed things up, put additional spaces under the skimmer and raise it above the recommended install height until you pull whatever that's driving it nuts out of the system. Sometimes you get detergent from a filter sock, something that's adhered to one of your new toys or you accidentally dumped some chemiclean in the sump that'll drive your skimmer berserk. It's not unreasonable to assume that's what's happening here.

this is what I did with my Red Sea skimmer, I used baffles of eggcrate until it broke in and then removed the eggcrate a piece at a time until it skimmed how I like. In the beginning my skimmer was mostly out of water with about 5” of eggcrate underneath, it took that much height to “dry skim” in the beginning for me.