Need Skimmer Advice for SPS

Brandon McHenry · May 12, 2016

Pedoconfuego said:
Nothing if your have zero nutrients, it would just be readable for a bit and may go back to zero quickly. I am thinking lighting may play a role in your color questions, what lighting are you running again?

As of right now I am running 512 watts of t5 lighting via retrofit kits. I may be able to get a used ATI 8 bulb Sunpower fixture but I'm not sure as of yet.

Pedoconfuego said:
The stage looks like it could be a prostrsts maybe? Not positive but if so this are sometimes hard to color and may take a while to get going depending on where you got it. Do you remember where it came from or what it was labeled?

Unfortunately I am not sure of the identification, mostly because of my LFS doesn't have identifications labeled on them and once I get them I generally have a hard time pinning an ID on it. As for where it came from I can't say either. It's been a while since I got it and even if I knew back then I can't remember now. I know that is not much to go on so I apologize.

Graffiti Spot · May 12, 2016

Prostrsts = prostrata

Brandon McHenry · May 12, 2016

Pedoconfuego said:
Prostrsts = prostrata

After looking at some pictures I can see how it could be a prostrata.

Brandon McHenry · May 13, 2016

Just an update for everyone. I dropped the foam line lower to around a 1/2 inch below the bottom of the cup as suggested by Russ265. I would say that the liquid is a darker color than before and there is slightly more sludge. However, after examining the skimmer after starting it up again, I really dont think that I am getting good quality bubble formation as of right now. It could be my imagination but even a few hours after cleaning it I have had little foam formation whatsoever, an issue that I have not seen on other skimmers functioning properly. Is it possible that even though the pump looks to be in good shape there could be something wrong? Or is it just the fact that I need a better quality skimmer to function the way I want it to?

Russ265 · May 13, 2016

Brandon McHenry said:
Just an update for everyone. I dropped the foam line lower to around a 1/2 inch below the bottom of the cup as suggested by Russ265. I would say that the liquid is a darker color than before and there is slightly more sludge. However, after examining the skimmer after starting it up again, I really dont think that I am getting good quality bubble formation as of right now. It could be my imagination but even a few hours after cleaning it I have had little foam formation whatsoever, an issue that I have not seen on other skimmers functioning properly. Is it possible that even though the pump looks to be in good shape there could be something wrong? Or is it just the fact that I need a better quality skimmer to function the way I want it to?

sometimes you get foam. othertimes not so much. a good indicator is to examine the foam before feeding.

then check after....(it should have dropped)

Brandon McHenry · May 13, 2016

Russ265 said:
sometimes you get foam. othertimes not so much. a good indicator is to examine the foam before feeding.

then check after....(it should have dropped)

This is 15-20 minutes after feeding. Relatively unchanged since I cleaning the skimmer cup a few hours ago.