New Skimmer Causing Micro Bubbles

[iceman14555]

Hello all,

I'm having a minor emergency. I have had my skimmer, an Icecap K2-50, on my AIO since I started it. However, I have not been running it at all during my cycle. I just started it up today, it is running within the recommended water level. I know it is supposed to break in and that the micro bubbles will go away, but there are an aweful lot, and my livestock don't seem too happy about them. I don't want to harm my fish, but how do I break in the protien skimmer without running it? Should I leave it be, or should I turn it off?

 

[fishguy242]

leave running ,let break in ,blow mircos off rocks/corals,now and then should be done tomorrow

 

[sfin52]

leave running ,let break in ,blow mircos off rocks/corals,now and then should be done tomorrow

agree nothing to stress about

 

[GoTakeANap]

Hello all,

I'm having a minor emergency. I have had my skimmer, an Icecap K2-50, on my AIO since I started it. However, I have not been running it at all during my cycle. I just started it up today, it is running within the recommended water level. I know it is supposed to break in and that the micro bubbles will go away, but there are an aweful lot, and my livestock don't seem too happy about them. I don't want to harm my fish, but how do I break in the protien skimmer without running it? Should I leave it be, or should I turn it off?

Keep the skimmer running. It needs to build a slime coat and the micro bubbles will pretty go away. Your sump should have a bubble trap before it goes into the return chamber.

 

[iceman14555]

leave running ,let break in ,blow mircos off rocks/corals,now and then should be done tomorrow

I don't really notice any on the rocks, only in the water column. This isn't going to hurt my fish? I've seen 50/50 answers in researching the topic further. At this moment my fish seem quite po'ed, when they are normally calm and about to bed down for the night.

 

[iceman14555]

Keep the skimmer running. It needs to build a slime coat and the micro bubbles will pretty go away. Your sump should have a bubble trap before it goes into the return chamber.

no bubble trap, it goes media basket in the first chamber, then skimmer in the second, then return.

 

[BighohoReef]

We just had this same issue. It took about 5-7 days for the skimmer to break in, in that time we had lots of micro bubbles. I did the following adjustments to help minimize the bubbles. First I adjusted the water level (that helped reduce the micro bubbles) after that I also reduced the air intake/pump speed all minor tweaks over the course of those days. I also temporarily added a filter fleece before the return pump which kept a majority of micro bubbles out of the tank until broken in.

 

[fishguy242]

let them sleep ,blow off rocks in morn

 

[iceman14555]

We just had this same issue. It took about 5-7 days for the skimmer to break in, in that time we had lots of micro bubbles. I did the following adjustments to help minimize the bubbles. First I adjusted the water level (that helped reduce the micro bubbles) after that I also reduced the air intake/pump speed all minor tweaks over the course of those days. I also temporarily added a filter fleece before the return pump which kept a majority of micro bubbles out of the tank until broken in.

I have it adjusted to the proper height, It's not a DC so I can't adjust the pump speed. If I block the air intake, it just stops bubbling all together, will this still let it break in?

 

[charles watson]

Except for a very few fish. Most of them spend a good part of their lives trying not to be swallowed whole. They prolly won't mind the bubbles.

 

[BighohoReef]

I should also add that I had the same concern you did about the micro bubbles impacting the livestock. I always put this disclaimer out I know all tanks are different. For us in the end all our livestock made it through we had some bubble pockets under some of the rocks but they’ve all disappeared into the flow.
Here’s what’s in our tank 100g 35g sump
Valentini puffer
5 Chromis
Hawkfish
Lots of euphyllia (which I was the most concerned about).
mushrooms
Gonis/alveo
Deep water acros

 

[iceman14555]

Except for a very few fish. Most of them spend a good part of their lives trying not to be swallowed whole. They prolly won't mind the bubbles.

I appreciate it, I might just be getting paranoid looking at one to many articles that state micro bubbles are BAD. Then there's the other argument that they oxygenate the water and are good for the system.....I don't know what to believe anymore

 

[GoTakeANap]

I have it adjusted to the proper height, It's not a DC so I can't adjust the pump speed. If I block the air intake, it just stops bubbling all together, will this still let it break in?

leave it running. open up the air intake all the way and let it break in.

 

[iceman14555]

I should also add that I had the same concern you did about the micro bubbles impacting the livestock. I always put this disclaimer out I know all tanks are different. For us in the end all our livestock made it through we had some bubble pockets under some of the rocks but they’ve all disappeared into the flow.
Here’s what’s in our tank 100g 35g sump
Valentini puffer
5 Chromis
Hawkfish
Lots of euphyllia (which I was the most concerned about).
mushrooms
Gonis/alveo
Deep water acros

Thankfully, I have no corals at this time. Just 2 clowns, my clean up crew, and a scarlet cleaner shrimp.

 

[BighohoReef]

Thankfully, I have no corals at this time. Just 2 clowns, my clean up crew, and a scarlet cleaner shrimp.

Do you mind posting a few pictures? It’ll help give some idea of the amount of bubbles you’re dealing with... I do believe you’ll be okay but pictures speak a thousand words

 

[iceman14555]

Thank you all for the answers, I'm just letting it sit, I did stick a small piece of foam in the chamber with the skimmer, seems to be helping a little.

 

[Jonify]

No worries--this is just what skimmers do. Your coral/livestock might not be happy with it, but they'll be fine once the skimmer breaks in. Most times they just withdraw because of the physical action of the bubbles bumping against their bodies--it's not a chemical thing, just a physical thing, so they'll be fine once it breaks in. Don't stress, just let the skimmer do its thing

 

[iceman14555]

Do you mind posting a few pictures? It’ll help give some idea of the amount of bubbles you’re dealing with... I do believe you’ll be okay but pictures speak a thousand words

How bout a video clip.

 

[Hugh Mann]

So from what I gathered reading this, the microbubbles produced by a protein skimmer may be annoying, but not directly harmful to our fishy friends?

I picked up a used reef octopus and haven't set it up yet. No corals, just fish.

 

[Jonify]

So from what I gathered reading this, the microbubbles produced by a protein skimmer may be annoying, but not directly harmful to our fishy friends?

I picked up a used reef octopus and haven't set it up yet. No corals, just fish.

Not at all. Just visually irritating until it clears up in a few days once it's covered with a real good slime.