Protein Skimmer Break In

stevensmks2 · Jan 30, 2020

Do you guys/gals break in your new protein skimmers with the collection cup removed? I’m currently doing so and just wanna see if I’m breaking it in the correct way.

Daddy-o · Jan 30, 2020

I dont. I have 5 skimmers running. Some skimmers skim pretty good right out of the box. Some of them take time to break in. I put them in and see if I can get them to skim.
Cheers! Mark

Reefpuck · Jan 30, 2020

I remove the drain plug on the skimmer collection cup only if it's overflowing. Otherwise just adjust and let it start working.

fishguy242 · Jan 30, 2020

imo if super skimming just let go it will settle soon ,and your corals will love it

Hemmdog · Jan 31, 2020

What kind of skimmer is it. Some I’ve had have needed to be broken in, other have not. I leave the cup on either way unless it’s needing dumped more than 5x daily.

stevensmks2 · Jan 31, 2020

Hemmdog said:
What kind of skimmer is it. Some I’ve had have needed to be broken in, other have not. I leave the cup on either way unless it’s needing dumped more than 5x daily.

It’s aquamaxx fc-80. I tried leaving the cup on at first but it fills up within a minute or so. I have also tried several different water levels and it hasn’t changed anything.

fishguy242 · Jan 31, 2020

just set as low as you can ,let overflow,adjust in the morn,nice skimmer

stevensmks2 · Jan 31, 2020

fishguy242 said:
just set as low as you can ,let overflow,adjust in the morn,nice skimmer

Will do. Thanks for the advice!

S.Pepper · Jan 31, 2020

I just went through this with my first SW tank. I am using a Bubble Magus Elite 5. Patience, patience, and a little more patience. It will eventually come around. It took about 1.5 months before my skimmer was working properly: meaning, it wasn't overflowing and I didn't have to adjust it.

Also, do you have anything in the tank? CUC, corals, fish? If the tank is cycling there isn't much for the skimmer to do.

S.Pepper · Jan 31, 2020

fishguy242 said:
just set as low as you can ,let overflow,adjust in the morn,nice skimmer

that, too.

fishguy242 · Jan 31, 2020

just new skimmer or new system

stevensmks2 · Jan 31, 2020

S.Pepper said:
I just went through this with my first SW tank. I am using a Bubble Magus Elite 5. Patience, patience, and a little more patience. It will eventually come around. It took about 1.5 months before my skimmer was working properly: meaning, it wasn't overflowing and I didn't have to adjust it.

Also, do you have anything in the tank? CUC, corals, fish? If the tank is cycling there isn't much for the skimmer to do.

My tank is well established (2 years old) I got a new skimmer because my old one was really big and it was a pain to get out of my sump to clean. Also I have about 12 fish and 10 corals in the tank.

S.Pepper · Jan 31, 2020

stevensmks2 said:
My tank is well established (2 years old) I got a new skimmer because my old one was really big and it was a pain to get out of my sump to clean. Also I have about 12 fish and 10 corals in the tank.

Let it run. It will break-in.