Protein skimmer from hell

[Amy Dawson]

I bought a reef octopus protein skimmer a couple weeks ago. It's been running and overflowing with huge bubbles everyday. I've adjusted everything, watched a hundred videos and nothing helps. Anything it pulls out is going right back in the tank by overflooding. Someone told me to wait and it would calm down so I waited and it's not calming. Any suggestions?? Please

 

[jasonb87]

Your water level in the sump is to high more than likely

 

[jenkinscrew2578]

Sounds like you need need to raise it. Put something under it to raise it higher in the water.

 

[ahiggins]

I agree, sounds like water level is too high.
I have a nano skimmer that I have to adjust based on water level (its a magnet) and readjust when the sponge gets dirty LOL youre among friends when it comes to irritating skimmers.

 

[Amy Dawson]

Ok I'll try to raise it again. It's so frustrating lol

 

[Amy Dawson]

I thought I bought a dud or something lol

 

[jasonb87]

I adjusted my sump level Instead of my skimmer height. A run my skimmer more on the dry side

 

[ahiggins]

Here's the level I try to keep mine at. Shows the micro bubble level too. If the skimmer is too low, all I pull is micro bubbles. I have to leave a good inch or 2 inches of micro bubbles.
Terrible picture lol and it's a nano so your octopus is a lot more "complex" but you get the idea.
It should only take 2 weeks max to work in a skimmer. Unless you have nothing to skim out. Then it will only produce micro bubbles.

 

[Meccaman96]

Yeah the guy at macna said raising a in sump skimmer will make it work better and more effective. He also suggested buy some of the ceramic bio filter media blocks that come in little bricks and use that to raise the skimmer.

 

[Amy Dawson]

Thank you that helps a lot! Mine is just pulling clear water so maybe there's nothing to skim?

 

[Desmond]

Give it sometime to bed a little more and it will brown up or adjust to a let wet skim

 

[Amy Dawson]

Ok I will. Thank you

 

[blkhwkz]

I'm running a Reef Octopus Classic 202-S. They say in the manual what the optimal water level is for each skimmer. I ended up building a quick stand out of some PVC to raise mine slightly to get to the proper water level. I've seen eggcrate stands, but they always become detritus traps.

 

[dmh41532]

How deep is it? I keep mine in 7 1/2 inches of water, it took about 2 days to break it

 

[Meccaman96]

Did u get it going?

 

[becks]

When I brought my bubble magus I had to have mine raised really high out the water and then after about 4 weeks I could lower it to the recommended height

 

[Amy Dawson]

It's working better but not quite right yet. The bubbles are just now starting to calm down so I think I'll be able to move it down lower sooner. I don't think I left it on long enough before for it to calm down. I was using water conditioner too and someone said that makes it worse so I'm slowly switching to ocean water. Thank you so much for checking. That's so nice of you

 

[wyattray]

Any additives in my water cause it to go crazy for a few days also.

 

[Brew12]

When I brought my bubble magus I had to have mine raised really high out the water and then after about 4 weeks I could lower it to the recommended height

I've had my bubble magus for 3 months and it still won't let me run it anywhere near recommended height. I blame the skimmer operator in my case. Doesn't help that I seem to run a high nutrient system.

Skimmers should be easier than they are!

 

[Amy Dawson]

Yea I didn't know that at all. It was bubbling like dawn dish soap lol. They're pretty hard to get figured out but I'm hoping by next week It'll calm down