Protein Skimmer Help
- Thread starter KTinner
- Start date
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HappyOne
New Member
I have used one fairly recently with good results so I should be able to help.
How long have you had it in the tank for ?
What's your salinity?
What size is the tank and what is in it?
How long have you had it in the tank for ?
What's your salinity?
What size is the tank and what is in it?
OP
OP
KTinner
Active Member
It’s been in for a few days, the salinity is 1.024, and it’s in a 15gal
HappyOne
New Member
All skimmers need to 'break in' first to operate properly as well as to stop pushing bubbles into the tank. The bio slime needs to coat the walls of the reaction chamber. This just takes some time. My PS2 took a few weeks to really settle in and skim well and stop releasing the bubbles. It gets progressively better and might be faster for you depening on how old the tank is and how high the bio load.
You will still get bubbles from time to time from having your hands in the water a bunch or some additives will do it too. Epoxy is notorious for either dumping bubbles back in the tank or killing the skimming action. These episodes are usually pretty short lived and all will return to normal. Just clean the cup when needed and leave the rest of the skimmer in the tank.
I found that the PS2 worked best if your water level was just a bit higher than half way up the discharge grill at the front. With the water adjusted full open and the air closed, the water level should be visable in the side of the cup just below where it starts to narrow. Then open the air slowly to get the bubble/water level to rise up to into the neck about 1/2" to start with. It will tend to skim wet but will work well as long as the load is enough.
If the tank is lightly stocked or fairly new, there might not be much to skim.
