Protein skimmer question ???

[Damon]

I twisted the air know to let in as much as possible, but I have read that these skimmers pumps bring in a ton of oxygen already......I don't know anything about this so maybe you can answer....can you pull in too much oxygen into my skimmer and have a negative affect?? I'm assuming not but just curious!! Thanks for the help so far!! Appreciate it!

If you want to let in more air with yours (which I have run that way also), just turn the air adjustment, so that it does not touch the little acrylic up tube(to the left a few turns).. This will make larger bubbles in the neck, and also drop the water level..

You won't pull in too much air for the system.. Even as strong as those pumps are, it won't over oxygenate the tank..

 

[Gwitness]

If you want to let in more air with yours (which I have run that way also), just turn the air adjustment, so that it does not touch the little acrylic up tube(to the left a few turns).. This will make larger bubbles in the neck, and also drop the water level..

You won't pull in too much air for the system.. Even as strong as those pumps are, it won't over oxygenate the tank..

Is there a benefit of running it with the air intake fully open??

 

[twilliard]

I twisted the air know to let in as much as possible, but I have read that these skimmers pumps bring in a ton of oxygen already......I don't know anything about this so maybe you can answer....can you pull in too much oxygen into my skimmer and have a negative affect?? I'm assuming not but just curious!! Thanks for the help so far!! Appreciate it!

No such thing as too much air

 

[Gwitness]

No such thing as too much air

This is what it looks like now with air fully open....

What do you think?

 

[twilliard]

Much better!
Now use your effluent valve to control head height (the outgoing water valve if it has one)

 

[Gwitness]

Much better!
Now use your effluent valve to control head height (the outgoing water valve if it has one)

Okay great!! Might be a dumb question but how high should I raise it??

 

[twilliard]

Hold on and I will jump to my phone and show you how I do this

 

[twilliard]

I use marks on the cup to let me know where to adjust the height based on collection.

This is my effluent valve marked. The big line represents time to clean the venturi.

 

[twilliard]

This is a fine adjustment system.

 

[Gwitness]

I use marks on the cup to let me know where to adjust the height based on collection.

This is my effluent valve marked. The big line represents time to clean the venturi.

Okay that makes sense and obviously the lighter the color the more wet skim it is and I can twist my water hose a little more to make it more dry......ill give this a shot for a couple days and I'll be back on for an update!!! Thank you for the help!! And thank you Damon also for all the help!!

 

[Damon]

Okay great!! Might be a dumb question but how high should I raise it??

Looks good.. Me personally, I probably would have left it where you took the picture for at least a day, to see how it collects..

And left on the big knob to raise the water level, and right to lower it.. The skimz are backwards in this regard..

 

[Gwitness]

Looks good.. Me personally, I probably would have left it where you took the picture for at least a day, to see how it collects..

And left on the big knob to raise the water level, and right to lower it.. The skimz are backwards in this regard..

Do you mean I should have left the threaded air intake where it originally was?? And just raised or lowered the water in take part?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have had my skimz monsterz 201 skimmer about 3 months now and it just seems to not collect much skim for me at all for some reason.....the other thing is that i carbon dose white vinegar and everyone normally talks about how bad the skim smells from carbon dosing and the stuff barely smells compared to when I had my asm skimmer?? I'm thinking maybe I don't have it tuned correctly or maybe another reason on why I'm not getting a lot of stuff in the cup....

My skimmate has never smelled bad, either before or after vinegar dosing. Even when vinegar dosing at levels way higher than almost anyone I know (more than 2 mL per gallon total water volume)

I think skimmate smell may relate to smelly coral mucous or other specific compounds rather than just general organics being removed.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If your PH is around 8.2, then the oxygen content should be fine.

Generally, the more oxygen in the water, the higher the PH number will be.
(Kinda hard to have too much oxygen in our tanks since they're basically a closed loop system.)

FWIW, pH and O2 do not always relate in reef aquaria. Both can be high, both low, or one up and one down.

So I wouldn't use pH as a guide to O2.

 

[Damon]

My skimmate has never smelled bad, either before or after vinegar dosing. Even when vinegar dosing at levels way higher than almost anyone I know (more than 2 mL per gallon total water volume)

I think skimmate smell may relate to smelly coral mucous or other specific compounds rather than just general organics being removed.

Really? So question then, as this is new to me.. If its the same coral, why would the mucus only smell after the pellets/carbon dosing has kicked in? I'm asking genuinely out of interest and learning something also. Is it that we are agitating the coral or anything negative that you can think of?

 

[Damon]

Do you mean I should have left the threaded air intake where it originally was?? And just raised or lowered the water in take part?

Nope, the pictures that you took last. Whatever you did, and I think you opened your air control screw from the pictures, I would leave it at that for at least a little, because that looked like a good beginning.. A very good one..

That's what I meant.. Lol

 

[Gwitness]

Nope, the pictures that you took last. Whatever you did, and I think you opened your air control screw from the pictures, I would leave it at that for at least a little, because that looked like a good beginning.. A very good one..

That's what I meant.. Lol

Lol got it!! Thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Really? So question then, as this is new to me.. If its the same coral, why would the mucus only smell after the pellets/carbon dosing has kicked in? I'm asking genuinely out of interest and learning something also. Is it that we are agitating the coral or anything negative that you can think of?

Is that what you experienced?

I'm not saying it must be mucous, but rather some organic chemical produced by bacteria or corals. While it is possible the coral has responded to changes in organics or bacteria (vinegar can directly feed zoox in corals, for example), it might be bacterial products produced in the tank unrelated to corals, and in the case of the bacterial species you have, it happened to be a smelly product.

Or maybe your collection cup has become anaerobic, producing more bad smells.

 

[Damon]

Is that what you experienced?

I'm not saying it must be mucous, but rather some organic chemical produced by bacteria or corals. While it is possible the coral has responded to changes in organics or bacteria (vinegar can directly feed zoox in corals, for example), it might be bacterial products produced in the tank unrelated to corals, and in the case of the bacterial species you have, it happened to be a smelly product.

Or maybe your collection cup has become anaerobic, producing more bad smells.

Yes, very true.. That could be.. And makes sense.. Hmmnnn, interesting indeed.. The whole bacteria thing, I find interesting and quite daunting.. I know, and now that you mention it, for example if I add zeobak, without a doubt, the skim is going to be horrible. But, it works well with the system.. But I never had that when utilizing either mb7 or Dr tims products..

I just always had read the same, and then when I experienced it, I just thought to myself "Hmmnn, ok, now I see what they are talking about"..

And yes, it has always happened with pellets. I don't quite recall it happening when I first tried them out with a different reactor and pellets, but I know it always has with the setup I run now..

And ha ha ha anaerobic skimmer cup.. Lol.. Nice one.. He he he....

 

[Gwitness]

Skimmer is doing way better so far! Thanks for the help!! [emoji3]