Protein Skimmer Water Problem

[Patryk P.]

Hey Reefers, I’m new to reefing and aquariums in general. I am familiar with a lot as I have been doing research for the past two months. I just got my 54 gallon Red Sea G2+ 250. I also installed a protein skimmer and the system has been running for a day and a half now. The skimmer was overflowing but it stopped after 24 hours and after I changed the flow of it to the lowest setting for now. My question however is why there is water in my protein skimmer because I am aware that you shouldn’t have water in your skimmer am I right? Are most skimmers like this for the first days or weeks and what do I do if this is an actual problem?

 

[apeshot]

Welcome in! The protein skimmer will take some practice on your part to dial in the perfect kampung of water and air bubbles. If there is actual water going into the cup, you need to back down the water gate (usually a knob) until it drops down. But there’s other factors at play also. You need to make sure the skimmer is submerged to the correct depth and that you have the right amount of air bubbles going in. Check out YouTube videos and you’ll see how people adjust the water level, the water gate and air amount to get it “dialed in”.

 

[Fish Fan]

Hello and welcome to Reef2Reef!

I'm not an expert, and I have never had a RedSea system or skimmer, but, in my opinion...

Your protein skimmer needs some organics in the water to pull out. If your tank is brand new, there's nothing for it to skim, so to speak, except water. I wouldn't suggest running your skimmer until your tank is fully cycled, you're adding livestock, and you're seeing high nitrates and phosphates. At that point (or maybe just before) you can start running your skimmer. Most members here at R2R don't recommend running a skimmer during your initial nitrogen cycle.

I hope that helps and best of luck with your new tank!

 

[apeshot]

You won’t even need to run a skimmer until a few weeks after you get fish. Pure clean water won’t make the bubbles you need to operate a skimmer. It needs muck to work.

 

[Patryk P.]

Thank you for the replies everyone. I will see tomorrow morning if the water level is too high. If it is I will raise the skimmer. I also now know it will not be able to skim properly for the first two weeks at most and will overflow a lot. However I am using the Red Sea Reef Mature 21 Day Method and it requires for my skimmer to be running all the time so I suppose I will have to run it.

 

[Pistondog]

Hey welcome to r2r,
. Let it break in without the cup on until necessary, might be 3 days.
Then Try to adjust so the bubble level is at the bottom of the cup

 

[Patryk P.]

Hey welcome to r2r,
. Let it break in without the cup on until necessary, might be 3 days.
Then Try to adjust so the bubble level is at the bottom of the cup

Is it fine if I just leave the drain pipe open so the cup leaks back into the sump?