Show me your working skimmers!

[DracoKat]

thanks. I have no idea why I had such a hard time comphrending that. Need more coffee, lol

 

[smh254]

I run both of these skimmers with the bubble line about 1/4 inch below the collection cup.

 

[DracoKat]

thank you for the photos!!

 

[SirMilo]

If the foam head disappears, my level is set at the base of the collection cup. As was mentioned by an earlier poster, make an adjustment and give it some time to settle in before making further adjustments. Once I stopped trying to make additional adjustments every few hours, things fell into place and I haven't messed with it in months.

 

[Waterjockey]

I usually run about 3/4" below the collection cup. But it varies depending if I want to skim wet or drier at that particular time

 

[TherealplexiG]

Someone care for a cup of nice exotic coffee?

 

[mistaflicksta]

 

[Bpb]

1/2 gallon black thick skimmate. 5 days worth. Bubble magus curve 7. 90 gallon tank

 

[TUSI]

 

[bobman]

Foam what foam?

 

[shadow1013]

This is also where I keep mine

I keep my foam/bubble line right above my finger in the pictures it works pretty well for me

 

[Darryl]

some of them

 

[salty01]

i'm currently dosing AquaForest Products so the balling method creates quite the dry black skim mate.

 

[salty01]

i'm currently dosing AquaForest Products so the balling method creates quite the dry black skim mate.

I'm also A little paranoid that the skimmers got to constantly be on point so I watch it while I'm working via camera inside sump.

 

[SR Aquaristik]

Cleaned yesterday

 

[salty01]

I'm also A little paranoid that the skimmers got to constantly be on point so I watch it while I'm working via camera inside sump.

 

[john.m.cole3]

Yeah another important trick to skimmers is once you have it tuned to skim as wet or dry as you prefer/need. Don't mess with it further. If you have to feed something, turn it off, remove the cup for cleaning, ect, that's fine, just don't mess with the foam level adjustment. Skimmate production will vary by the hour of the day and how much/often you feed. Once it's set, the water tension itself based on available organics in the water sort of make them self adjusting to a point. As in, feed a lot more, and you'll get more skimmate, stop feeding entirely and skimmer production will drop. If you use certain foods it'll kill the foam head and drop it low inside the skimmer body, and some epoxy putties will cause it to overflow for hours sometimes days. Don't adjust it though just let the skimmer react and it will stabilize again. Once you start chasing settings what will happen is you'll check back two hours later and it's not where you left it. When you increase or decrease the flow through the skimmer body it can take hours for organics inside the skimmer to build up or deplete to the point that the foam head will indeed move from where you set it. Best to set it low, say...at the base of the collection cup, and run it like that a few days. If the neck gunks up and you get nothing in the cup, clean the neck, and do a couple millimeter turn of the adjustment knob to raise the foam level, leave it a couple days. See if it's producing the way you want. That's always worked for me. Recently got a new skimmer and took a couple days to find the sweet spot for a heavy but dry skimmate production. Now I just leave it as is and clean the neck with a toothbrush every 3-4 days

very helpful info here! thank you

 

[alb_56]

Bubble magus I scrubbed clean five days ago, works like a champ. I just adjusted the flow to match the height and didn't worry about the actual depth of the skimmer.

 

[helldiver]

My regall 200sss from coral vue by far this is the best skimmer i have owned

 

[tutmatt3]

I hope you guys don't mind me bumping this old topic, but you guys seem very well informed! (Not trying to steal the thread either!)
I have a very low bioload in my 55g tank (just got my first 2x clowns in 3x days ago, and cycled w/ dry (not live) rock)

Should I notice anything in the skimmer? So far it runs a little wet - but mainly because condensation/small foam bubbles hit the top of the collection cup, form a droplet, and drop into my cup
Its inside my DT (no sump). It's been running for 3x weeks now - still a bit of microbubbles from the waste gate.

I did test ammonia in my tank vs skimmer cup, was 0 vs 1ppm. Does that mean its doing it's job? Even though the water color is pretty clear?
Or perhaps did that water just miss the nitrogen cycle & ended in the cup?

I just want to verify that the skimmer is actually working, and will produce that brown gunk everyone gets once I have a higher bioload, but if not then I can begin to seek a new one early on.

Thanks!!!