Teach Us About This Aquatop Skimmer

[LateNightReefer]

So we bought the Aquatop 24g cube to dive into the reefing world and, coming from the world of Mbuna and tetras and planted tanks, the protein skimmer is totally foreign to us. We understand the basic premise, but it’s making a funny/odd noise *still* after almost a week of being set up. How long does this “break in” period take? Is the “tubey” thing coming off the skimmer supposed to have a cap or facilitate airflow (noise goes away with the cap, partner thinks it’s helping it to do its job)? Any thoughts? Don’t know if this is expected and we just need patience or what the deal is. Any thoughts?

 

[GoVols]

Never ran that skimmer and hope someone else will chime in.

If the cap has an air hole, it's probably a noise silencer.

It can take a good while for a skimmer to break-in and on a newly setup reef, it can take even longer for it to settle down to be able to dial it in.

Thanks for joining Reef 2 Reef and hope you feel at home.

 

[Jr Que]

Good morning everyone,

I recently purchased the same tank, and started my first salt water tank, are you still using the stock water pump it came with? I feel like it does not work as it’s rated to.

And I have not started the protein skimmer, how long was your break in period?
Thank you in advance

 

[LateNightReefer]

Good morning everyone,

I recently purchased the same tank, and started my first salt water tank, are you still using the stock water pump it came with? I feel like it does not work as it’s rated to.

And I have not started the protein skimmer, how long was your break in period?
Thank you in advance

What do you mean doesn’t work like it’s rated to? On our end, we’re using everything that came with the tank. We’ve contemplated a new skimmer because the one that came with it -all this time later- is still fairly noisy. We’ve been stuck pre-occupied with finals and all that fun, so we haven’t prioritized the extra money for a better skimmer (think this statement warrants a #AllMyMoneyGoesToCorals [emoji23]). The tank really was/is terrific though -definitely exciting getting into saltwater!

 

[edcactus]

Good morning everyone,

I recently purchased the same tank, and started my first salt water tank, are you still using the stock water pump it came with? I feel like it does not work as it’s rated to.

And I have not started the protein skimmer, how long was your break in period?
Thank you in advance

What do you mean doesn’t work like it’s rated to? On our end, we’re using everything that came with the tank. We’ve contemplated a new skimmer because the one that came with it -all this time later- is still fairly noisy. We’ve been stuck pre-occupied with finals and all that fun, so we haven’t prioritized the extra money for a better skimmer (think this statement warrants a #AllMyMoneyGoesToCorals [emoji23]). The tank really was/is terrific though -definitely exciting getting into saltwater!

I have the aquatop 40 gallon and had issues with the skimmer and also the issue with surface movement from the return pump.

Came to find out our water level was WAY too high. Lowering the water level improved the efficiency of the skimmer (I still upgraded though the included skimmer is not great) and also allowed the stock return pump to create way better surface movement. We lowered the level of our water to the point where it "Falls down" the return chamber. I can take a pictureand attach it if this does not make sense. Pretty much you want to make sure that the water is cascading out of the display and on top of the sponge filter.

I don't know a better way to explain it. But making that change removed a bunch of bio film or surface scum in our tank, improved the overall clarity of the water in the display, and provided better performance on the skimmer.