Vertex omega 250 skimmer tuning advise

[BigMac426]

Hello, was wondering if anyone has any advice on tuning my skimmer. It pulls out a lot of waste but it tends to make a mess under the tank stand. Foam comes out of the holes in the skimmer. It’s like the foams bubbles don’t pop.

See attached pics

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Are you dosing carbon?
What size is your tank?
That skimmer is a beast and to have it rocking like that is impressive.

 

[BigMac426]

It's a 240 gallon display with probably close to 275 gal total water volume. I have a considerable amount of fish... Big tangs and angels. No carbon dosing. I feed 2 full sheets of nori daily.

 

[BigMac426]

Would you keep it running the way it is and just deal with the mess or try to adjust it to stop the bubbles from coming through the top holes?

 

[reeftivo]

Both my ATB's did that and i tried silicone grease on the downward deflector ring edge on the lid. it prematurely popped the bubbles and helped a lot. didn't eliminate the foam though so i would still get some push through if the cup got too full.

it did help though and no risk of getting the silicone grease into the sump (only the cup)

maybe worth a try

 

[BigMac426]

Both my ATB's did that and i tried silicone grease on the downward deflector ring edge on the lid. it prematurely popped the bubbles and helped a lot. didn't eliminate the foam though so i would still get some push through if the cup got too full.

it did help though and no risk of getting the silicone grease into the sump (only the cup)

maybe worth a try

Oh ok that's a good idea. I'll have to give that a try!

 

[reeftivo]

worth a try

i woudn't try to get the skimmate wetter unless you are having nutrient spike issues.

 

[BigMac426]

worth a try

i woudn't try to get the skimmate wetter unless you are having nutrient spike issues.

No problems with nutrients. Just curious about if i were to make it wetter what would i do? I have very little experience with skimmers. Right now the standpipe valve is wide open (was told to set it wide open at first and it seemed to work fine, so never messed with it). Would closing that get a wetter skim?

 

[reeftivo]

No problems with nutrients. Just curious about if i were to make it wetter what would i do? I have very little experience with skimmers. Right now the standpipe valve is wide open (was told to set it wide open at first and it seemed to work fine, so never messed with it). Would closing that get a wetter skim?

wetter will remove more of everything including trace elements since you are pulling out more actual water than condensed foam. in my experience corals are better off with drier skimmate than wet since more trace is left in solution for them to benefit from.

 

[Ironwill723]

Mine does that sometimes also. I put white electrical tape over the holes on the lid. No more mess.

 

[BigMac426]

Mine does that sometimes also. I put white electrical tape over the holes on the lid. No more mess.

Hahah nice! How does the air escape? Just around the lid I'd guess

 

[Ironwill723]

Yeah or you can leave one hole open.

 

[BigMac426]

Cleaned it up and rubbed a few drops of Selcon around the holes and outer ring of the lid. I’m using Selcon because that’s all I had lol. I’ve seen it take the head off the skimmer while it’s in the water so I’ll keep ya posted if it’s working to keep clean.

 

[BigMac426]

So far Selcon working as intended to keep the bubbles away from the air outlets

 

[reeftivo]

nice

if it eventually starts moving up try food grade silicone grease instead

you can find them just about anywhere for 1.99 to 5 bucks. will last you a loooong time.

the grease affects the surface tension of the bubbles and they lay down nicely

 

[BigMac426]

Cool will definitely have to pick some up next time I’m out