New Skimmer

[TommysGirl]

Hey Everyone,

I finally bought a protein skimmer a few weeks ago. I bought the CPR Bac Pak 2R. It was sort of a pickle to figure out how to put it together, but I believe I did it correctly (it came with the pre-skimmer/bubble trap as well). I have had it running for about a week and a half. I have read through the manufactor's directions extensively, but I want to ask you guys a few questions. First off, it says to keep the pre-skimmer about a quarter of an inch below the water line. I do weekly water changes, but with evaporation I'm finding it difficult to keep it precisely at a quarter of an inch. I finally ended up moving it a bit further down-only a little bit though. It also says to keep the collection cup an eigth of an inch under the water line. Well that water line seems to move a lot too. I've moved it up and down, but nothing much seems to happen. I have about a fourth of a collection cup full-it's not so much slime as green tinted water with a few stringy pieces of slime. I know it can take a while for skimmers to run properly-but is what I'm seeing normal? I used to see bubbly foam moving up the collection cup, but it is no longer doing that. I will be very greatful to anyone that can share their experience with me!!

Thanks,

TommysGirl

[WhoDey]

TommysGirl,

Here are a couple observations I have noticed with my skimmer which may help...


-The higher the collection cup is, the more slime and gross stuff I get. If I want to clean the tank quickly, I just lower the collection cup so it fills faster.

-After water changes the new saltwater tends to cause my skimmer almost explode. Or better put, it bubbles up a lot more and fills quickly for a day. I'm assuming this is because I use tap water (with a conditioner) when I do my water changes.

-I would think that as long as you pre-skimmer 1inch to 1/4 inch below the waterline then you sould see the same results. I'm sure you skimmer just needs to break in a little more. I was a little scared at first with my skimmer, but after about a month it started to quiet down and work better. Just give it a little time.

-Nate

[msz2522]

I agree about the skimmer, it just takes a little time. When I first got mine it collected a bunch of bubbles, then for a while it stopped collecting anything. After a week or so maybe it finally got broken in and started colecting again and has done so ever sense.

[xeruf]

is there really anything to break in with a skimmer?

isnt it basikjly how long the bubbles are in contact with the desolved bio material? so if there is no bubbles being collected thats probibly a good thing cuz thers no desolved materials in the water

[xeruf]

as for the water line thing, I dont know how to help you for I'm dealing with that issue myself.

my skimmer gets water pumped into it from an outside source so the water elvel doeent effect it, unless its below the pump input level which is the bottom of the sump

[Tommy Gun]

Whodey,

I have that SAME problem with my skimmer after water changes and I use RO water. It has been pointed out to me that it may be a bad batch of salt, but now that you bring that up, I am full of doubts again. My skimmer 'explodes' so much so that it fills my sump with microbubbles which end up in my tank. After a day or two, this stops though.

Tommysgirl,

This is just a thought, and I dont know about your type of skimmer, or skimmers in general for that matter, but I was wondering if it was possible to attach some sort of flotation system to your pre-skimmer/bubble trap so that it would float a quarter inch or so under the water line. This would solve the evaporation conundrum since it would just sink at the exact same rate as the water. Again, I really dont know what I am talking about here, but it was the first thing I thought of when reading your post so I figured it couldnt hurt to bring it up.

[WhoDey]

xeruf,

There actually is a break-in period for a skimmer. Basically the skimmer needs to collect a bunch of slim in it for it to work properly. The skimmer isn't designed to work when it is perfectly clean. Otherwise, you would have to clean the freaking thing everyday. Also, when fresh out of the box, the skimmer may have some oils on it from when it was manufactured. This will cause it to act a little funny for awhile until it breaks in.

Tommy Gun,

I have used a couple different kinds of salt... Red Sea salt, IO, and reef crystals and each one does the same thing. What kind of skimmer you got? I'm using an AquaC Remora. I love it, but that is about the only thing I dont' like about it. (the super skimming for about a day after a water change)

-Nate

[ahill3780]

Break-in Period:

Skimmers need a breakin period (as mentioned) to build up the interior slime coat that will help the bubbles to climb the walls of the skimmer and deposit the filth in the collection cup. There is probably more to it than that, but that is the gist of it from what I got out of my research on the subject.

Collection cup above the water line:

I have never heard about the collection cup needing to be a certain height above the water line, but hey I'm no expert. My collection cup is about 6 inches below the tank, 1/2 inch above the water line in the overflow repository tank, and about a foot above the waterline in the sump where it pulls its water from. It pulls the same no matter what I'm doing with the tank, water changes, top-offs, dosing, etc.

Pump below the water line:

So long as the intake pump for the skimmer is below the water line then you should be fine. You don't really need to make a huge effort to keep it exactly 1/4" below. I think this is simply to insure that you don't create whirlpools in the tank and diminish the amount of water making its way into the skimmer. All I can say is keep up with your freshwater top-offs when evaporation occurs.

Fixing evaporation problems in the tank:

The only way that I know of to keep the tank water from dropping due to evaporation is to use a sump. That way the evaporation occurs in the sump and the tank water remains level. You still have to top off the water just as frequently, but at least it is not noticable in the tank.

Fixing the increase in bubbles during water changes:

Not quite sure what is causing this one, I'd have to ponder it for a while until it makes sense to me. My first step in this situation would be to spread out my water changes. Change less water more frequently, and try to place the water in the tank rather than in the sump where it would mix with the skimmer before becomming diluted with the rest of the tank water.

Tommysgirl,

Just give it some more time, everything seems to be going well by your description. The green watery stuff is good, that is the skimmate that is being pulled out of the tank. It is always going to be as viscous as it is now, it will just get a lot greener and grungier looking in time. It took mine a full year before it started working as it was supposed to.

HTH,
Aaron