Skimmers

[pcnicholson]

I just bought the skimmer for my biocube 29 that I am setting up. I've never used on and the directions are kinda vague. What level bubbles am I looking for in the skimmer? Should they be above the lip that fits in the collection cup or a little lower?

[Reefscape]

The bubbles should be just overflowing into the skimmer cup, usually dime / quarter sized bubbles is about average...You may not get that much action from your skimmer untill its run in....Sometimes it helps to completly strip the skimmer down and wash it with warm soapy water to remove the manufacturers protective film on the plastic and rinse well with cold running water...

[pcnicholson]

Thanks for the info RS

[cmslick3]

I have my skimmer set to where the bubbles are at the very bottom of the black collar that attaches to the cup. I am only getting a cup full of water every day. I had originally set it as indicated by RS but that just gave me a cup of water much faster. The tank is only 2 weeks old, so perhaps there is not enough disolved crud to skim yet. I am feeding the tank with Zoo and Phyto plex weekly, and my Sun coral gets Rods Reef food every other day. This was an upgrae tank from a smaller tank, so it does have very happy inhabitants.

With that said would it be worthwhile for me to wash it down as indicated? obviously have to make sure I rinse it SUPER well...

[cmslick3]

Well again last night I got a cup full of water. So I took the skimmer out and just rinsed it under warm water. It felt slimey of course before I rinsed it, but after I was done the plastic felt very clean. So I put it back in the tank and started it up without adjusting the air flow rate. I noticed right away that my bubble height wasn't nearly as high as it was before rinsing. So I cranked up the air and got the bubbles 3/4 of the way up the collection cup tube, I couldn't get them any higher.

I checked it this morning and I only have a small ammount of water now, but I am getting more foam forming. So I think rinsing it off helped.

For anyone else who owns this skimmer, how do you go about changing the airstone every month as recommended? I tried to get the stone out of mine last night and of course it sweled due to the water and won't fit through the top hole. I didn't try pulling of the black collar on the top, does it even come off??

[Amphiprion]

I would only rinse it initially. You may have actually halted some progress by rinsing again so suddenly. That slimy film actually helps the bubbles to rise and form a stable foam. Instead of taking it off and rinsing it absolutely clean, try using a toothbrush to clean the neck--you'll find the recovery time to get the skimmer going again is less that way.

[Almondsaz]

PCN: what kind of skimmer did you get for your biocube?