Joel's 1st Marine Build

greech said:
Glad the tubing trick worked for you. Who'd a thought that reading directions could be that helpful :)
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Yes, definite case of RTFM :)

My tank doesn't have much to clean right now, but I'd like to get some bioload in there just to transition from "cycling" mode to "stable" mode. So maybe I'll shoot for that this weekend...
 
Ok, one thing I have a question about, your water level in your sump where the skimmer is at. The water level is critical in terms of making the skimmer perform its best. From the picture it appears your water level may be a tad too high to get the most out of your skimmer, which is easy to fix by just putting a couple layers of eggcrate under the skimmer as a platform to raise it up. My skimmer says 9.5" is the sweet spot to have the water level at. It could be just the angle of the picture as well that makes it seem higher.. but just throwing out that info just in case. ;)
 
Yea, I'm pretty clueless about how best to set up the skimmer. The top vertical part of the tube has the words "open" and "closed" on opposite sides of the bottom, but I don't know what those mean and how to get the right water depth. Any specific suggestions on what I should see if I get it optimally configured?

Thanks!
 
I thought that the water level looked a bit high too from most I have seen. I have seen some skimmers that are propped up by eggcrate shelves which may be of help in your situation? I'm not all that familiar with in sump skimmers though. Would be interested to know why the water height would affect the performance of a skimmer.
 
greech said:
I thought that the water level looked a bit high too from most I have seen. I have seen some skimmers that are propped up by eggcrate shelves which may be of help in your situation? I'm not all that familiar with in sump skimmers though. Would be interested to know why the water height would affect the performance of a skimmer.
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When fed from a pump (with overflow-fed skimmers, sump level is irrelevant), the water level actually influences the amount of work a pump performs. When the water level is high, the pump performs less work and is therefore able to actually pump comparatively more water, thus increasing positive pressure (positive in terms of pressure pushing outward). When you lower the water level, this causes the pump to have to perform more work, therefore pushing less water and less positive pressure, which allows a better air draw.

The reason it works this way is that work is defined as the dot product of force vector and distance . The decrease in distance results from a higher water level (decrease in distance from the top of the water to the point water is being pumped to), and therefore less work. When you look at it from the standpoint of physics, it makes a bit better sense as to why it works like that. Hope that helps.
 
LOL, I think you confused everyone, including me with that info. :D

Simple english way I say it without any physics involved for in sump skimmers...

Lower water level = more room for bubbles = more waste potentially removed
Higher water level = less bubbles

If the water level is too low though the bubbles have a harder time reaching the top/collection cup, so there is a limit of how low and high you can go, but there is also a sweet spot for skimmers somewhere in the middle.

That is what I noticed on my skimmer when I was playing with water level and keeping the setting on the skimmer the same.
 
Sorry about that. It was worded pretty awkwardly. Looking back on it, I'm confusing myself with what I had written. To condense what I said, think of the amount of work being proportional to the distance from the surface of the water to the point you are pumping water to. So:

Lower water level = more distance = more work = less water = more air

Higher water level = less distance = less work = more water = less air
 
Thanks for the explanations. Makes sense. Guess the eggcrate could be used to fine tune that sweet spot or maybe they made their baffles to high. Sounds like knowing which skimmer you are getting before building your sump would be a good idea too.
 
Skimmer
Thanks for the info -- did some tinkering and think I'm starting to get it. I put a piece of tupperware under the octo to raise it so it's now at a 9.5" depth. Before that it was at a 12" depth and the collection cup was getting some crud, but also lots of water. After raising it I tried to adjust the output so that the foam bubbles in the shaft get to the top, but no water does. Is that the right approach? Seems like you would want the bubbles to carry crud into the cup, but you don't want to fill it with water.

Here are some pics -- first, original octo depth:
IMG_0128.JPG

Adjusted depth:
IMG_0130.JPG

Here's a pic of some strange scummy bubble gunk that I found on the surface of the sump water before adjusting the skimmer -- is this because the depth was too large?
IMG_0129.JPG

Cycling
Tested again and got some strange results. Ammonia test came out a shade of green not on the chart, but I think it's between 0 and .25. Nitrite read .1 and nitrate 15. I'll test again tomorrow I think and maybe do another WC.

'Scaping
Removed on of the large dry rocks and re-scaped -- wanted to create more caves and also have more open sand. I then put the power heads on each side facing together to get a more randomized flow. It's looking pretty good to me, but I think there might be some dead spots I'll need to address.

Here's a pic (will take a better one once everything settles). How's it look?
IMG_0132.JPG

Thanks!

IMG_0128.JPG IMG_0129.JPG IMG_0130.JPG IMG_0132.JPG
 
That looks a bit more like what I am used to seeing with a skimmer. Looks like you have a nice amount of air bubble/foam going.

New scape looks good too!
 
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