Cali Kid Corals

Skimmer Blues

grizfyrfyter said:
Also, a Skimmer isn't going to lower your nitrates. It can reduce the rate that they accumulate but it isn't an export method.
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I don’t understand how it can be said that a skimmer does not export waste products. More accurately, it does not remove existing nitrates from the water. However it does remove larger waste products before they turn into nitrates, which still helps in nutrient export.

In regards to the original post, it will help if you tell us more about how the skimmer is behaving. Is it not making bubbles? Have you checked your air line? That can get blocked with salt creep. If it is making bubbles is it not reaching the neck and going up the neck?


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What are your Nitrates at? What size tank? List of fish in it? Feeding regimen and with what food? How large is your refugium and how well is it functioning? How often do you have to trim your Chaeto (or other) in the refugium? Do you use filter socks and how often do you change? Describe your biological filtration. Are you sing anthing else like Chemipure, reactors with GFO, etc?
 
Sure...the water level in the skimmer is too low. the manufacturer says the water level should be at the skimmer neck and cup. I've moved the water knob up and down to attempt to adjust the water level. The water level will not adjust. I've fiddled with the air intake adjustment controller too. the skimmer is producing bubbles and I'm running the pump power at full speed per the FAQ for Simplicity. The water level in the sump is correct per Simplicity...7"-9". The skimmer was performing fine until about a month ago when I cleaned it.
 
You have a 75 gallon tank right? Well looking at the specs for that skimmer, and take them as you will, it's rated for 120 gallons for a HEAVY bioload, and 240gallons for a light bioload. Now if you take those ratings to heart, unless you feed like absolute crazy a nuts amount of fish it simply is too much skimmer for your tank.

See the thing with skimmers is they really need to be sized appropriately for a given system, they remove dissolved organics, they do NOT remove nitrates, the problem is if your dissolved organics are too low the skimmer won't pull them out if it's too large, they cling to bubbles and need to "climb" (they get pushed from below) their way up the neck into the skimmer cup now if you have too low of a level of dissolved organics and the skimmer neck is too large they simply won't be pushed up into cup quick enough before the water pushes them out and end up back in your tank... where they eventually break down and form (eventually) ... NITRATES! so your tank got rid of the dissolved organics instead of the skimmer and unfortunately it turned them into nitrates which again your skimmer does not deal with.

One thing you might try, since it's a DC pump on the skimmer (presumably it has a controller), is to lower the speed on the pump to allow the stuff in the skimmer to persist more in the bubble chamber maybe then it can climb out. Other than that, I would say smaller skimmer necessary, but I can't recommend one since I have no idea what your bioload is like.
 
Nitrates are about 30 down from 50. Thera A+A, twice a day but very few pellets. Just got chaeto last week and it's lit properly. No idea how well the fuge is working. I have chaeto, rubble and live sand in the fuge and it's low flow. i have a GFO and Carbon reactor from BRS, just set it up yesterday. Prior i was running a single GFO reactor. filtration is live rock and live sand. EShopps sump with filter sock. changed weekly. 75 gallon tank.
Foxface wrasse 3.5"
single clown
damsel
flame angel
blue tang
blue/yellow damsel
cleaner shrimp
variety of snails and hermits
harlequin shrimp
3 corals
BTA (went missing for over a week and he's back!
pulsating xenia
 
Too big a Skimmer?

Negative.

If your dissolved organics are low, they remain lifted and suspended by the bubble column until deposited in the skimmate cup or on the neck of the Skimmer. This is why my Skimmer ramps down to 20% when the return is off instead of just shutting down completely.

It is important to have an adequate Skimmer on a tank but the only problem with having an over sized Skimmer is low nutrients. Like OP said, it worked fine until he cleaned it.

You're going to have to wait a week or two for things to start working again. In that time, don't have it cranked all the way up or it will overflow once it starts working well.
 
Depending on how a you clean a skimmer and what you used on it they often take some time to began operating efficiently again. Oils can be deposited while cleaning (similar to what new skimmers have) and can take some time to break back in.

Let's look at some of the other possibilities that may help you with Nitrate issues, but before we do that I'll point out that many people operate their tanks at 2040 nitrates all the time, o purpose and very successfully. It depends on what type of corals you're keeping. My main tank is normally around 30 and has been for years with no issues. If you've dropped from 50 to 30 in a week frankly you need to slow it down before you drop a lot more. Slow and steady wins these races. This is especially true if you just added a new GFO reactor that is much larger. Start with a smaller amount. You do not want to suck all the nutrients out.

Changing a filter sock weekly is pretty close to a zero sum game according to most. You're pulling some solids out, but those solids have had a long time to convert. If you use a filter sock most reefers change them every three days. Your Chaeto obviously isn't doing anything yet since you just pout it in (not sure what lighting properly means as there is proper, improper, better and best scenarios.) Your Chaeto is new to the tank and presumably a tiny amount so it hasn't started working yet. Remember the faster it grows and is harvested the more nutrients are removed. How large is the Refugium?

Next question -- you're very concerned with the Nitrates. Why? What exactly is happening in the tank that's bad that you're attributing to them?
 
Reasons I wanted to lower nitrates...many websites say that levels of 50 are toxic
had a lot of algae growth
DT front glass needs cleaned every two days
 
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