New To Reefing

Metin

Member
Apr 17, 2016
13
1
Urgent Help Needed
Hi guys

So I have just setup a 7x2.5x2.5 tank which is about 1500litres including the sump, it's been up and running for 5 weeks now and everything has been doing well and looking healthy, until 4 days ago I notice my skimmer was not skimming anything out of the water at all, from day 1 it was skimming but was light brown in colour and not really that much at all, nothing was really landing in the collection cup it was more just up the neck and hitting the lid, the skimmer is a RLSS db12 with waveline dc10000II pump. The skimmer is sitting in 20cm of water as to meet the requirements of the manufacturer, there looks to be lots of bubbles in the body and up to the neck but no foam at all, no even clear stuff just a flat water surface. im also getting alot of microbubbles coming from the Skimmer outlet.

I have completely pulled down the skimmer and checked everything, everything seems to be fine and working,

The only things ive added to the tank is a small dose of ViVid, and i put 1.5l of Phosguard in a bag and placed it in the sump which i removed after about 30 seconds because it mirked the sump water and made it white.

So im hoping someone here can help me out with any suggestions or fixes, anything at all would be greatly appreciated.

in the pictures you will see when the skimmer was working to some degree, then pictures of what its doing now, theres also a picture of the Vivid i dosed.

Setup consists of:

Hardware -

1 Mp60 Wavemaker
1 Tunze 6105 Wavemaker
Haelia 1.0hp Chiller
Tunze 11000ph Return Pump
Jaeger 300w Heater
4x Aqua Illumination Leds

Around 100kg of live rock

Livestock -

2 small bubbles
1 medium bubble
1 small torch
1 small frogspawn
3 small hammer
1 small elegance
1 medium leather

2 clarki clowns - 3 inches
Foxface - 5 Inches
Long nose butterfly - 4 inches
Blue tang - 3 inches
Sailfin tang - 4 inches
Blue throat trigger - 5 inches
 

Attachments

Last edited:

Metin

Member
Apr 17, 2016
13
1
Just uploaded pics of the skimmer and product i dosed. first pictures shows how it orginally looked, the rest are now

thanks
 
Apr 20, 2013
12
12
from before pic, to after pic.
the way you have raised the skimmer now, the pvc pipe looks to be blocking the skimmers intake on the base.
 

Metin

Member
Apr 17, 2016
13
1
oh ok, i did change that since the last acrylic mount i had sat the skimmer too high in the water, i will move the center pvc out and see if that helps, although there is a peice of egg crate between the pvc and the bottom of the skimmer stand.

thankyou.
 

Metin

Member
Apr 17, 2016
13
1
ok cool, i will try that now too, see how that goes, you guys dont think that there would be nothing in the tank to skim after 4 days with that much fish/corals in the tank? surely there is somthing to be skimmed?

im uploading a video of the skimmer running now, its just taking awhile to upload it.

thanks guys
 
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Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
That's ok, images show enough for now.

Give what Dave suggested a crack first and leave obernight. Should be right in the morning :)
 

Metin

Member
Apr 17, 2016
13
1
Thank you MagicJ,

Turning the black pipe? I didn't know you could turn the black pipe, only the red knob on top of it is what I turn, is that what you mean?
 

slin1977

Member
Jul 13, 2011
3,476
1,661
Sydney
I would suggest that the water surface tension has been broken in your tank by some addition of product or food.

Once the surface tension comes back your skimmer will start to collect skim at any level of the cone.

Generally the water level with the skimmer turned off should rest at the middle of the cone.
Set it to 20 cm as per manufacturer instruction.

With the throttle wide open it should be an inch or so above the middle of the cone.
As you close the throttle the water level as a guide should be set to a fraction under the cup for now until the surface tension returns and starts collecting skim.

You might need to not feed or add products even your hands in the tank for the next few days. Perhaps change your activated charcoal to speed this process up.
 

Metin

Member
Apr 17, 2016
13
1
Thanks for the help slin, when you say cone, we're so you mean exactly? Just under the cup? With full throttle and wide open the water level sits about 1cm from overflowing into the cup.
 

Metin

Member
Apr 17, 2016
13
1
If I open the red knob to full and ramp up the pump to level 6 which is maxed then yes about 1cm from overflowing out the cup, skimmer outlet isn't blocked tho. I've ripped it completely Apart and cleaned it right out
 

Sam Parker

Moderator
May 6, 2013
4,802
2,397
Geelong
yeah ok, well with that in mind, I'd back the skimmer pump back down to three and adjust the valve so that the water sits at the level where the cup mounts to the skimmer body. See how that goes for a while
 

Metin

Member
Apr 17, 2016
13
1
yeah ok, well with that in mind, I'd back the skimmer pump back down to three and adjust the valve so that the water sits at the level where the cup mounts to the skimmer body. See how that goes for a while
Thanks Sam. That's exactly what I have done.