how can you tell when a skimmer's not working?

kevinsimons

Reefing newb
Nothings wrong - all water parameters are excellent - but there's not much collecting in the cup. I have an Aqua-C Remora HOB - which claims it requires no maintenance except cleaning the cup and tube - which I do religiously.

Now - the tank really does appear to be very stable now that I've hit the 8 month mark - algae is very easy to manage now - no hair algae - I even bought a new test kit as I didn't believe my master kit - and the new kit tested the nitrates at 0 - so, my question is - does a skimmer not collect much when things are going well and I'm not overfeeding, etc?
 
A skimmer cant pick up something thats not there.
The fact that your tanks doing so good and is stable tells me theres not much there for the skimmer to get.
 
...and here's the downside to having uber-clean water... the corals aren't finding enough nutrients in the water to be happy with... I was gone for a few days, had my partner take care of the tank - and fielded several calls about "the corals look bad"... hand feeding solved the problem. Picking up the pace with the food into the tank as a reaction to this... and removed the carbon (I do 2 weeks on/2 weeks off - probably too much)
 
That brings up an interesting question. Does the carbon filter take out minerals? Which ones? I know carbon will NOT remove phosphates.
 
when you feed or suppliment your fish and coral use a turkey baster and shoot it directly next to a powerhead. That way the food won't be on the top of the water and shouldn't go into your protein skimmer. Also if you notice your Aqua C Remora isn't picking up a lot of skimmate, then adjust the rubber ring around your cup and see if that makes a difference.
 
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