Skimmer break in??

[Murph]

I know sometimes it takes skimmers a while to break in, but I'm wondering how I'll know it's broken in and whether or not I should try to dial mine in. I've been running mine for a little less than a week and I had it so the top of the foam was around the middle of the neck and that's moved up and down a bit over the week and then I noticed a lot of nastiness was starting to collect in the neck. I popped the cup off last night to check it out and there was a good amount of brown muck in the neck, but the foam still hadn't made it to the top and nothing was collecting in the cup. I was wondering if I should close the gate valve down to get the foam higher up so it was spilling into the cup, or just leave it be.

And for reference, the tanks cycle just completed, nitrates were through the roof (50-100)and I've done 2 40 gallon water changes and diatoms just started showing up. I'm planning 1 or 2 more 40 gallon changes for the nitrates and then CUC goes in.

 

[SarahSmile]

Hi Murph!
You have diatoms already?? That is fast. Are you using tap water?
I'd try adjusting like you said so the foam is going into the cup. You'll find the sweet spot to keep it at.

 

[fastrd400]

Your tank just cycled? Do you have any fish in there? It may not be pulling and solids if you don't have the livestock pooping in the tank. Bubbles about half way sounds about right. As the solid waste accumulates, the bubbles pop, making bigger bubbles, thus forcing the poop higher, and higher until it flows over the top as they pop. Normal break in could be any where from a week, to a few weeks depending on bioload, and skimmer size.

 

[Murph]

No fish, nothing alive in the tank. Had a couple raw shrimp that rotted and shot my nitrates up. I honestly didn't think I'd see anything gross in the skimmer with no life, but once I saw the yuck in the neck I thought I might need to start messing with it to get it in the collection cup. But I'll leave it be for a while more and see what happens. And I'm not using tap water. I've got an RO/DI unit from BRS. And have been using that since I started. I may have overdid it on the lights for a few days I guess, but I wasn't terribly concerned seeing the algae growth (little brown spots on the rocks and sand.) I figured the clean up crew would have something to eat now.

 

[fastrd400]

Wait until you get some actual fish in the tank to see where the adjustment needs to be. But the way it sounds, you won't or shouldn't have to play with it much at all.

 

[Murph]

Sounds good. Hopefully adding the clean up crew this weekend depending on how much the nitrates come down. Have to pick up salt tonight for more mixing... Definitely underestimated the amount of water I'd have to change in the beginning, but i'm getting there.