Skimmer breaking in?

[baseballman50]

Sorry I'm a noob guys, but what is meant by "the skimmer is breaking in"? Does it mean that the water level is gonna stay the same in the skimmer for a couple weeks?

 

I have a new skimmer now and the water level has just been circulating at the same height inside of the skimmer for 3-4 days now. One drop hasn't reached the collection cup. Does this mean it's breaking in?

 

I tried adjusting the level but that didn't change anything.

 

If it is just breaking in, about how long does it take for it to brake in?

 

Thanks.

[Chuckle_Berry]

if you dont have nutrients in your tank. ie, fish poop and excess food then it wont skim anything

[baseballman50]

if you dont have nutrients in your tank. ie, fish poop and excess food then it wont skim anything

 

There is plenty of nutrients in the tank, just a new skimmer.

[Needreefunds]

I have had skimmers start skimming right from the start, others have taken up to two weeks to break in and really start producing.

 

Sometimes they take time to build up a nice coat of "slime" and for any contaminants to sort of wash off and allow that foam column to start to build properly.

 

Also every time you have your hands in the tank, feed, dose-add anything to the water it will take time to settle back in and produce.

 

So it really depends on your system, skimmer model, bioload etc.

 

I would suggest giving it time, and any adjustments you make keep them small and allow time between each to watch for changes in performance.

 

HTH

[kgross]

Give it some time, about a week is normal.

 

What happens with a new skimmer, is that there are oils on the plastic from the manufacturing process, these oils will break up the foam so it is unable to remove anything from the tank. Once these cleaned up and you have a layer of organics on the skimmer it will work much much better.

 

But with that said, what skimmer do you have, and what is it doing, it could be an adjustment issue, not just breaking in.

 

Kim