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HELP! What's my Aqua C skimmer doing?


StaticRick

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I have an AquaC Remora on my 28g Nano-Cube. The tank is still being established and it has no bioload right now, other than the LR hitchhikers. So, I don't expect to get a lot of skimmate, but I've been trying to run the skimmer to get through the break-in period. It's been running for about three weeks now.

 

The problem is that I can't find a height setting of the collection cup that works. I assume at this point I should be finding a spot that doesn't collect anything. No matter what height I set the collection cup to, it will occasionally fill with water. This appears to be an unpredictable phenomenon. In other words, it does not correlate to the on/off activity of anything else in the system that I can see. A couple of times, it has filled with so much water and foam that foam begins coming out of the small hole in the lid. This foam then "pops" and splashes the walls and tank lid.

 

I've never had a skimmer before, so I'm really unsure about what is going on in this case.

 

I need to figure this out. Wiping the splashed salt off of the walls is getting annoying!

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You need to bring the cup up higher till you get to the spot where it fills with yellow tea colored fluid

 

I've had it at that spot in the past, but then it occasionally goes crazy and fills then overflows with foam. I can't figure out why it seems to be running fine for a day and then (usually when I'm not looking) there's foam spurting out the top.

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Just move the cup up higher. It probably will be easier to find the right spot once you have a bioload on it. That way you can adjust it so you get some dark fluid filling the cup. If the fluid is very light then your cup is too low and is filling with excess water.

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Not sure if this is your case or not but a lot of times I have seen people that just take the cup full of water, thinking it's just water and pour it right back in the tank. If you are doing that then it's just going to keep doing the same thing... something is causing it to "foam" that much so you need to get rid of whatever is causing it.

Secondly... they really work their best after they get "gunked" up some as in broke in. The heavier the bio load the fast this happens.. sometimes it just feels like it's taking forever.

Lastly, the little vent hole in the lid... go ahead and plug it. Put a little piece of tape over it or something and poke a pin hole in it if you find it's stopped the skimmer from collecting anything at all. By plugging or restricting that vent it will stop any of the foam from rising up the collection tube so fast.

 

 

Steve

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Not sure if this is your case or not but a lot of times I have seen people that just take the cup full of water, thinking it's just water and pour it right back in the tank.

Haven't done that yet, but I wouldn't put it past me! Thanks for mentioning it.

Secondly... they really work their best after they get "gunked" up some as in broke in. The heavier the bio load the fast this happens.. sometimes it just feels like it's taking forever.
Just move the cup up higher. It probably will be easier to find the right spot once you have a bioload on it.

Thanks to both of you. It sounds like I need to wait until I've got more of a bioload in there before tuning the cup height.

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I don't know this skimmer very well, but is there an air intake adjustment that you can make? More air = less pressure up the skimmer neck.

 

Just a thought I'm sure once you get the hang of it everything will be fine.

 

Good luck!

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Not sure if this is your case or not but a lot of times I have seen people that just take the cup full of water, thinking it's just water and pour it right back in the tank.

And if you dump that cup in the toilet, remember that it will throw off your SG. In a bigger tank, it might not make a difference, but in a small tank, skimming out a cup of water and letting your ato replace it could lead to a fairly drastic change in SG.

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^This. That is why i top off with water with some salt (matching salinity of one cup of skimmate). My skimmer takes 1 cup out every other day.

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