Obsessed Reefer Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 So I know it's still breaking in, but every time I check the skimmer, it looks like the cup is just filled with water, I keep adjusting the cup and the air intake. I also realize that I have a very light bio load at the moment. Quote Link to comment
NanoDiver Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Same here, but all I've got is two turbo snails. I'm hoping when the load gets heavier it will produce something better. I'm pretty sure I need to adjust mine too, I haven't found the sweet spot yet Quote Link to comment
frootbat Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 So I know it's still breaking in, but every time I check the skimmer, it looks like the cup is just filled with water, I keep adjusting the cup and the air intake. I also realize that I have a very light bio load at the moment. *Exactly* the problem I had! I would blame the light bio load too, but I moved the existing stock from a 33g long with a cheap Aquatic Life mini 115 skimmer that at least produced light tea colored skimmate. The fact that your experience mimics mine leads me to believe that the Ghost skimmer is....not very good. Currently looking for another that will fit. The 115 didn't, and I couldn't get the Tunze 9001 to fit either. Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 So I think my Wrasse is not doing well. Last night when I got home from work, it was laying in the sand up against a rock, which seemed normal. Today I get up to feed the tank, and it's in the same spot, and not eating. I quickly scooped it up into a specimen container, have it floating in the tank for temp, and put my aqua lifter to circulate the water. I put a little bit of mysis in the container, which it did eat a small piece, but it seems to have lost some color. I'm not sure what happened, because it was fine yesterday morning. And what sucks is I'm going to be out all day today, so I won't be able to do anything until this evening. Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted September 10, 2014 Author Share Posted September 10, 2014 So the wrasse didn't make it. I got home last night and it was dead. Still not sure what happened to it. I did a 25% water change to make sure everything else would be ok. I tested the water before the change, and it had minimal readings of nitrites and nitrates, but nothing severe, salinity is ok too. Quote Link to comment
Kijho Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 So the wrasse didn't make it. I got home last night and it was dead. Still not sure what happened to it. I did a 25% water change to make sure everything else would be ok. I tested the water before the change, and it had minimal readings of nitrites and nitrates, but nothing severe, salinity is ok too. So sorry to hear man, RIP to the guy.. Quote Link to comment
frootbat Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 Any luck with the Ghost skimmer? Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 Any luck with the Ghost skimmer? I think it's finally starting to break in, it hasn't been filling up the cup as fast, and I've been seeing a more thick foam in the middle chamber. Quote Link to comment
NanoDiver Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 Tell me where you've got it set at, I've had no luck but I'm new to the protein skimmer thing. I'm new to saltwater all together. My bio load is almost non existent, only two snail so that probably has a lot to do with it. But I'm either having it fill up within two hours or I'm getting nothing what so ever. I'm not running any chemical filtration but carbon until I get my live stock shipment. Any advice? I'm glad to see yours is working ok. I'll take any advice, I have no first hand experience just the forums and books! Quote Link to comment
frootbat Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 Tell me where you've got it set at, I've had no luck but I'm new to the protein skimmer thing. I'm new to saltwater all together. My bio load is almost non existent, only two snail so that probably has a lot to do with it. But I'm either having it fill up within two hours or I'm getting nothing what so ever. I'm not running any chemical filtration but carbon until I get my live stock shipment. Any advice? I'm glad to see yours is working ok. I'll take any advice, I have no first hand experience just the forums and books! What he said...I am finding the only way to keep the cup from filling with water is to push the gasket almost to the bottom of the cup...then I see foam, but the cup stays empty. Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 I'll post a few pictures tonight. I have no idea how I'll show how far open I have the air valve, but I can get some good shots and measurements of the collection cup. Mines still producing some bubbles, so it's not fully broken in yet. I'm also starting to get a little brown algae on the and and rocks, gonna pick up like two hermits and maybe a few more snails tomorrow. I'm probably going to hold off on any more fish for a few weeks right now, don't want to mess anything up. I'm also going to look into setting up a fuge in my left chamber, opposite the protein skimmer. I was looking at this 10w submersible light, but the reviews say it produces a lot of heat. Has anyone had success with one of the external lights? 3 Quote Link to comment
frootbat Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 Thanks! Shots of your water level and gasket in relation to the cup would be most helpful! 1 Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted September 17, 2014 Author Share Posted September 17, 2014 Weekly water change completed, picked up a few more snails and some blue legged hermits. Was getting a small algae outbreak on the sand, so this should take care of it. I have some photos I need to edit and post. For some reason, after my WC today, the skimmer started shooting out micro bubbles, so question, should I turn it off during a water change? Will it have to re break in now? Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 Sorry for the lack of updates, the past week has been very stressful. I'm still working on getting the skimmer right, once I do I'll post some pics of it. The micro bubbles are down to a minimum now, and I'd like to keep it that way, and get it fully broken in. Now my question is what do I do with the skimmer during water changes to not mess it up. Last week, I kept it on, and when the water change was done, it was spitting out micro bubbles like no ones business. I'm also still working on getting the photography thing down. I really need a decent macro lens. I bought a Tamron 70-300, which has a macro ability, but it's weird, and I have to stand several feet away from my tank to get it to focus properly. I did however get two nice shots of my Randall's Goby in my 8g, which my girlfriend has aptly named little booger, because every time she walks near the tank, he darts and hides. https://flic.kr/p/p4XHBU'> https://flic.kr/p/p4XHBU'>Lil Booger 1 by https://www.flickr.com/people/126151760@N05/'>darth.slover, on Flickr https://flic.kr/p/pmaVtH'> https://flic.kr/p/pmaVtH'>Lil Booger 2 by https://www.flickr.com/people/126151760@N05/'>darth.slover, on Flickr Which also got me thinking, I think I'm going to combine my two tank threads and just use one thread for both of them, especially while this thread is very young. The New Jersey Reefers Club is having their frag swap this Saturday, I got my tickets and I can't wait to see what I can bring home! 3 Quote Link to comment
NanoDiver Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 My skimmer just started pulling some really nasty stuff it's been about 3 weeks since I've turned it on Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 Wooo whoooo! Long exhausting day today. NJ Reefers held their '14 Frag Swap today, started the day off nice and early, picked up a 2 polyp God of War from Living Reef Orlando, and a ~10 polyp Darth Maul from Jason Fox himself. While my main reason for going was to support my LFS, and because they were having a huge sale afterwards for anyone with an ID badge from the swap, it was a nice fun to see people from all around the country, and what they have to offer. I wish I would have had a little more $$$ to spend, as some of the vendors had some beautiful pieces on display, but I'm very happy with what I got. After the frag swap, I hit my up LFS and spent the rest of my money there, lol. I picked up two fish, one for the 20g and one for the 8g, and a few new coral frags. Between that, acclimating everything, attending my baby cousins 1st birthday party, cooking dinner, and spilling two gallons of water on my laminate floors, it's been a long day. I'm going to start editing and uploading some photos. Oh, I also have my skimmer off right now. I'm very torn. I just don't know what to do with it. I turned it off today during acclimation, because of floating all the bags, I didn't want to flood it, and after everything was done, and I turned it back on, BAM, micro bubbles galore. Same thing whenever I do a water change, but even then, I leave it on, and avoid draining that chamber, but it still happens. Does anyone have any advice? Darth Maul by darth.slover, on Flickr Darth Maul 2 by darth.slover, on Flickr God of War by darth.slover, on Flickr Chalace by darth.slover, on Flickr Chalace 2 by darth.slover, on Flickr Flameback Angelfish by darth.slover, on Flickr Purple SPS by darth.slover, on Flickr Green Lantern Zoas by darth.slover, on Flickr (Not new, just got a decent picture of it) Orange Crush Acan by darth.slover, on Flickr (Not new, just got a decent picture of it) Flameback Angelfish by darth.slover, on Flickr Now for the 8G! Helfrichi Firefish by darth.slover, on Flickr Randall's Goby by darth.slover, on Flickr (Not new, just got a decent picture of it) Randall's Goby 2 by darth.slover, on Flickr (Not new, just got a decent picture of it) 4 Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted October 1, 2014 Author Share Posted October 1, 2014 Just ordered the JBJ Nano-Glo LED to start a fuge in my back chamber. I want to seed my tank with pods and find a nice small mandarin. I plan to use the breeder net training to get it on frozen, but I still want to have a seeded tank so it can always have a snack. My question is would it be worth it to set up a small display fuge as well, so that the pods don't have to try and survive the return pump, and all my filtration in the back of the tank? Quote Link to comment
zstriker Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 just fyi, I've had the same skimmer for 4 weeks now and it behaves just like yours....starting to finally skim some, but when I do a water change or even feed any frozen food, bubbles gallore and it stops skimming for 12 hours...i got so fed up I just turned it off....guess I just wasted 150 bucks...let me know if you eventually find success with it! Quote Link to comment
r33fswagg3r Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 just fyi, I've had the same skimmer for 4 weeks now and it behaves just like yours....starting to finally skim some, but when I do a water change or even feed any frozen food, bubbles gallore and it stops skimming for 12 hours...i got so fed up I just turned it off....guess I just wasted 150 bucks...let me know if you eventually find success with it! I had the Ghost skimmer in my Fusion 20L and returned it. I was told by doing my water changes every 2 weeks and not having an insane bioload that the skimmer didn't really have much to skim because my water changes were effectively doing the same thing so there was really no need to run a skimmer in such a small tank. This was not a fellow reefers opinion, this was a manufacturers words directly. Quote Link to comment
NanoDiver Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 Glad to see your keeping up with my build man I always check on yours and a few others to see what works. Like I said I'm new to the reef tank thing and it's always good to see others success and problems. I've done too much research and I'm addicted! I'm sure you are too, it's an amazing hobby! 1 Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 Thanks man, it sure is addicting, and expensive. Lol. I'm gonna swing by my lfs tomorrow and pick up some cheato and pods to start seeding my tank. I have a small vacation next week, so i won't be getting a mandarin any time soon, but at least it'll get the process started. I also picked up a small Tanaka wrasse during the week, but it still hasn't fully gotten its color. I think it was stressed from shipping. I'm hoping it picks up, otherwise I'm going to take it back. Quote Link to comment
doradosteve Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 Beautiful tank! 1 Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 Thank you! I ended up taking the Tanaka wrasse back today, he was barely eating and just never looked well or active. I picked up some cheato and a bottle of tigger pods to jump start the fuge. My light should be in Tuesday. I am going to be out of state Thursday through Sunday, so the tank will in my mom's care, which all she'll have to do is feed and empty the skimmer cup. When I get back, the week after, I should be able to get a pair of mandarins from my lfs. He has a beautiful pair, and the female is eating frozen, and the male is getting there. While I was at the store, I had him feed the tank, and the male was going after the mysis, but it was hard to see if he actually ate anything. He has them on hold for me, so hopefully by next Friday the male should be good to go. I'm super excited. Quote Link to comment
Jackstone Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Sounds good. Let us know how the fuge works out. I added some chaeto in a basket to the back of my Nuvo 16 and just added a bottle of tisbe pods bought from a member here. I'm hoping to add a Green Mandarin. Like you, my LFS is supposed to be getting them on mysis but it's been about a week and I haven't heard anything from them. Only problem is bits of chaeto come out when I do maintenance on the tank and I have to fish out the little pieces. 1 Quote Link to comment
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