Skimmer question

[CHILL]

I have a new set-up in its 9th week. I cycled the tank with LR and Damsels (I know - shame on me), and have a question about the skimmer.

The skimmer is built into the wet/dry filter (it's a fish only sytem - only about 25 lbs of LR for decoration) made by CPR (CPR 294 I believe is the models) and was purchased oversized for the tank (tank is 120G, skimmer is rated to 200). I have not generated any skimmate yet. The first day it pulled out some watery green liquid, but nothing since then. The skimmer is driven by a Rio 1700 venturi (not happy with this) that does create alot of small bubbles, but no skimmate.

I have heard there is a break in period for skimmers and that eventually it is supposed to look like coffee that has sat on the warmer too long. Should I be concerned? Am I doing something wrong? Is there just not enough proteins in the system to be pulled out?

As of 8/8/04
120 FOwLR
PH 8.0
Nitrites/Nitrates/Amon all are 0
temp 77.5

Thanks
Chris

 

[ChrisRD]

After that amount of time I'd expect to be seeing some skimmate. I've heard of others experiencing inconsistent skimmer performance for a few months before things got settled-in but that's never happened to me. That might be part of it.

Also, the built-in type venturi skimmers like that are often not the most efficient. It's possible if you have a light enough bioload that you just won't see it produce much.

Personally, if water parameters stay good I wouldn't worry. In the future as you stock-up the tank you may need to get a better skimmer, but as long as your water quality is OK, I wouldn't worry about it.

HTH

 

[CHILL]

Thanks. I'll just see how it all pans out.

 

[Anonymous]

Something to consider:

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... ght=bakpak