skimmer going crazy??

[Anthony.Luciano710]

i just want to know if this is normal. ive been running this reef octopus xp2000 since Christmas and its been working great. last night when i finish rebuilding my system i have it raised so only 7 inches of it is in the water and its supposed to be 6-10 and its just going crazy. its making so many bubbles that i had to open the little port for the skimmate to drain for like a holding container but its been running all night with the valve completely open and its just like overflowing the cup and draining out of that little plug. is this like a new break in period or something like tank because it never happened the first time. could it also be from the crazy amount of dust from kicking up all the sand from filling it because there was like 1 inch visibility now its almost crystal clear and the dusty stuff is getting all over the neck of the skimmer.

 

[NYreefNoob]

could be and if this is the cone version it needs to be in 5.5-6.5 " of water. is the skimmer in a stable water level at all times ?

 

[mbg75]

add any new equip to tank?

are u running a filter sock? if so, did u change it recently?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

i just rebuilt the whole system and filled it with water yesterday. and no im not running a filter sock.

add any new equip to tank?

are u running a filter sock? if so, did u change it recently?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

yes its always in a stable water level and its not the cone one and on the specifications it says 6-10 inches and its in 7.

could be and if this is the cone version it needs to be in 5.5-6.5 " of water. is the skimmer in a stable water level at all times ?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

yea and the actual water level in the skimmer is not even high with the valve all the way open its not even close to the neck of the skimmer. its just the bubbles there soooo big and just coming out of the top and it wont stop. tomorrow will be the 2nd day of continuous bubbles.

 

[InfernoST]

Are you cycling your tank again? If so I would leave it off for the duration of the cycle and run a filter sock to catch the sediment for now. I have the XP-2000 cone, when I change the filter sock it will go nuts and the other stuff it doesn't care for is that coral epoxy (the stick type) also used to glue LR together.

 

[acromike]

I also have major bubble problems when i use epoxy.Now I try to only use alittle at a time if I need to fasten something in my tank.

 

[NYreefNoob]

still run skimmer if cycling, is the output of the skimmer above or below the water line ? how about a picture, do you know how to dial the skimmer or where the bubble break point should be ?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

the water level is below the output and i had this thing running perfectly fine and skimming amazingly and i just put it in the new setup and bubbles just wont stop coming out of the top and the valve is wide open so theres absolutely no restriction of the water level its just so low its just the bubbles are being made so much its coming from the top and in the old sump the water level was almost completly covering the output and it still worked.

still run skimmer if cycling, is the output of the skimmer above or below the water line ? how about a picture, do you know how to dial the skimmer or where the bubble break point should be ?

 

[Macropora]

Is that a piece of styrofoam under the protein skimmer and were you using one prior? Not sure if that's causing the problem.

 

[InfernoST]

still run skimmer if cycling, is the output of the skimmer above or below the water line ? how about a picture, do you know how to dial the skimmer or where the bubble break point should be ?

It's best to leave the skimmer off while cycling the tank, running it takes away the disolved organics the bacteria need to multiply, in turn prolonging the cycle.

 

[NYreefNoob]

personally i have always ran skimmer during cycle on all 7 or so of my tanks, he isnt starting out with dead rock, he did a quick tear down and set back up. you still want to pull waste out of the system and if there is die off you want it skimmed out, your not pulling enough good bacteria to have that as a reason to not use it. also what is the actualy depth skimmer would sit in if it wasnt on the stand ? and i dont see how or where it is overflowing, you dont even have bubbles going into the neck

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

look closely at the neck for bubbles because it was going crazy. but its working now. i guess it just needed a little break in period to the new tank and all the kicked up sand and silicone from the new sump.

personally i have always ran skimmer during cycle on all 7 or so of my tanks, he isnt starting out with dead rock, he did a quick tear down and set back up. you still want to pull waste out of the system and if there is die off you want it skimmed out, your not pulling enough good bacteria to have that as a reason to not use it. also what is the actualy depth skimmer would sit in if it wasnt on the stand ? and i dont see how or where it is overflowing, you dont even have bubbles going into the neck

 

[NYreefNoob]

the silicone could have caused it to go crazy

 

[InfernoST]

personally i have always ran skimmer during cycle on all 7 or so of my tanks, he isnt starting out with dead rock, he did a quick tear down and set back up. you still want to pull waste out of the system and if there is die off you want it skimmed out, your not pulling enough good bacteria to have that as a reason to not use it. also what is the actualy depth skimmer would sit in if it wasnt on the stand ? and i dont see how or where it is overflowing, you dont even have bubbles going into the neck

I see what you're saying, so the most he should see is a mini cycle providing he kept the LR at temp and the water circulating.

The reason I said leave it off is the waste would help the bacteria to multiply if the tank is being cycled from scratch which I thought it was. Anthony could answer that question.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

its all base rock never seeded so it just has nitrifying bacteria but im gonna start seeding it a little later on.

I see what you're saying, so the most he should see is a mini cycle providing he kept the LR at temp and the water circulating.

 

[InfernoST]

This is new base rock?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

no i bought it as base rock when i first started originally and then it cycled and now when i rebuilt it i had it in storage containers with saltwater and heaters and powerheads. its just not live like from the ocean life so i have to seed it with all those natural creatures. im gonna order a 20 pounds of figi rock from live aquaria to seed it because they fly it in directly from figi when you order it.

This is new base rock?

 

[InfernoST]

Base rock becomes live rock without adding anything additional to it, you usually seed the tank with some live rock to kick start the cycle by introducing nitrifying bacteria the tank didn't have. Live rock = Home for nitrifying bacteria. If your tank is cycled you don't have to add anything unless you want coralline algae which usually has to be brought into the tank if your existing LR doesn't have any.