# skimmer help



## maximus1006

well i want to start buy saying im new and hello! I just set up a 92 gal bow front corner tank. Im using a eheim systom 3 wet dry with a eheim clasic canister filter. Im using a seaclone skimmer i think thats how its said lol. I hate this skimmer! I do not have room to put it on the back and i do not have a sump. I have the skimmer in the tank in the back were i have an opening. here is what i did i had a 60 hex i set up as salt water tank a month ago. we went and got live rock last week. but one piece wich is a shelve piece realy nice wich is uncured. we set it all up last week but mind u the tank it self has been running a month. When we got the skimmer it didnt work on the 60 gal i understand bacteria hadnt built enough when we set the rock in there we finly got the skimmer working. then over the week end we transfered EVERY thing to the 92 gal tank.now the skimmer isnt working am i going to have to wait to get it foaming again? I want the best skimmer i can aford around 300.00 but i only have like and 1" to 1"1/2 from wall to tank i can put an in sump skimmer on the back like the skimmer i have now just lowering it in the tank in the back or is there a realy good skimmer that i can set on top in the back and lower the pump in the water and have it running right. I hope yall can understand all this i run on once in a while. BUt any help would be great. if i new how to post pics i would i have a realy nice pic i can post so yall can see how i have the skimmer in there. but any help is great. thanks in advance


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## GetITCdot

Well they make a ton of HOB skimmers. I'm assuming the skimmer you are using now is driven by an air needle? Sometimes those skimmers need to be set each time the power is cut to them. it can become a task.


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## maximus1006

needle valve im not shure but it has an air vailve to increase and decrease the pump its a seaclone 100 skimmer


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## GetITCdot

And define "not working"

is it sucking in all water? no water? airstone not working?


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## maximus1006

its doing the cyclone action it seams to be functioning fine except were the riser tube is for the cup there is no foam or water going up to it all my peramiters are fine in the water so maybe not enough bac to let it foam? i have a good pic if i new how to post a pic u could see that its working but not foaming


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## maximus1006

sorry i for got to mention that this skimmer has no air stone it has just a pump


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## maximus1006




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## GetITCdot

well if the cyclone is working you may have a few different issues.

Firstly it could simply be you don't have enough bacteria buildup in your main cyclone tube, furthermore the device could be taking in too much air.

To post a picture go to your photo album and upload the picture 

Aquarium Gallery - Login

once you upload it post it in here using the image button on the reply box (hit reply then you will see a little picture of mountains click that)


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## GetITCdot

maximus1006 said:


>


She looks pretty clean. You may just be lacking enough bacteria to really get her started.

If you think you have enough bacteria try closing the air valve a little at a time. go by this:

no foam/no water = too much air 

no foam/all water = not enough air

once you get it to the point you have maybe a little foam and a little water you may be able to make micro adjustments to the needle to get it perfect


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## trouble93

The thing about sea-clones they need a brake in period and that sometime can take a month for it to act right. And after that you will be adjusting every other day or so to keep getting good skim mate. Two things you can try one close the value all the way and open it little by little, but this will more then likely put micro bubbles into your tank. This will take awhile. The second is find the nearest trash can and deep six it. I notice you said you were looking for one that doesn't take up much room in back of the tank. Check this out: 

Prizm Deluxe Aquarium Protein Skimmers
Red Sea
Starting at: $114.99 

Eliminate floating organics from your aquarium with Prizm Deluxe Protein Skimmers. These hang-on protein skimmers or sump protein skimmers include media baskets for added chemical or biological filtration, adjustable-height surface skimmers for superior protein extraction and a new inlet pipe that holds the surface skimmer cup. Designed as protein skimmers for aquariums up to 100 gallons.

I have to say I haven't used one myself, but I do have a friend that runs one on his tank as his only filtration. It work well for him, it's a well stocked 90gal mixed reef tank. I hope this helps and welcome aboard.


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## maximus1006

thanks! this seaclone just started to get foam out tonight. Finly but i got dang brown alge growing now but i think i found the problume i hope lol


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## trouble93

maximus1006 said:


> thanks! this seaclone just started to get foam out tonight. Finly but i got dang brown alge growing now but i think i found the problume i hope lol


That's called new tank syndrome, nothing to worry about. It's diatom algae it will more then likely go away in a few days.


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## maximus1006

how long do u think it will take to put a hermit crab in there?


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## trouble93

maximus1006 said:


> how long do u think it will take to put a hermit crab in there?


 If your water levels have come down to all o's that means no Ammonia no nitrates and no nitrates. you can go ahead and add a few, but not to many because unless you have been ghost feeding other the little bit of diatom there will be nothing for them to eat. How long has the tank been up? It looks pretty clean. Have you thought about what type of fish you want to keep? If you want to add coral down the line make sure the fish you add are reef safe and invert safe.


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## maximus1006

i had my 60 gal tank set up for 1 month then over the week end we put every thing 2 including water in a 92gal. so it is cinda new im in no hurry to put fish in i want to add maybe 35 40 pounds more of live rock. but i would like a flaim angle and a coral beughty but after those 2 fish nothing but coral. but thats a long hall to get there lol. i will be asking lots of questions i keep fresh water tanks. so this is totaly fresh experiance for me. so any advice please give couse i do take it lol im getting some pritty nasty foam now out of this skimmer. my water peramitors went up in the past 2 days my nitrates and nitrites went up a little. I need to get a new sailt water test kit mine that i had came up missing! so right now im using test strips dosnt show amonia wich stinks! but will have a new one this week end.


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## trouble93

maximus1006 said:


> i had my 60 gal tank set up for 1 month then over the week end we put every thing 2 including water in a 92gal. so it is cinda new im in no hurry to put fish in i want to add maybe 35 40 pounds more of live rock. but i would like a flaim angle and a coral beughty but after those 2 fish nothing but coral. but thats a long hall to get there lol. i will be asking lots of questions i keep fresh water tanks. so this is totaly fresh experiance for me. so any advice please give couse i do take it lol im getting some pritty nasty foam now out of this skimmer. my water peramitors went up in the past 2 days my nitrates and nitrites went up a little. I need to get a new sailt water test kit mine that i had came up missing! so right now im using test strips dosnt show amonia wich stinks! but will have a new one this week end.


O.K. Lets start with the test kits test strips don't give you a true reading they will give you a ball park figure you need exacts API test kits are O.K. but IMO Salifert test kits are the best. For now you need to know where your PH, Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates are and in that order. 92gal. is a good water volume to work with as long as you stay on top of it, it will pay off in the long run. You will end up just like you start out. So if you start cutting corners now you will find yourself always behind the 8 ball. When you changed your tanks over you sent your system into a mini cycle and unless you get that 35 or 40 LBS. of new live rock already fully cured you may do it again. What I would do is just let the tank go after you add the new rock, and what I mean by letting it go is don't do any water changes just add top off water when needed. This will give you a good bacteria base, this is the first building block to the success of your tank. Once you have your test kits in hand, keep a running log of what your water levels are from week to week. And you can always go back and see what your tank has done from week to week. You will still have to give your skimmer time to settle in so you may still get micro bubbles for the next week or so, so no need to worry there is nothing in the tank that will be affected by this. Although you may have a PH swing but it will settle down after your skimmer is broke in. Do this and we can go on to the next step.


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## maximus1006

nice! i thank u. I will be getting my kit this week end! I need to bring the salinity up a smidge. The guy at the fish store only has uncured rock right now wont have none for 2 weeks. I have one pive of uncured rock in the tank and thats the huge piece in the middle its my shelf piece. I am noticing some coraline algi on a pice that wasnt there before. I have a question what are the redish things that look like coraline algi but looks like trees there growing on a piece of figi rock in my tank.


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## trouble93

maximus1006 said:


> nice! i thank u. I will be getting my kit this week end! I need to bring the salinity up a smidge. The guy at the fish store only has uncured rock right now wont have none for 2 weeks. I have one pive of uncured rock in the tank and thats the huge piece in the middle its my shelf piece. I am noticing some coraline algi on a pice that wasnt there before. I have a question what are the redish things that look like coraline algi but looks like trees there growing on a piece of figi rock in my tank.


I don't want to say it's one thing and it be something else...Can you take a picture of it? I would be kinda skeptical that it would be coralline at this point because in a newly cycled tank your perimeters are not stable as of yet. Coralline need for 3 things to be working together calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. So even with fully cured rock as the tank cycles it will fade a bit until the tank stabilizes. I do have another question for you, well more like two more. First what type of lighting are you running? And how long are you running your lights? Also you said you had to bring your salinity up some. Where is it now? and what would you like to bring it up to? The reason I asked is sea water is 1.026 most fish stores keep there salinity low I mean 1.019 low to keep stuff like "ich" at bay. This will be very important for you to know when you start adding fish to your tank. The best thing to do is set up a hospital tank so you can watch them for a week or two before you add them to your main tank. Never add a fish right to your display tank. But we will get more into that later.


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## maximus1006

heres what i have for lighting 1 T8 actinic blue 25watt coralife 1 reef sun 50/50 and one coralife 20,000k high intensity purified super daylight lamp 30 watt. with a reflector i can look for the brand but i also have a light i need to find out what kind it is but its high intesity one pure white and the other is an actinic bulb there the blug in bulbs not like the tubes also had 2 moon lights in it with a fan my tank lights are on like 12 hours i know its too long but i turn them on when i leave for work and then turn them off when home. I will be using timer for the salt tank. my salinity changed sence we did the move it was .024 now its .023 i want it at .026 so when i need to top off tank i will add some salt to the water wich will be RO water. i will snag a pic of the stuff tommarow. wow comming from fresh water to salt is a big dif lol even thow i still love my demonsoni sp only tank.....


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## trouble93

maximus1006 said:


> heres what i have for lighting 1 T8 actinic blue 25watt coralife 1 reef sun 50/50 and one coralife 20,000k high intensity purified super daylight lamp 30 watt. with a reflector i can look for the brand but i also have a light i need to find out what kind it is but its high intesity one pure white and the other is an actinic bulb there the blug in bulbs not like the tubes also had 2 moon lights in it with a fan my tank lights are on like 12 hours i know its too long but i turn them on when i leave for work and then turn them off when home. I will be using timer for the salt tank. my salinity changed sence we did the move it was .024 now its .023 i want it at .026 so when i need to top off tank i will add some salt to the water wich will be RO water. i will snag a pic of the stuff tommarow. wow comming from fresh water to salt is a big dif lol even thow i still love my demonsoni sp only tank.....


Weren't in Kansas anymore Toto...but your off to a good start. O.K. that said lets start with the salt it's O.K. to bump it now with no live stock so take a gal. of water at .023 take your salt mix and add about a 1/4 of a cup that should bring it up to about .027 add that then stop. Don't do anymore tonight. You don't want to start having your PH to swing to much. wait a day and do it again. And you'll be there. I have to pull out a road map to rap my head around your lights. I guess the best way for me to do that would be to take your total wattage and go from there. The old rule of thumb was if you had atleast 5 watts per gal. of water and you were good. I'm going to send you some more info to your mail box I have to warn you it's a lot of reading but you will have a better understanding of your lighting needs. O.K. I sent it, take your time with it and let me know what you think.


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## maximus1006

sorry for no responce yesterday i tryed for 2 hours to get on this site and couldnt. i have a pic of what i got on the rock its a touch fuzzy did it with cam phone lol but i am sending it to my email then ill post it if u want i can take a pic of my lighting as well. with them off of course lol


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## maximus1006

here is the pic to me it looks like little red trees
[url=http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery


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## maximus1006

<a href=http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=4422&ppuser=4305><img src=http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=4440&size=1 border=0></a>


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## maximus1006

i did my salt and tested it i have a fracomiter comming next week. but i added 1 gal of ro water with the salt and it brought it up to .024 so i will wait till monday i live in a hick town and wouldnt u know it they didnt have no test kits for salt water they ran out ugh!!!!!! i am sorry to ask so many questions and doing step buy step with yall. i realy do appreciate it. i feel stuped right now lol but im learning. and i am striving for the best tank i can have.


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## trouble93

maximus1006 said:


> <a href=http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=4422&ppuser=4305><img src=http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=4440&size=1 border=0></a>


O.K. you called it could be the start of coralline your on the right track.


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## trouble93

maximus1006 said:


> i did my salt and tested it i have a fracomiter comming next week. but i added 1 gal of ro water with the salt and it brought it up to .024 so i will wait till monday i live in a hick town and wouldnt u know it they didnt have no test kits for salt water they ran out ugh!!!!!! i am sorry to ask so many questions and doing step buy step with yall. i realy do appreciate it. i feel stuped right now lol but im learning. and i am striving for the best tank i can have.


The only stupid question is the question not asked...We are here to help. And I'm glad I can help. After you bump your salt level up one more time I would leave it there for a few days to make sure it's stable.


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## maximus1006

sounds cool any idea what that is on the rock? it seams to be growing....lol i just read under the pic lol. now my question is should i use a refugume? ive been thinking of it seams a lot of people are using them for a reef tank but i have the biggest ehiem wet dry filter on the tank and ehiems biggest canister filter.


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## trouble93

maximus1006 said:


> sounds cool any idea what that is on the rock? it seams to be growing....lol i just read under the pic lol. now my question is should i use a refugume? ive been thinking of it seams a lot of people are using them for a reef tank but i have the biggest ehiem wet dry filter on the tank and ehiems biggest canister filter.


I would always answer that question with a YES. Reason being any time you can add water volume to your system it's always a plus because the more water you have the more self correcting the system will be. And what I mean by that is if you take a 20gal. tank with live rock and live sand and you take a whole krill and drop it in not long after it will begin to pollute that water. Even though there is a bacteria there to aid in the cycle it's not enough to keep up with the decomposing krill. You add more water to that in turn more bacteria and so on and so on, that same piece of krill would not be so dangerous. And you will have place for what ever media skimmer macro algae or what ever. Hope this helps.


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## maximus1006

Nice this is going to be a job lol. being that its a corner tank. I will need to make room for the over flow box looks like another order is in the works lol. Wow drfosters LOVES ME! my question is. do i use figii merical mud or live sand? whats the benafits of both? also one more question i want more flow in the tank! should i add another power head to the other corner of the tank or can i use a return pump with spray bars wich i do that in my 125GAL hap tank...


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## trouble93

maximus1006 said:


> Nice this is going to be a job lol. being that its a corner tank. I will need to make room for the over flow box looks like another order is in the works lol. Wow drfosters LOVES ME! my question is. do i use figii merical mud or live sand? whats the benafits of both? also one more question i want more flow in the tank! should i add another power head to the other corner of the tank or can i use a return pump with spray bars wich i do that in my 125GAL hap tank...


If you have to do an over flow a "CPR" over flow are the best for the money.I have live sand in my sump, but I do about every 8 months or so I do add figii mudd as a booster. There are a few benefits one is sand will help keep PH stable and the mudd will release trace elements into the system. Your skimmer slowly depletes these elements over time so adding the booster and regular water changes replenishes them.As far as the power head goes, in this picture under the over flow box I have a moded maxi-jet pushing water a long the back of the tank. For me I think it adds to the over all flow by pushing water from the back and down low and it also keeps stuff from settling behind the rock work.

See how the green piece(Touch Coral) in the front left is blowing to the left? That's because of that power head in the back.


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## maximus1006

nice! I have a 125gal fresh water hap tank that has 2 megga over flows i love my 125! i will be installing a sump tank just need to figure out what size tank unless i put it on the side of the bow front wich wont be to pleasing to look at lol. I have a 30 gal sump tank under my 125. i like ur tank buy the way!


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## trouble93

maximus1006 said:


> nice! I have a 125gal fresh water hap tank that has 2 megga over flows i love my 125! i will be installing a sump tank just need to figure out what size tank unless i put it on the side of the bow front wich wont be to pleasing to look at lol. I have a 30 gal sump tank under my 125. i like ur tank buy the way!


If you put it next to the tank can you hide it? I have my sump next to the tank, but it's in a room with nothing but fish tanks. So looks aren't that important. But if your tank is out in the open this may take some planing.


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## maximus1006

sorry for no responce! ive been super busy as of late. I will be having a prof dude come in and drain my tank and drill it out and he will be adding a 20gal long refuguam under the tank i have all my live rock now from astablished reefs. and i am slowly raising my salinity my reader was way off! i have it at .025 right now i got a defrac salinity tester. I tested the peramiters and all is good. I have 2 pepermint shrips in there to take care of the aptasias. i also got 2 turbo snails and 6 hermits 3 red legs and 3 blue legs. every thing is running good now. and the end of this month ill have my refuguim. awsome oh i also have 2 #4 Koralia pumps any idea how i can set them up to were its not blowing sand all over the place thanks ill be posting pics later.


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## trouble93

maximus1006 said:


> sorry for no responce! ive been super busy as of late. I will be having a prof dude come in and drain my tank and drill it out and he will be adding a 20gal long refuguam under the tank i have all my live rock now from astablished reefs. and i am slowly raising my salinity my reader was way off! i have it at .025 right now i got a defrac salinity tester. I tested the peramiters and all is good. I have 2 pepermint shrips in there to take care of the aptasias. i also got 2 turbo snails and 6 hermits 3 red legs and 3 blue legs. every thing is running good now. and the end of this month ill have my refuguim. awsome oh i also have 2 #4 Koralia pumps any idea how i can set them up to were its not blowing sand all over the place thanks ill be posting pics later.


I look forward to seeing the pics...The best way to place the power heads I have found is one in back down low and one in front up high. The one in back shouldn't be low enough to blow sand so just test a few areas until you find a spot that works.


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