Skimmer Question

[Hotrod32487]

I have a little prizm skimmer on my 30g. The little resevoir that the bubbles fill into fills up often. This water that fills it is nasty so ive been pouring it out and replacing it but have been having to do this just about every three days. Is this normal? Am i doing something wrong or do i just have a dirty tank?

[tony]

here is a good article on the topic:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-08/rhf/index.php#21

not knowing the size of the prizm collector cup, it doesnt sound unreasonable to me

i empty my skimmer on my 30 cube about once per week (coralife superskimmer rated at 65g) but it has a fairly large collector cup

[kkutac001]

I can't count how many times I've read Calfo on wetwebmedia saying we should all have "2 to 3 cups weekly" of skimmate production from our skimmers. Is your skimmate 'nasty' like tea-colored, or nasty like black coffee? I'd judge if yours is tea-colored, you have too wet a foam. If on the other hand you're pulling 2-3 cups of thick black (or really dark green) skimmate, I'd say you're right on target! Also, you can't just keep adding buffered RO to make up for the skimmate you're taking out. (a little clean salt water is also needed for replacement) Your salinity will drift down if you only use buffered RO to replace skimmate loss. ..Karl

[Hotrod32487]

How do you get less wet foam? Mine is more like a tea colored like you desribed

[kkutac001]

Depends on the unit, the way it is designed. I've never used a Prizm, but I'd bet some maastard has. Ask this question on the General Reefkeeping Forum.

On one of my skimmers, you close down on an valve on the outlet side of the skimmer to get wetter foam (i.e. it raises the water level in the body of the skimmer); you open the vlv to get drier foam (wtr lvl in body is lower). On a different skimmer, an air vlv on the venturi was used to raise/lower the water level in the body of the skimmer (more open = more air = water level lowers in body of that skimmer; crank down on air vlv = less air = wtr lvl rises in skimmer).
..Karl

[Ping]

I have used several prism's and the consistancy you describe is normal for these models. Having to empty their small chamber every 3 days is normal. Sounds like your doing things correct. Like kkutac says, stay on top of your salinity testing.

[technomex]

I have a prizim skimmer on my tank in my classroom. Skimming wet is probably the best thing to do with that skimmer, although having to empty the cup so often is a bit of a pain. Like mentioned above, try adjusting the air and water flow to find a happy medium. I have found to get a drier foam production by turning down the black "gate valve" looking thing to restrict the water flow a bit.

[Hotrod32487]

Yeah i guess it was pretty simple. I just turned down the flow making less bubbles, and its skimming a lot different. It isnt filling as much as it did before, and the stuff that is collecting is a lot darker than the stuff before so lesson here is...dont be dumb like me