Trouble with Nautilus EX 24" Skimmer

[chadman515]

Hello everyone,

I recently started cycling a new 150 gallon tank. It has been cycling now for four weeks. I dosed the tank with Instant Ocean Bio-Spira, therefore I haven't been running my skimmer to give it time to establish.

Last night I tested my water and the readings are as follows:

Ammonia - 0.5
Nitrate - 20
Nitrite - 2.0
pH - 7.9
Specific Gravity - 1.025

Last night I also added some Cheato to the sump and turned the fuge light on. Till then I haven't had any lights running to avoid algae problems. Since nitrite and nitrate readings are a little high I figured I needed to start running my skimmer and start doing some water changes.

The problem I am having with my skimmer, again it is a Nautilus EX 24", is that it isn't making realy fine bubbles and the foam head in the neck of the collection cup really isn't thick. There are large bubbles making up the foam. I am powering the skimmer with a Mag 9 pump. Is that suitable for the skimmer? Also, every once in a while there will be a large bubble come up from the base and dissrupt the foam that is accumulated in the neck. Is that normal?
I have thought about adding an air pump to increase the air flow into the skimmer. Is this a good idea?

Thank you for any help.

Chad

[ErikH]

Sometimes the bubbles in the neck are larger than what is in the skimmer body. The large bubble is not normal. Can you adjust the air as well as the water level? I would tinker with it some more and see if you can get it to work right....

[chadman515]

I have the skimmer sitting on the floor of my fuge, the water level is at the base of the cylinder. I think it may be to high. Do i need to put it on a base?

[Jarob]

I had that same skimmer, put it on a base and adjust the neck of the outlet. it worked great once i got it to the right spot

[brewercm]

I had that same skimmer at one point and the recommended pump for it is around a Mag12. I had a Sedra 1200 on mine and if I had more than one 90 degree bend leading to the skimmer it wouldn't work very good. Probably works better with a pressure rated pump.

[chadman515]

Thank you Cliff.

I will look into a larger pump with no 90º angles in the line.