Skimmer level
 

At which level should I keep the bubbles at? I mean should the dense bubbles stay at the neck or at the top of the chamber?

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...ps761b9c48.jpg

My skimmer is set so that the larger bubbles are starting at the bottom of the collection cup. Works well for me.

It depends on how you want to skim... Dark and nasty or light and well less nasty lol

I found with mine that I had to adjust it a bit over time. I'd set it one day where I thought it should be (about half way between the start of the neck and the top of the cup, and and it was ok right then, but over night it would constantly over flow. So I'd turn it down a bit, day by day, just a teeny bit until it stopped overflowing. Even now I find I adjust my skimmer more often than my herbie :P

What kind of skimmer do you have? Is there something aggitating it?

Mine as well, works the best I think

I have the Vertex 250. And yes, I think there's some unhappy corals, namely a large toadstool mushroom the size of a dinner plate in my 77 that just can't wait until I upgrade. :(

I think that now that you are skimmering you will quickly discover that maintaining a head (foam) height in your skimmer will be quite frustrating as your tank settles in. If you thought trying to dial in a herbie was challenging, you're in for a world of pain now :lol: The reason is because there are so many things that can change the foam fractionation process in your skimmer. And of course these things will likely show up during the early stages of tank setup.

As others have suggested, where you want the foam to be is somewhat up to you and based on your needs. A higher the foam the wetter (less dark) your skimmate will be, the lower it is the darker (dryer) your skimmate will be. This is all personal preference. Over time you just kinda have to get a feel for how you want to skim.

Personally I don't like the level to be too high in my cup because then there's a greater chance that it will overflow.

Thanks everyone :) I have dialed the skimmer to have the bigger bubbles around the middle of the cup. Although I can see foam rising to the lips of the cup, it hasn't collected anything yet; possibly because of the tiny bioload (need MORE FISH!!!!!!!).

Funny thing is, it took me a few secs to dial the herbie with saltwater and has been staying there even since the start of the tank. I guess its harder to dial overflows with freshwaters :razz: (another reason to be in the salty side?)

That's an interesting observation. I'm not sure why it would be any different?

Not sure. Maybe I wasn't paying attention while tuning with freshwater or maybe I just got used to it :P But with saltwater in, herbie was a breeze..and by breeze...I MEAN BREEZE! Slight trickle down the emergency...took few secs (not even a minute) and done.