Thoughts on over skimming

fishytime · #1 10-19-2009, 02:28 PM

Just a thought but, I noticed in your pic that you have a relatively large leather mixed in there....I noticed quite an improvement will all my remaining corals after I removed all my leathers (xenia and toadstool) and started running a carbon reactor....I wouldnt think of doing a mixed reef without running carbon to help absorb any toxins that may be being released. Im not positive if the improvement was due to an increase in available nutrients or a decrease in "chemical warfare"

sphelps · #2 10-19-2009, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishytime

Just a thought but, I noticed in your pic that you have a relatively large leather mixed in there....I noticed quite an improvement will all my remaining corals after I removed all my leathers (xenia and toadstool) and started running a carbon reactor....I wouldnt think of doing a mixed reef without running carbon to help absorb any toxins that may be being released. Im not positive if the improvement was due to an increase in available nutrients or a decrease in "chemical warfare"

The pic in this thread is a previous setup, I just used it as an example to show healthy LPS in high nutrients. I don't currently have any leather corals or much for soft corals at all. I'm going to start thinking about building a sump soon so I can filter the water properly including carbon.

fishytime · #3 10-19-2009, 02:45 PM

Oops.....ok never mind then....I'll shut up now

sphelps · #4 10-19-2009, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishytime

Oops.....ok never mind then....I'll shut up now

Haha come one, it's all about the gum ball effect, every bit of insight helps and is appreciated.

Parker · #5 10-19-2009, 03:03 PM

Out of curiousty, hows your skimmer running? Is it still producing a nice thick head of foam? Typically when you reach the point of over skimming the skimmer tends to produce less and less and can no longer maintain a thick head of foam and more or less starts to fizz. Fizz is the best way I can describe it.

I had the same issues with my BM250 on my 90 gallon. I started running it with one pump instead of two and it seemed to settle in.

sphelps · #6 10-19-2009, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker

Out of curiousty, hows your skimmer running? Is it still producing a nice thick head of foam? Typically when you reach the point of over skimming the skimmer tends to produce less and less and can no longer maintain a thick head of foam and more or less starts to fizz. Fizz is the best way I can describe it.

I had the same issues with my BM250 on my 90 gallon. I started running it with one pump instead of two and it seemed to settle in.

It's off and on, sometimes it's foamy and sometimes it's just "fizzing". By fizzing I mean the water level in the skimmer is the same but there is no foam build up in the neck, rather the air bubbles just fizz about an inch or two above the water level. It takes a few weeks to a month to full the collection cup, on my previous setup it would only take a week.

By similar problems do you mean just the fizzing or problems with corals as well?

StirCrazy · #7 10-19-2009, 03:58 PM

I just reviewed your tank thread, what kinda water flow do you have in the main tank? I noticed you had a seahorse which I had forgot about.. can they handle high flow or do you have to keep it fairly low for them?

guess what I am trying to figure out is how much water per hour is actualy getting to the sump?

oh and are you running the balling setup yet?

Steve

Parker · #8 10-19-2009, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sphelps

It's off and on, sometimes it's foamy and sometimes it's just "fizzing". By fizzing I mean the water level in the skimmer is the same but there is no foam build up in the neck, rather the air bubbles just fizz about an inch or two above the water level. It takes a few weeks to a month to full the collection cup, on my previous setup it would only take a week.

By similar problems do you mean just the fizzing or problems with corals as well?

I had zero growth out of softies and LPS, SPS had slow growth. Skimmer would just sit there and fizz. I dropped my skimmer down to one pump and everything seemed to be improving when I lost my light timer while on holidays and the tank went without light for a few weeks. So I'm unable to confirm whether the improvement would have continued.

The 90 gallon was very low tech, maintained with skimmer and water changes only,plus a tad bit of cal. dosing