Explain to me how the skimmer works

saltyjewell

saltyjewell

Member
(History I bought a house and 170g saltwater tank came with. The pervious owner left it a mess. I had to rip the tank a part get rid of the gravel, scrub the tank[seriously u could barley see in it], replace the gravel with live sand and all new water. All the levels where crazy but after all that work they've all been good. The 4 fish that where in it are sssooo much better looking and the new ones I got are thriving too)
Anyhow I didn't want to crash the tank so I left all the filter alone(except the one the shorted and shocked me! I Replaced that one) for the first while. I changed out the media in the one half of my sump a week after the "big" clean up(will do other half with water change next week). I just cleaned 1/3rd of the bio balls from sump in water I took from the tank. I'm not sure about these but they'll stay for now.
Anyway my REAL question is on how does the skimmer work? I'll attach the both cleaning pic(its so gross) I just cleaned it but I don't see any water going into the top now. Is that normal? How does it work?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Foam is what goes into the top.....you have to adjust the air flow....
in the bottom part it should look like a mini tornado....
 
saltyjewell

saltyjewell

Member
hum the didn't have foam in it. Will the white foam stuff work. I don't know how to adjust the air flow, I'll play around with it.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
In your picture the thing on the right attached to the clear tube is the adjuster knob.....
I am sure you had no foam cause it was soooooo dirty lol.....
Unscrew the top of the knob..all the way....then slowly tighten it until you see your volcano in the back tube
 
saltyjewell

saltyjewell

Member
I've been fiddling but so far it isn't working right. I see the little tornato in the bottom and it bubbles up the top part but then goes back down the way it came. Humph
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Give it time......you just cleaned it, sometimes it takes 24 hours for the foam ...be Patient....:)
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
Originally Posted by SaltyJewell
http:///forum/post/3094945
I've been fiddling but so far it isn't working right. I see the little tornato in the bottom and it bubbles up the top part but then goes back down the way it came. Humph
When you clean them they must build up a coating for the foam to climb up into the colection cup on top.
If you are adjusting the air and your not getting good air input, clean that part to. Sometimes calcium builds up in there or just junk will colect. Then no or not enough air can get through.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by SaltyJewell
http:///forum/post/3095807
Thanks all it's working well now :) Now only if I could stop dreaming of the skimmer *lol*

Glad to hear it is up and going! I hate skimmer trouble, it is such a pain in the you know what...But now you have a 170g! So it is time to dream up what you want to put in it to make it yours!

How about some pictures!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top