New skimmer!

[manners]

I've been looking at skimmers for a few years now and have finally purchased a new one. I've been running a Red Sea prizim skimmer on my 46g and have been wanting to upgrade it for a while. I bought a swc hot mini because my lfs highly recommended it an said if was the best one they carried that would suit my needs. I wanted to purchase a skimmer of of them mainly because if I had issues with it it wouldn't be much of a hassle to exchange it. It has been running for about 12h now and is starting to pull out a very wet skim.
This is only my second skimmer and was wondering about the amount of bubbles it is putting in the tank. I have read that new skimmers have a break in period and will produce bubbles but this one isn't producing micro bubbles Its producing very large bubbles (1/4").
is that that normal?

Leak test on front of tank

Bubbles

 

[manners]

It's been about a month and the skimmer still puts a lot of bubbles into the display tank but it is working very well
This is how much It collects in less than 2 days

IMO it's a pretty good little skimmer, I don't mind the bubbles so much but wish they would go.

 

[zeroc]

it looks way too watery, it should just be the proteins that stay in bubble form for more than a few seconds that should be skimmed. It should be dark sludge instead of brown-ish water.

 

[flower]

I would never purchase a skimmer from a fish store. All the good brands are found on-line. Looks like you have another skimmer brand I can add to the total crap list. Try Tunze or Octopus. The good news is that a skimmer is not a must have piece of equipment, so your tank won't die with the garbage the store sold you. Just my .02

 

[manners]

Holy flower thanks for knocking my skimmer lol. The swc was the only skimmer I could find that would fit behind my tank and was in my price range. If its gonna be on your crap list at least put it above the prizim because it is still an upgrade compared to my old one plus a lot more quiet.
If I raise the collection cup it will pull a lot darker crap out, it just takes longer.

 

[sweatervest13]

Quote:
Originally Posted by manners http:///t/394783/new-skimmer#post_3516709
Holy flower thanks for knocking my skimmer lol. The swc was the only skimmer I could find that would fit behind my tank and was in my price range. If its gonna be on your crap list at least put it above the prizim because it is still an upgrade compared to my old one plus a lot more quiet.
If I raise the collection cup it will pull a lot darker crap out, it just takes longer.
Raise the collection cup then. You don't want to wet skim.

 

[manners]

Ill raise it. What's so bad about wet? Dosnt it pull out more crap but dilutes it with water?(I'm still learning let me know)

 

[sweatervest13]

Quote:
Originally Posted by manners http:///t/394783/new-skimmer#post_3516723
Ill raise it. What's so bad about wet? Dosnt it pull out more crap but dilutes it with water?(I'm still learning let me know)
No problem.
I am no expert... But I believe it has to do with efficiency... You want the skimmer to pull the most out as it can. When you wet skim it is pulling out more saltwater then just the bad stuff. This is two fold. When you have the skimmer dialed in (by raising the collection cup on your HOB model) it should pull out the gunk and very little water. The skimmate will be liquid, but pretty thick, kind of like a sludge. If you are pulling out saltwater (wet skimming) you could also be changing your salinity. When your tank has water evaporate it is just the water, not the salt... So when you top off your tank you are just replacing the water. When you wet skim, you are pulling out salt water, so when you top off you are just putting back in pure water. One time is not a biggie (unless you have a very small tank), but if you do this regularly and don't check your salinity often you could be dropping the salt content for your tank. Make sense??
I have a Reef Octopus HOB skimmer (BH-1000), you dial it in the same way, by adjusting the height of the collection cup. You just need to find the height that pulls out the gunk but not too much water. Play with your height over the next few and try to find the sweet spot.
Good Luck!!