Starting Up Protein Skimmer

[wickedwes]

Hey guys & gals. i have a 125 gal tank with 80#lr & 125#ls and some snails and crabs. i am about to add fish and start running my berlin protein skimmer. i am a liitle confused on how to go about adjusting it. should i leave the valve only partially open in the begining or keep it all the way open? any advice would be helpful. thanks

 

[goldfish]

Wicked,
I started right away with my valve almost all the way open. Some may disagree, but I wanted to be sure and get out all of the protein. If it's not open, then sometimes the protein can build which is not good.

 

[jimi]

You will have to tinker with it for awhile. Run the air tube and pump wide open. If you get too much watery bubbles turn the water valve down until the bubbles barley reach the top of the collection cup.

 

[wickedwes]

i tried that and it seems to change every time i try it. i turn it on with the valve all the way open and they dont overflow. then i try it again and i have water overflowing. i guess i will just have to play with it for a few hours.

 

[wildbunch]

I can't get my Berlin to work. Just put on a Rio 2500 and it used to flow bubbles into the collection cup. Now it hasn't in over a month.
The valve is wide open. I just noticed that it has been lost and sucked up my main pump because it isn't in the sump. How can I get another one?
Any suggestions on getting the protein skimmer working. Do I need a different pump?

 

[goldfish]

Wild,
I have a berlin skimmer as well that seemed to "stop working" after awhile. You may want to take apart your pump and clean it out. Mine was clogged only a little, and it's working better now.
Sometimes, believe it or not you may not have enough protein in the water to skim! I have triggers in my tank who are messy eaters but they don't produce enough junk to always keep the skimmer working full steam.
I would try cleaning out the pump and see if you get better results. I thought mine was broken, but really it's just a clean tank!

 

[norm]

I also have a berlin airlift protien skimmer on my 2 month tank. I had set it at the water level mark and the bubbles are not reaching the top of the collection cup. I have a Renascence 4000 pump on it at full. The skimmer has been runing for over a week. What am i doing wrong? Is the tank so new that thier is nothing to skimm?

 

[norm]

Any suggestions anyone?

 

[goldfish]

Norm,
Believe it or not you may have nothing to skim. I cleaned out my pump which made it work a little better, but honestly we've taken up to my lfs guy and he got it to work fine on his tanks. You may just have a really clean tank!!

 

[norm]

Thanks for the repy Goldfish