What does it mean when your protein skimmer almost fills up in one night?

crazyzeus1

crazyzeus1

Member
I added a Colt Coral last night to our 100gal tank (established for 3 months now). We had an Elephant Ear mushroom that was NOT happy (but seems to be doing fine today). Nothing died (livestock) or is missing.
I just cleaned out the protein skimmer before I went to bed last night, & this morning it was about 2 inches full of "stuff" in the skimmer. NEVER seen that one in my tank.
Anyone know what could have caused that? Was it the slime from the Colt?
 
lamaface

lamaface

Member
either you are running your skimmer too high or you have a lot of dissolved organics, the slime would cause lots of protein. i added a colony of shrooms and had a protein spike for about 3 days after i added them and once they got happy the protein went back to normal.
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
It will wet skim and your collection cup will fill up almost over night. Wet skim is usualy a whiter or lighter color and much more watery.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Actually, some people, like me, like to wet skim.
If what you are seeing is a lot of organics in the skim, that that is good....obviously your skimmer is doing its job.
 
fishamajig

fishamajig

Member
wet skimming is also recomended for bare bottom tankgoers. the skimmer might be able to pick up pieces os suspended detritus in the water column. you would not be able to do that if you had a really dry skim. I currently run (2) skimmers at the moment, the larger to skim really dry and the smaller to skim wet. I feel I get a equal ballance this way.
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
I have a hob skimmer. I have found that sometimes when the skimmer suction cups come loose and the skimmer sinks, it will go crazy and fill the cup really fast. Just my 2 cents.
ps- I have a limewood airstone-driven skimmer. I highly recommend this type of skimmer to anyone that loathes daily skimmer adjustments. I go 30 days without having to mess with my skimmer :)
 
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