protein skimmer?

Question

i have a sea clone 100 protein skimmer and it has been setup for 2 days now. and it isn't collecting anything in the cup. i keep turning the nob tying to adjust it and it just isn't working . could u please help me out with my problem?

i have had the tank setup for almost one year. i have a turbo snail, two pieces of live rock one teaming with polyps and no fish

Answer 1

How long have you had the tank set up? It takes a few weeks of feeding fish and having them produce wastes before there's anything in the water for a skimmer to collect!

These work because dissolved particles from fish wastes, uneaten food, and dead organisms attach to the bubble surfaces and are lifted out of the water. You may not have enough material in your tank yet.

And I assume you have this on a saltwater tank? They don't work in freshwater, because the water doesn't have enough density to produce the small size of bubbles that are needed. Also, be sure your specific gravity is correct - at least 1.020 (suitable for fish only), to 1.024-1.026 (best for inverts).

The way I would recommend that you adjust yours is to close the air valve completely, then slowly open it just until the bubbles reach about 1/2 to 1 inch above from the bottom of where the lowest black piece is on the unit (right above where the water and bubbles enters). In other words, you want bubbles coming DOWN almost the entire height of the column, but not flowing under the interior tube and coming out the return. If you can't get the bubbles that far down, adjust for the point where they are the farthest down the tube. The greater the height of the bubbles, the more material that will be removed.

In general, the design of a Seaclone isn't the greatest either - the foam prefilter where the water is collected sits too far down in the water - the layer of dissolved proteins floats at the surface.


ADDITION: Without fish, you might not be producing a lot of wastes, especially if you already do regular water changes. You could try lowering the water level to near the top of the foam prefilter of the skimmer and see if this helps to remove anything, but doing this also causes the water to splash, and it leaves salt deposits on your lights, and increases evaporation.

Answer 2

I am glad to hear I am not the only one that has had this problem :] As the instructions say, "The SeaClone protein skimmer utilizes the forces of nature to effectively draw wastes out of your aquarium. The tornado-like motion inside the SeaClone protein skimmer removes organic wastes from your aquarium." Key words being, "forces of nature". Lest to say my problem was that I did not have the said "forces of nature" set up right. Did you try tilting it a little so that the sucktion thingy mixes up the water a little (for lack of a better sentence) and also, check all the parts for plastic wrap that you may have missed setting it up that may be covering the parts and the catcher cause sometimes thats the case. I really hope this helps you out :]