Skimmer Problems..please Help

[nemo79]

Okay, so I have the remora and when it works it's great. I first had a problem one mnth after setting it up. It wasn't skimmin much and there was a ton of micro bubbles. Well I tightened the clamps on the intake and sure enough it startin skimming really well and microbubbles all gone.

Well 2 days ago I noticed micro bubbles again, so of course we thought the same thing...so we tightened the clamps. Well last night I get home and find out that's not the problem, my skimmer isn't skimming anything. I cleaned out the cup wednesday night and it has skimmed 2 mm since then. Something is definitly wrong. Thank God I have a filter running or I'm sure I'd be in big trouble. As it is I am paranoid that I will still have problems. I can't take apart the skimmer tonight as I have plans so I have to wait till tomorrow night. Do ya think this will be problamatic....I just bought 2 corals last night prior to knowing this...a ric (ya another one) and a large colt coral.

I am so mad, everything was going great. Till now.

[CodyW]

I wouldn't worry about it, it will start skimming again soon. I did some maintenance on mine a few days ago and haven't seen any foam since.

[Tangster]

Skimmers need to restart after you mess with them thats normal But on the other hand after a skimmer is put onto a tank as yours was it will skim alot until it lowers the DOC's with in the system and then they will fall off on total amount of smimmate thats also normal no skimmer goes full bore day in and say out unless you are way over feeding the tank or it is way overly stocked. Its start back up when there is somthing to be skimmed.

[nemo79]

Well What Concerned Me Is That I Only Cleaned The Collection Cup And It Has Never Done This After Cleaning The Collection Cup, There Are Alot Of Microbubbles And It Doesn't Seem To Be Doing Anything. Maybe It's Time To Clean Out The Whole Thing Again. Can Calcium Or Skimmate Build Up And Cause It To Stop?

[Tangster]

Yes that can cause a problem anytime a collection cup is cleaned they will go flat for a few hrs I have a ETSS 600 XR professional that will go flat line with just a pinch of flake food hits the system. But it comes back in a little while. All skimmers should be broken down totally nd cleaned throughly at least once a yr I like to clean mine every 6 months or so.. They will slime up with gunk food,fish and coral waste oils and calcium deposits form in and on the pumps and air injectors .. I soak mine in Vinegar to clean the ca and carbonate scale .

[nemo79]

No this is a bigger problem. I have no skimmate in the collection cup for 3 days. I have done no maintenance this week on the skimmer. I clean the cup every three days and this has never occured. I cleaned the whole skimmer 2 months ago. My tank is all microbubbles and soon it's gonna get real dirty in there. I am so sick of this skimmer.

[Tangster]

You have a sump ? If not then get a Red Sea Berlin classic HOB that way if you now do not have a sump you will have a great HOB skimmer and then if you go to a sump then you can use it as a in sump also.. It has been years since I had a HOB anything and the one I did HOB was a old air driven Saunders.. It was Junk really. You may take it apart and clean and put it back together maybe you will find a problem ? I'm thinking maybe a Ca. scale build up might be causing a low pressure area or a back pressure problem ?

[Jason McKenzie]

I've never owned a Remora Skimmer but the skimmers I have owned in the past are Beckett style and Venturi. Very often it didn't matter when the whole unit was cleaned very often something would get into the beckett or the venturi and stop the skimming. I would pull the unit apart and check it out again.

BTW I built a sump in my stand once and had to shut down my entire overflow/skimmer system for a week and a half with now problems. So don't worry about your skimmer not working for a few days

J

[davidh]

ok can anyone of u tell me how to get rid of micro bubbles, u look at your tank and all you can see is bloody bubbles!!
any ideas??

[Snafu]

Hi Nemo

When I first got my Skimmer it fill the waste cup every day, for like three days. Then it slowed down to about 1 time a week. I also would get a lot of bubbles if my flow was to fast or to slow. Plus I have to clean my prefilter every day.