Reef Octopus 110 skimmer help

Yes I have just purchased a 110 reef octopus off eBay, finally just got it home yesterday and made sure everything was put together properly, had built a new 30 gal refuigum sump and put in the protien skimmer to check and make sure it was working properly. For some reason I'm not getting any foaming in the skimmer.

I have spent the last few hours checking around to see what the problem could be but haven't found anything directly so creating this post.

The water is just plane tap way because I was checking out the new sump and skimmer so that may be it, but the water level is not over the water outlet valve, I have the nozzle turned down to were the water lvl needs to be, just not sure. The man I purchased this from said he had it in his 150g tank and worked great so it shouldn't need the two weekend like a new skimmer. Haven't have it a vinegar soak yet not sure 100/ what to do with that but any other ideas would be greatly apreshated

 

My understanding is that a skimmer won't work with fresh water

 

We'll I was thinking such, but I hadent put my new sump in and wanted to make sure the protien skimmer would fit and the pump was running right. Is the only reason for all that, but I figured it might still have the foaming process salt or fresh. I started setting up the sump and skimmer before work and will finish it tomorrow hopefully once I have it all set up it'll work properly, if not how and what parts do I soak in vinegar to clean? May have some hand oils from boxing and shipping and such

 

Just to be sure im understanding, are you saying there are no bubbles being produced, or bubbles are being produced but not resulting in foam?

 

Bubbles are being produced, but no foam. So with the pump on I have a tornado like effect at the base of the skimmer and plenty of circulation and bubbles in the neck but no foam producing

 

Well, I'm no expert , but it sounds like you have a good skimmer. As I said above, skimmers don't work in fresh water. As for the vinegar, you should be able to wash any of the parts in it. Vinegar is usually used to remove calcification. I'm not sure how well it works as a degreaser.

 

Agreed to ^^^. Foaming is inherent of saltwater only.

 

even in salt water, the foam is produced only when there are organics for the micro bubbles to adhere to.... if your organic count is low, foam fractioning cannot takes place... my skimmer ( reef octopus 150) will go through periods ( shortly after feeding) where it produces a nice frothy foam and creates a nasty green soup... after a period of time the fine foam will diminish, followed by the micro bubbles.. it will then "idle" with much larger bubbles being produced for a period of time before it once again begins to foam as organics in the system begin to build... during these high foam periods is when you want to adjust your skimmer, otherwise you will be constantly plagued by over flowing cups.. I'm sure a higher bio load ( or smaller skimmer) in my system would react differently... it took me awhile to study and understand what was going on... now it's all "good'

there is also a "run in" or break in period while manufacturing oils are dispelled and parts wear into tolerance.. this varies by design, but seems to take a week to 10 days..

 

All above are correct as I did the exact same thing with my new reef octo 150. As soon as I added salt to a SG on 1.18 it started to foam up nicely.