After 9 months, SRO-2000 HARD to adjust

Mar 16, 2016

Keith Howell wrote

Have been skimming for 9 months with nice consistent output, requiring a dump every 1-2 weeks.
It sits on a stand in 6.5" of water, because anything deeper and it bubbled out of control.
Sump water level is stable, parameters stable, salinity stable - Rock solid. Consistent 10% water changes every 1-2 weeks.I have reduced bioload by decreasing feedings over past 2 months - only now starting to feed more frozen few times each week.

Occasionally, I've watch the skimmer bubble over, filling the cup. I've dialed it back, and then spend a week trying to get it to catch back up. I've opened it up, but now have a VERY hard time getting it to skim dry.

I am unable to get it to skim dry - Either I skim wet, or it stays in the neck and never makes it to the collection cup.

What to do? (and please don't say drop it to 8" in the sump)

7 Answers

Mar 16, 2016

Carlos agent wrote

Are you running carbon? IT is hard to get a skimmer to skim dry if you keep doing water changes regularly as the water changes help get organics out of the water before the skimmer gets to them.

Mar 16, 2016

Keith Howell wrote

No carbon, but water changes are less frequent NOW, than they were when skimmer was humming a few months ago.

Mar 16, 2016

Carlos agent wrote

What size tank (not including the sump) are you running the skimmer on?

Mar 16, 2016

Keith Howell wrote

120G. Moderately stocked with 9 fish, NLS pellets every day, frozen 2-3x weekly.
At this point it's ULNS dosing 2 part, and light load of SPS in tank.

Any chance a good cleaning of the skimmer body could remedy? Although I clean the collection cup (weekly), I've NEVER cleaned the skimmer body (it's got some gunk on the walls I can't see bubbles through).

Mar 16, 2016

Jeremy Rykiel agent wrote

Cleaning the skimmer body may help if there is buildup on the walls of the skimmer. If you have not cleaned the venturi I would also suggest doing this as well. When carbon dosing you may experience a tough time skimming dry as the skimmer will draw out bacteria from the water column which has a transparent to milky white consistency. I would suggest dialing in the skimmer so that you retain pea size bubbles or larger where the collection cup attaches to the skimmer body. Also note that when feeding frozen foods, the oils may inhibit the formation of foam for several hours after the feeding. Some coral foods have the opposite effect and cause the skimmer to over react. It is suggested that you turn of the skimmer rather than adjusting the output valve from you desired setting.

Mar 16, 2016

Keith Howell wrote

Thanks Jeremy - I'll give it a good clean to see if it helps.

I usually turn it off for a bit after feeding, and certainly don't stress when it takes a while to fire back up.

Thanks for the tip on coral foods - interesting, I'm planning on starting to dose Acropower this week to replace some of the AA getting pulled out of water. Will program it off for a few hours after each dose.

Mar 18, 2016

Keith Howell wrote

UPDATE - now that I can see the neck again (after cleaning the skimmer body) it's rocking again!

Thanks!