- Location
- Marine Park
We all know that an overflow if the most efficient means of removing proteins from your display. We all know that the ideal situation would be to dump the water form your overflow directly into a protein skimmer, but sometimes a gravity fed protein skimmer isn't an option. In the case where someone has a skimmer fed by a pump sitting inside the sump, is has been speculated that many of these floating proteins, removed by the overflow are missed by the skimmer as they float back to the surface in your sump.
My ATI Bubblemaster stopped skimming a few days ago. I took it apart and cleaned everything but still no skimmate. I figured that it had hit its baseline, or "caught up" with my nutrient level. I figured that my baseline nutrient level was not high enough for it to work efficiently. Before giving up on the skimmer I decided to try one last thing. My skimmer (do to plumbing restraints) was placed with the intake on the right side. My sump flows left to right so the intake was not in the ideal spot. I had the output positioned so that it would empty into my bubble trap ensuring that no exhaust water could be taken into the skimmer again. I tested my flow in my sump using some alk and sure enough it all was sucked into the skimmer. All seemed fine, but still I tinkered.
I pulled the skimmer out and replumbed the exhaust to go around the body of the skimmer (making it a tad narrower to fit within my plumbing restraints.) I placed the intake right next to my filter sock and left the exhaust near the bubble trap to my return pump. This morning I awoke to find double the amount of skimmate! In only 7 hours my skimmer pulled twice what it had in 48 hours!!!!!! Let me say that again in bold,
In only 7 hours my skimmer pulled twice what it had in 48 hours!!!!!!
Perhaps YMMV, there could be differences in proteins, I run ultralith etc, but I found this to be amazing. It would seem that these proteins float to the surface VERY quickly. Moving my intake pump next to the filter sock, rather than a foot away yielded a HUGE difference.
My ATI Bubblemaster stopped skimming a few days ago. I took it apart and cleaned everything but still no skimmate. I figured that it had hit its baseline, or "caught up" with my nutrient level. I figured that my baseline nutrient level was not high enough for it to work efficiently. Before giving up on the skimmer I decided to try one last thing. My skimmer (do to plumbing restraints) was placed with the intake on the right side. My sump flows left to right so the intake was not in the ideal spot. I had the output positioned so that it would empty into my bubble trap ensuring that no exhaust water could be taken into the skimmer again. I tested my flow in my sump using some alk and sure enough it all was sucked into the skimmer. All seemed fine, but still I tinkered.
I pulled the skimmer out and replumbed the exhaust to go around the body of the skimmer (making it a tad narrower to fit within my plumbing restraints.) I placed the intake right next to my filter sock and left the exhaust near the bubble trap to my return pump. This morning I awoke to find double the amount of skimmate! In only 7 hours my skimmer pulled twice what it had in 48 hours!!!!!! Let me say that again in bold,
In only 7 hours my skimmer pulled twice what it had in 48 hours!!!!!!
Perhaps YMMV, there could be differences in proteins, I run ultralith etc, but I found this to be amazing. It would seem that these proteins float to the surface VERY quickly. Moving my intake pump next to the filter sock, rather than a foot away yielded a HUGE difference.
