Logan's 75g - It's been fun!!

Looks good, but the water level in the skimmer body seems like still in the break in stage. How much is the outlet open? It looks like its all the way closed?

Sorry, I loled at the snail pic! He is working HARD! lolol.

 

He sure is lol! you can always tell where he's been

the water outlet is closed about 75% i'd say, if I open it up anymore the water level drops in the body and the bubbles don't get to the neck.

I have the skimmer on 3 layers of eggcrate and its submerged 7". Do you think I should I take one out or add another?

 

Sounds about right. Still in the break in period, once it gets coated with "film" it might change the behavior.
Here is what my 160 looks like:

Excuse the iPhone pic, as you can see, above the mesh disk is all bubbles. Maybe yours functions differently?

Changing the height might help. But the stashed egg crate might become cr4p (NO3 and/or detritus) trap!

 

Duh, I just had to play with the air valve a little bit. I can finally tell which is open and which is closed, when I first hooked it up it was hard to notice a difference. I'll let it run like this for a few days.

Thanks, the pic of yours helped me see the difference!

Is the egg crate a bad thing to use to lift it? whats under yours, some small pieces of pvc pipe?

 

Glad to be of help!

2 or 3 egg crates stash might not be a problem, but I've seen someone else's, he had 5 or 6 layers and having NO3 problem. Yes, I used 4 pvc pipe pieces and some egg crate to lift the skimmer.

 

Good idea, I've got a ton of spare pvc laying around from my multiple trips to lowes. I swear I've been there more in the past 2 months than in my entire life lol.

While I got ya here, what test kits do you use?

I have API for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, and calcium.

I think I need to still get Mag, Alk/KH and phosphates. (correct?)

I heard Red Sea is good but at 30 bucks a pop buying all 3 test kits is more than I'd like to spend right now.

 

PS - placed a couple orders tonight. Should be more updates next week

 

Once you stabilize the parameters, you might need accurate ones other than APIs. I sound like I have them but I DONT LOL. I only have API reef kits and a mag test kit from Salifert.
I really would like the PO4 and Calcium Hanna chekers. Getting tired of guessing the colors of the testing liquid.

 

Yeah those hanna checkers look nice! I'll probably get API for KH and phosphates, and either salifert or redsea for the mag. It'll work for now, maybe I'll upgrade to nicer tests when the API run out and I'm not spending so much money upgrading other stuff

Skimmer is working so much better now - a ton more brown foam at the top of the tube and the liquid in the cup is much darker. Is it weird I get excited to come home and see how much gunk it's skimming? LOL

 

I can look at the skimmer bubble and the tumbling Bio Pellets all day.