Skimmate gone...

Is that a new reactor? When I added a BRS reactor to my system it shut down my skimmer for a week. Not sure if it was the reactor or the MJ or the combination of the two being new.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm going to keep running the gfo/carbon skimmer setup like you said. It's great to have a backup if I let the carbon go for too long without changing it and it's great that I can use my skimmer as a rough indicator for when to change the carbon.

 

Ha! Just posted almost the same question: http://www.3reef.com/forums/protein-skimmers/skimmer-performance-question-141828.html#post1424943
Should've read this first.

 

This could be a factor. My reactor had been sitting in my garage for about a year before I put back into operation. I had been using it on an old tank to battle caulerpa verticillata, a war in which I won many battles, but lost in the end. So, I set it aside regarding that tank until I was able to transfer my inhabitants to my new tank which is caulerpa free! But, now I have a little bit of a GHA outbreak which I'm taking very seriously due to the still fresh caulerpa verticillata scars. So, in addition to skimming, I cleaned up my BRS dual reactor with a light vinegar solution, ordered the media and let her rip. The pump is the original MJ that came with the reactor. Not sure if this would cause the same skimmer issues as one fresh out of the box, but it might...

 

Just a thought but gfo is a lil pricey. I had the same setup your running because I was battling gha. I decided to get rid of the gfo and just run marineland carbon in both sides of the reactor then setup an algea turf scrubber. I have been running it for about 6 months and I havent had an algea issue since. The carbon seems to last longer because the algea is using up more of the nutrients.