Thank you both for your detailed replies! They made much more sense said the way you did! I see the point now. Yeah, I’ve been feeding minimally since I just have 1 fish in there currently so I’m not pulling too much gunk but I know once I throw everyone back in I’ll have more coming out. I guess my macroalgae is keeping things in check for now.
HEy Can I chime in? I have the skimmer that came with my 120 and it’s a no name brand from what I can tell. It pulls out lightly colored gunk and I think it’s not working as well as I think it should. My phos or good but I also have a algae prob and diatom (that’s the brown stuff on sand right) I have a deep sand bed. So is my skimmer not helping the prob?
turn the light cycle down a little till the algea is under control, then bring it back slowly. Give the macros a chance to catch up
You've got an infant tank. Sounds like a normal diatom bloom. Many things effect skimmers. Water height and oils come to mind as likely issues. If your sticking your hands in your tank frequently, the oils from your skin can cause the skimmer not to pull thick junk. Blaming the skimmer should be last on the list of possible explanations.
I understand. It has never pulled stuff out like I have seen other tanks with about the same bio load. It’s mostly clear but it does stink to high heaven. It puts about a cup every 2-3 days. I have tried moving it up in my sump 3” and it does the same thing. It’s a old skimmer with only adjustment on the highth buy a telescoping tube with a foam sleeve to keep it from making a bad splashing sound. I’ve tried everything I can to help pull more stuff out. My phos are 0 and nitrates are also 0. As per my API test kits.
API is not near sensitive enough for phosphate. Get Hanna or Red Sea. It’s likely it’s not really zero.
I prefer this................. "If you have algae, you have phosphates. Algae needs 3 things nitrates, phosphates, and light. Without one of those things you don't have algae. You are the best phospate test kit. When you look in the tank if you see algae, you have phosphates."
Personally, I would start with the lights. It's the easiest to control, just shorten their day till the algae starts going away. Meanwhile work on the nitrates with good housekeeping water changes. The phosphates will come down.
Are you using RODI water? If not, there could be phosphates in the source water. (There are phosphates in our tap) it could also be that your rock is leaching phosphates ... if it’s really high, GFO could help to get and keep it down as it leaches into the water. I try to keep mine between 0.02-0.06 or so.
My test kits show everything is golden, I have taken a water sample to the tank and they checked it out and it was good. Yes RODI water always, I have a ATO as to not have any fluctuations.
Here is a little vid of it working after I cleaned it out. I know that after you clean it it has to go thru a seasoning to start working again. It’s just anold skimmer and think that a upgrade is prob overdue.
You do have a lid for that, right? Other than that, I would raise the water level just a little, put an air valve on the air tubing sticking up there, and turn the air down a hair. Your skimmer looks like foam, while mine is just bubbles pushing other bubbles up. I suppose every skimmers different. If it producing skim for you, it's probably fine, except it needs a lot on it
NO both my sump and my tank are open, I have a 30gallong ATO tank with a float to keep the water level and salinity constant. I’ll go buy a air valve to put on my air intake for the skimmer and try that. Thanks
Sorry, didn't mean your sump. I meant you didn't have a top on your skimmer. You probably did that on purpose those.