Skimmer question in 130

wizardofyaz

New Member
Hello,

I run a 130 upgraded with the media rack (filter floss, purigen, cpe). I have three smaller fish, two clowns and a six line wrasse. I also do a 10 gallon water change weekly. My skimmer foams but never enough really to warrant cleaning the skimmer cup. With the the regular maintenance I do on the tank, will I be ok pulling the skimmer out? Im constantly dicking around with it to adjust water level and it seems to be more hassle than the work its doing. I have a mix of sps/lps and test my water weekly, my parameters are usually spot on and I dose with microbacter and alkalin8.3 (5ml and 25ml every other day respectively).

Thanks,

Nick
 

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
Hi Nick :wave: good to have you posting here!
You didn't say how long you have had your tank running. Skimmers take time to "break in" so if your tank is fairly new, the skimmer may still need time & fine tuning. I personally would NOT take the skimmer out. When you actually see the gross junk it will remove from your tank, You'll know it's worth the break in battle time to put up with it. Mine gets some real stinky skim out but sometimes it skims way TOO wet. But I'm glad it's there. Your bio-load may not be enough to make it skim a lot, but I'd still leave it in.
That's my opinion but Wait for other opinions & suggestions. There will be others & we all try to help :)
 

wizardofyaz

New Member
Ive had the tank running for over a year, I should also mention Im running the tunze skimmer. Ill go to the lfs and see the skimmers full of foam but this one never has done that. Im thinking its because my bioload is light and Im diligent about water changes. Im thinking why bother running if the cup isnt filling up.
 

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
I'm just running the stock RSM skimmer & I feel like it's doing what it's supposed to do. I only have 4 fish and a few corals so far in my 65gal. I also use CPE & Purigen on my media shelf. I'm thinking that You might have gotten a bad skimmer maybe?? It's surely had time to break in. Did the stock skimmer produce a stinky skim before you upgraded to the Tunze?

OK, speak up all you people that have the RSM 130....anyone running without a skimmer and doing well without it?
Need some suggestions here please.
 

jrbass

Member
I run the stock skimmer on my 130D and even with no livestock in the tank yet and almost done cycling the skimmer produces iced tea colored and really sticky foam just great. I am not having to clean out the cup but once a week with no bio load but think it will work fine for me.

FYI I did drill a 5/16 hole in the top right of the collection cup lid to put the air intake hose into and that really makes it quieter.
 

wizardofyaz

New Member
Thanks everyone for replying. I may try the hole in the collection cup lid

dianakay: I really dont remember how the stock skimmer worked. The media rack/skimmer upgrade was one of the first things I did after getting the tank.

nanoreefing4fun: thanks for the link to the tunze post, reading that now

jrbass: Thats a good idea about the hole in the collection cup lid, occasionally theres a whistling noise which comes from the skimmer.

Since its not hurting anything Ill just let it run, thanks for the advice!
 
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