Protein Skimmer concept

[Basile]

Ok i'm sort of new with protein skimmer working concepts.

I'd like to know this; my cup fills-up fairely quickly, with only a yellow water. Since there is a hole in the middle by which it fills-up, should i leave the cup filled and wait till the water becomes more brown. When the cup is full there's a brown and much dirtyer water and matter at the bottom. So my thinking here is to let the excess water drain from the middle till there is more matter at the bottom of the cup. Kinda a recirculating the water effect. What do you think.

My system is a SR3 protein skimmer in a 29G biocube.

SR3 Protein Skimmer for Oceanic BioCube, Aquarium Supplies | Pet Solutions

[DaveK]

Do not leave the cup full. Empty the cup when it is full. This is material you don't want in the tank.

if you skimmer is new, it's likely pulling out a lot of material, and causing the light yellow water, rather than something darker.

If this doesn't settle down after a few days, or the skimmer has been in use awhile, then you will need to adjust your skimmer to produce a dryer foam.

[Basile]

Originally Posted by DaveK

Do not leave the cup full. Empty the cup when it is full. This is material you don't want in the tank.

if you skimmer is new, it's likely pulling out a lot of material, and causing the light yellow water, rather than something darker.

If this doesn't settle down after a few days, or the skimmer has been in use awhile, then you will need to adjust your skimmer to produce a dryer foam.

Wouldn't the water just go back into the reaction chamber and concentrate the particule to a denser matter to extrac , in other words recirculating the water and make it worth emptying the cup ??

[jnohs]

Why Is Dry Foam Considered Better Than Wet Foam?

[cioutlaw]

Originally Posted by Basile

Wouldn't the water just go back into the reaction chamber and concentrate the particule to a denser matter to extrac , in other words recirculating the water and make it worth emptying the cup ??

Dave is correct, the hole in the middle is for foam to come up & in case of an overflow the water will go back to the skimmer & not on your floor.

[DaveK]

Originally Posted by jnohs

Why Is Dry Foam Considered Better Than Wet Foam?

Dry foam contains more "glop" in it, and removes less water from the system.

Sometimes though, you'll get a wet foam. If you try using products like Stress-Coat in SW, the skimmer will skim a lot of wet foam. You'll also get a similar reaction if you use one of the red slime remover products.

Usually a good skimmer can filter it all out for you, but you'll need to empty the collection device a few times.

[Reef97]

You definitely do not want the skimmer junk to get back into your tank. I have an overflow port on my sump so I have a tube in my skimmer that drains that junk into a 2 liter bottle.