Skimmer not foaming....

[southpaw23]

Hi all,

Funning thing happend to my skimmer a couple of days back....it stopped foaming...not completely but not much foam is being produced anymore...used to be i'd set the waterlevel in the skimmer at the base of the neck and it would foam to the top....now all the gunk gathers till like almost halfway up the neck but never reaches the top. I tried raising my waterlevel up to like the top of the neck...and i'm getting gunk at the top now but it doesn't seem like it's foaming effectively.

I've checked some stuff out and from what i've gathered so far, foaming stops when a buffer of some sort is introduced into the water that changes the water tension or sumthin...i know i'm soundin ditzy but can't fully recall...either ways...i have add nothing to the tank and it's just currently cycling....

Any ideas on what else causes the ceasing of foaming? My salinity is on the low side at 1.021....but in my first week of breakin the skimmer in...it was foaming like mad...mainly cos i think there was a lot of die off from the rocks....but seems odd that the foaming levels have dropped so drastically.....

I hope i'm making some sense here....help would be greatly appreciated....

Will try and take some pics to give ya'll a better idea but don't have a DC on me at the mo......

cheers....

[southpaw23]

Oh and forgot to mention that I'm using a beckett skimmer (27") running off a Rio 20HF....

I've read some past post and found that there are many reasons for the skimmer to not foam...break in period, oily food etc....but what befuddles me is that i am collecting DOHC from the skimmer...it's just not spilling over into the collection cut but collecting all around my neck....where ever i put the water level to be....about 3-4 inches from the waterlevel a layer of gunk forms...but like i mentioned..doesn't seem to spill over....

And is it normal to adjust my waterlevel just 5-6 inches from the top of the neck (i have a long neck skimmer )??

[framerunner]

You cycling your tank right? Probably most die off from rocks are already skim away like you said in the first week. To test your skimmer, perhaps u drop a big tiger prawn in? sure see alot of skimate

[southpaw23]

That's what i suspected...but wanted to make sure that it wasn't water quality issues.....

thanks for the quick feedback...might try the prawn thing to see...

[framerunner]

If you drop in the prawn, will have another spike.. ie, the whole cycling thing start again.

[lightningstrike]

try raising ur SG to 1.023 to 1.025 first.

[Ban]

What is your KH? If KH dont reach 8.5 to 9, then you have also encounter less form.

[AlfaRomeo]

What is your KH? If KH dont reach 8.5 to 9, then you have also encounter less form.

Are you sure KH affects foaming?

[southpaw23]

Thanks for all the responses guys...i will try and raise my salinity gradually to 1.023 first and observe the skimmer for increased foaming. As for the KH...haven't checked the parameters in the tank yet but i doubt it could be way off cos as i mentioned before, the tank is only in it's cycling stage so nothing has been added to the tank etc....

Any other things i should look out for...thanks again