The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread

[shilala]

Originally Posted by OLS

Scott, I was wondering about your skimmer. Do you have a way to keep your water level constant?
i.e. a top-off system? Sump? Most skimmers are pretty reactive to water level changes.
Not sure what your setup currently is, but some skimmers are pretty picky

Brad, I have two otb skimmers. Each are rated over the tank size.
I noticed that when they are new, the acrylic is so frictional that it severely retards the whirlpool. As soon as an algae film grows on it in a few days, they kick in. In a few weeks, they work like madmen.
I screwed up. I should have never cleaned both at once. One was practically brand new and didn't need cleaned, as far as I was concerned. They were chugging out the junk every time I fed.
I had a kid come in and help me out, and I got nervous. He had great ideas and was a HUGE help, but he thought stuff out like kids do. In an effort to do honor and respect to the favor he bestowed upon me, I did a couple things that I knew I shouldn't have done in haste.
The one thing I haven't done is disrupted my sandbed and thinned it out as he suggested. I'm not doing that until the skimmers are 100%, my diatom filter is hooked up and running, I have 20 gallons of replacement water ready, and I've removed all my corals down by the bottom.

Oh, I have an otb filter that makes a crazy racket when the water level drops a quarter inch. The tank is right here in our office. If I don't hear it, Lisa points it out. It gets topped off by old Dad every couple days.
My skimmers aren't real sensitive to water level, either, being over-the-backs.