Is this normal smimmer behaviour?

[Green Thumb]

I've had my tank running for a few weeks with the live rock in it. I've had the skimmer running the whole time. For the first week there was alot of foam but now theres barely any. There are no fish in this tank just 2 hermits. Could it be that there is no protein left to remove?

[SeanT]

Possibly.
My skimmer goes flat all the time for various reasons.
I am feeding fish, feeding anemones, feeding corals, dosing supplements.
My skimmer foams crazy for various reasons I am feeding fish, feeding anemones, feeding corals, dosing supplements.

It goes in cycles.

[RandomChaos]

My skimmer too will skim, and then quit, skim and then quit.

It seems to come and go in cycles.

I suspect if you have a good skimmer that this would always be the case. It just happens to remove all of the "gunk" faster than your tank is producing it.

[stresco]

I was told by my LFS that i should not turn on my skimmer until after the tank cycles because it will take 6x longer to cycle the tank. maybe you turned it on too soon :confused:

[Dean812]

I would say that you dont have any more biomat left in the tank. Once you add fish and corals you will see foam production again. I would look into some supplemental minerals and trace stuff. If you plan on having corals or inverts you will have to add back what the skimmer takes out.

[freakyreef]

Originally posted by stresco
I was told by my LFS that i should not turn on my skimmer until after the tank cycles because it will take 6x longer to cycle the tank. maybe you turned it on too soon :confused:

This is probably true to a certain point. I never thought about it before, but if you remove ammonia causing particles, what will the bacteria feed on during colonization. Good point.