skimmer no residue

[snafuforyou]

I recently hooked up my Lee's in tank skimmer but nothing being collected in the cup.

I'm getting a lot of white foam to the top of the cup.

Is it possible the tank has nothing to collect ?

Thx
Snaf

[mr9iron]

Snafu, If you just placed it in the tank the new skimmer may require a break in period before it begins to pull out DOCs. Be patient and give it a couple of days and let us know how it turns out. Oh yeah, hows the bio load in your nano? If its low you may not have anything to pull out quiet yet. HTH

[snafuforyou]

Water parameters are good

am-0
ph-8.2
trite-0
nitrate is a little high 10-15

no ammonia spike yet(hopefully I won't get 1)

when setting up tank I used lr & ls from another tank

I'm holding my breath and will give skimmer a couple of days.

Thx

Snaf

[kennerd]

Although the instructions are a bit vague, the adjustment on the Lee's skimmer is pretty important. Proabably the most important thing to watch is the water level mark. Have to keep it as close to that point as possible & be patient. Adjust the counter-current bubble tube so that there is only 1/4" between the bubbles as they go up, then adjust the foaming level to the foam mark. Just because it doesn't look like that 1/4-1/2" of foam in there is going to do anything, follow the instriuctions, and you'll be rewarded with some foul-smelling crap before you know it.

If the water level is too high, or if you have the airstone belching out too much foam, the foam will rise into the collection cup before the gunk has an opportunity to dry out & move up..remember the philosophy of how skimming works: the protein dries on the outside of the bubbles & sticks together & it forced upward.

Also, folks, remember one thing: if you are dealing with any volume of water that has a very light bioload, particularly nano tanks with one or no fish, and photosynthetic corals, how much waste is being processed & passed into the water anyway? Skimming is meant to removes this waste before your nitrogen cycle has a chance to get @ it & break it down.