Skimmer
 

Hi,


I'm worried about my skimmer.

I have a red sea berlin/venturi skimmer in my 72g bowed. A 2500 Rio powers the skimmer in an 8 month old tank.


I have a hippo 2", yellow tang 3", fire fish, clown 1", black goby 2".

I have assorted corals (20).

It seemed in the past I collected much more from the cup. These days, I would collect from the cup about once per month if lucky. The bubbles don't seem to overflow into the cup. I've cleaned all the connections, air hose, pump, and even replaced the pump itself. Should I be collecting so "little" from the cup?

My surface water has a film on it and to me this doesn't seem right....

It could be that your tank is finally settling in. For example, one reason you had a lot of waste in the beginning could be because the tank was new. Even though your rock may have been cured(I'm assuming this), you tend to get a lot more waste in the beginning due to some leftover "die-offs" in the rocks. As your tank matures, the collection should decrease and eventually level off. That's the experience I have had...hopefully some other folks will respond with their experiences on this topic.

C

Do you use a sump? What type of overflow do you use or is it a drilled tank? A good surface skimming overflow helps a ton. Also, I would try cleaning the venturi on the berlin. You can let it suck up some warm water with a [B]tiny[/B] bit of vinegar in it. Not too much vinegar since you have such a small system. Also, you could add an air pump to the skimmer to give it a little more boost.

HTH,
TRIP