- The vast majority of reefers don't know
how to properly tune their protein skimmer,
but after this short video, you're not gonna be one of them.
No matter the skimmer,
there are only three things you can control.
Number one is the water height of the sump.
By changing the water height inside your sump,
you are subtly changing the head pressure on the pump
which in turn affects the quality of bubble.
Typically you wanna set the sump water height
based on the skimmer factory recommendation,
and only change it if you need to.
The second thing you can control is the water height
inside the skimmer body itself.
All skimmers have some sort
of water height adjustment valve.
When it is wide open, the water pulled in via the pump
is able to easily escape, so it keeps the water height low,
but as you restrict the flow of the water,
not all of it can escape easily,
so the water is forced upwards in the reaction chamber.
Changing the water height inside the skimmer chamber
only raises or lowers the height of the bubbles,
but it doesn't change their consistency.
And the third and final thing you can control
is the amount of air.
Changing the amount of air changes the size of the bubbles.
Less air means smaller bubbles
that hold their structure better and don't pop,
and we call that a dry skim.
Whereas on the other hand, more air means larger bubbles
that tend to pop, and we call that a wet skim.
Now that you know the three things
you can control with your skimmer,
what's the process for properly tuning it?
Well, the answer's a little bit different
depending on your skimmer, but our overall goal
is to create a medium skim, not too wet, not too dry,
that is able to overflow gently into the collection cup.
With that in mind, let's start with a standard
AC-powered protein skimmer.
Start by checking the water height within your sump
and double check to make sure
it's within the factory recommendations
for the protein skimmer you're using.
If you need to raise a skimmer to lower the water height,
egg crate works well for this.
Next, turn your water height adjuster
so it's right in the middle.
This way, you'll be able to adjust the water height
inside your skimmer in either direction if need be.
Plug your skimmer in.
If it's brand new, it can take a week to properly break in.
During this time, it will act erratically
up and down and it will be impossible to tune.
Just let it do its thing, even if it starts overflowing.
After the first week, most of the oils and residue
from the manufacturing process will have disappeared
and it's ready to tune.
The first thing we're gonna focus on
is getting the right consistency of bubble.
This can be really challenging with any AC-powered skimmer
because the majority of them don't come
with any way to tune the amount of airflow,
but we are gonna show you two ways
to get around that dilemma.
If you have no way to control the air,
then your only option is going to be
to raise or lower the protein skimmer itself.
When the skimmer sits on the bottom of the sump
and the water height adjuster is wide open,
the water level inside the skimmer
and in the sump are the same.
This means that your pump won't have much head pressure,
so it's able to draw in a lot of air through the venturi,
which means you are gonna get larger bubbles
and a wetter skim.
If your skimmer is sitting on the bottom of the sump
and the bubbles are super wet and constantly overflowing
into the collection cup, then that's probably a sign
that you're going to need to raise your skimmer up.
By raising the skimmer and adjusting the water height
inside the chamber, you will be able to have a water height
that is higher inside the skimmer and lower in the sump.
This will create more head pressure on the pump
since it has to push the water up higher,
which will in turn mean less air, smaller bubbles,
and hence a dryer skim, but you can only take this so far.
Eventually if raised high enough,
micro bubbles will start escaping out the bottom
and these will end up clouding your water.
If your AC skimmer will only produce a wet skim
no matter what you do, and it constantly overflows
into the collection cup that is a sure sign
that your protein skimmer is too big.
That has a really easy fix.
It's just time to buy a smaller skimmer.
While raising and lowering your skimmer was the first way
to control airflow in an AC-powered protein skimmer,
but there is an easier way.
Just add some sort of valve to the airline.
For this AquaMaxx skimmer,
I just reused a couple venturi parts
from an old MJ 1200 pump.
The newer pumps, which are essentially the same thing,
also come with similar parts.
By placing the valve into the air silencer,
I'm able to control the amount of air.
All the way open creates nice, large wet bubbles.
All the way closed creates small, dry bubbles.
Whatever valve you end up using,
just adjust it until you get the right size bubble,
not too wet, not too dry.
Since you probably have no idea what kind of bubbles
are too big and which ones are too small,
Here's an example for you.
These are too small and will produce an overly dry skim,
while these are too large, producing an overly wet skim.
Once you get your bubbles just right,
walk away for about an hour and let your skimmer work.
So to recap, first you broke in your skimmer.
Good job. That takes a lot of patience.
Second, you followed the skimmer instructions
and got the correct water height in the sump,
using egg crate if needed.
Thirdly, you created the perfect bubble,
not too wet, not too dry.
You did this by either raising the skimmer with egg crate
or by reducing the airflow with a valve.
The last step in tuning your AC skimmer is super easy
and that is merely to adjust the height of the bubbles.
After a few hours, you'll be able to see
what I call the detritus line or the organics line.
This will be the point that your bubbles have settled at.
If the organic settled too low,
you will see a dark ring of gunk
in the neck of your skimmer.
This isn't bad as you can still remove it with a cloth,
but wouldn't it be better if all of that gunk
made its way up a little higher into the collection cup?
To accomplish this, slowly close your water height adjuster.
This will increase the water height
in the protein skimmer chamber and push the bubble head
up higher and into the collection cup.
But if the opposite is true and there is no organics line
in your protein skimmer, and the collection cup
is already quite full, then you merely need
to open the water height adjuster
`to lower the height of the bubbles.
No doubt at all, the entire process we just covered
can be a huge pain in the butt,
so if you're willing to spend a bit more money
and appreciate a super silent skimmer,
then you're gonna wanna upgrade
to a DC-powered protein skimmer
or merely swap out your old AC pump with a DC pump.
Tuning a DC-powered protein skimmer is just so much easier.
Double check to make sure the water height
in the sump is at the correct level,
and then break in your skimmer.
Open the water height adjustment valve all the way this time
to keep the bubbles as low as possible.
Next we're gonna find that perfect size bubble,
but this time all you have to do
is adjust the power level on your DC pump.
The lower the pump power, the smaller the bubbles
and the dryer the skim.
The higher the power, the larger the bubbles,
the wetter the skim.
The sweet spot for my Reef Octopus skimmer
is smack dab in the middle.
Now that you have a nice medium size bubble,
merely adjust the water height valve
until the organics line approaches
the top of the collection cup.
No matter what skimmer you have,
just remember these two things.
Number one, the amount of air is what controls
the size of the bubble and determines
if you have a wet skim or a dry skim,
and number two, the water height adjuster
merely raises or lowers the height of the bubbles.
And that's it.
You followed our instructions, but for some reason,
you just can't seem to keep your protein skimmer tuned.
Some days it collects absolutely nothing,
and other days it's overflowing
and putting all of those organics back into the water.
I hate to say it, but chances are,
you are doing something wrong.
Click here to find out.
I bet you it's mistake number two,
and as always everyone, thanks for watching.
Happy reefing, be well.
We'll see you next time.