My First Skimmer... Newbie Questions

[+C Lo Slice]

So I'm running a 60 gallon mixed reef that has been running since April. It had a canister filter up until about two weeks ago when it suddenly sprung a leak. Jake at RCA told me it shouldn't be a big deal since I have a lot of Live Rock and a semi-deep sand bed. So I have had no mechanical filtration for the past couple of weeks - just plenty of flow and water changes.

For my birthday last week, my mom bought me an AquaC Remora HOB Skimmer with Maxi Jet pump. It finally arrived about an hour ago. I'm at work, so I'm not able to mess with it yet, but I did have a few questions that hopefully can be answered by the brilliant minds of the ARC community.

First, my mother opted for the skimmer with a drain fitting collection cup. Does this mean that I MUST connect to something? It came with a warning that states threaded plugs are available for the drain, so I'm assuming I need to do SOMETHING with it to prevent it from leaking all over the place. Is this correct?

Also, do I need to turn the skimmer off when feeding? I assume it should be off for water changes.

The Maxi Jet pump that it came with - is this just essentially a powerhead? I already have plenty of flow in the tank, so I'm nervous about adding yet another circulation pump.

I will be out of town for nine days during Christmas - should I turn the skimmer off during this time since no one will be home to empty the collection cup? If the collection cup gets too full or too nasty, does it simply affect the skimmer's performance or will there be a risk of a flood in my living room if no one is home to catch it.

Sorry for all the newbie questions; this is my first skimmer and reading the user's manual has made me a bit nervous all of a sudden. My wife is going to kill me if anymore water ends up on her floors. Literally - she will kill me with her bare hands.

Thanks in advance, guys.

[pbnj]

The purpose of the collection cup is to drain the cup so it doesn't overflow (through a tube that runs into a larger container or bucket). This is excatly what you want if you're going to be away for an extended period of time.

[+etannert]

You don't need to turn the slimmer off for feeding. You only need to turn it off during water changes if the water level is going to drop down enough to cause your pump to suck air.

The included Maxijet is what will feed the skimmer. There will be a tube that runs from the output of the MJ up into the skimmer. So no, it's not for additional circulation/flow in the tank, though the skimmer output/return will create additional flow just like your canister filter return did.

You'll get a feel for how fast the skimmer cup will fill up to know whether you can run it while you're out of town. The drain tube does give you the option to drain into a larger receptacle so that you don't have to worry about it. Since it's a HOB skimmer, if it did overflow it would be onto the floor and not the tank, but you can also just leave a couple of towels spread out under the skimmer if you're really worried. (Might not be a bad thing to do while you're getting it dialed in anyway.)

[Long]

Keep in my your ATO system will need more water if you skim wet.

[+C Lo Slice]

No ATO system... I do it manually about every other day. What does it mean to "skim wet"?

[AquaJohn]

wet skim basicly is the cup will fill with water and gunk the less wet it is the more mudlike the crud it produces.

[AquaJohn]

I have not looked but I am sure there are youtube vids on the remora

[DerrickH]

Wet skimming is good for getting the nutrient count down(helps prevent cyano...but **** sure turn the skimmer off if you dose chemiclean) but you will have to check the tank level more often(or sump) and empty the collection cup more frequently. If you use an external container from your collection cup tube be prepared for a mess if you wet skim and dont check the container often enough. In a mainly LPS dominated tank, I wouldn't recommend wet skimming though, seems the softies like dirty water a tad better. SPS on the other hand seem to prefer cleaner water. But each case is different depending on bio load. I have FAR TOO MANY fish in my tank so I have a huge skimmer with a large collection cup that I empty every two weeks or so. Depending on my sump level (not the best at manual ATO...) it wet skims when I top off but then leans more to the thicker side later..till I top off again. I can see the difference in my hammer when its barely skimming much, seems much happier.

[+C Lo Slice]

So how do you determine if you're "wet skimming" or otherwise? I appreciate the help and advice, guys. I'm going to be setting this up in the morning.

[KevinB]

Wet skimming just means the crap you are skimming is wetter, therefore you are skimming hard and removing more junk, but also more water

[Aqua-Dome]

wet skimming doesn't remove more dissolved organics. The only difference here is the amount of water. The thicker and darker the skimmate is in the collection cup, the more EFFICIENT the skimmer is. If you think removing tiny cups of water helps, you need to do a water change.

[+C Lo Slice]

Okay, so my question is how do you make the skimmer skim more wet or more dry?

[pbnj]

So how do you determine if you're "wet skimming" or otherwise? I appreciate the help and advice, guys. I'm going to be setting this up in the morning.

Wet skimmate looks like green tea....regular skimmate is a darker, more dense liquid....the real nasty stuff is like oatmeal/paste and you have to wipe it off the neck of the skimmer.

[+etannert]

You'll control that by how much foam comes into the collection cup. You can control that using the black rubber grommet around the collection cup. Grommet high on the cup = more foam and wetter skimmate. Grommet high on the cup = less foam and dryer skimmate. Once you fire up the slimmer you'll be able to see how the foam rises in the neck and be able to set the cup height accordingly.

[Aqua-Dome]

Start with the rubber ring low on the cup (cup sits as high as possible), and see if anything has collected by the next day. If not, move the cup down a little bit each day until you do. Adjust as necessary to achieve mostly thick goo collection!

[DerrickH]

Skimmate

Detailed breakdown above

[+C Lo Slice]

Ahhh okayyy... Thanks guys. One last question before I give this a shot: does the skimmer need to be turned off when emptying the cup?

[Aaarrrggg]

I don't always on mine, but it's in the sump. As yours is a HOB skimmer I'd definitely turn it off... otherwise you might get a bit of a wet floor.

[+C Lo Slice]

Thanks for all the info, folks. I guess it's time to try setting this thing up. Wish me luck!

[+o0zarkawater]

You don't need to turn it off when you clean the cup, unless for some reason its producing massive foam which would mean you are skimming really wet, or there is something wrong with your water. I also never turned mine off when doing water changes, unless I was doing massive changes that pulled the water level below the pump intake.

I've used the Remora Nano on my 10g and the Remora Pro on my 55gal. Both were alright for the levels I kept my tanks stocked at. They are pretty easy/failsafe skimmers to use.

As others have said, really the only adjustments you can make to the remora is to move the skimmer cup up or down with the rubber seal. Make sure you occasionally (monthly?) clean out the venturi nozzle. If you bought a brand new remora it should have come with a small brush and instructions. Essentially you just remove the white screw on the internal neck/intake and just brush out the nozzle. You will also want to occasionally clean out the maxijets intake. I scrubbed mine down and soaked it in vinegar overnight (while running) to keep the pump running as clean as possible.

I always ran MaxiJets on mine, but have read that people using Mag3's pull a lot more gunk, since there is more flow/pressure.

I upgraded both of mine to Octopus HOB skimmers (BH-1000 on my 28gal and BH-2000 on my 55gal) and was amazed at how much more/thicker/smellier gunk they pulled. But both of my Remoras were purchased used, so I never knew their history.

[+C Lo Slice]

Okay so I'm in the process of making sure everything connects correctly.

1st Picture is everything that was included in the Maxi Jet package. I'm assuming hardly any of this stuff will be used, right? The instructions for the skimmer says to not use any of the venturi accesories for the pump; is this what I really want to do?

2nd Picture is how I have connected the collection cup to a long piece of airline tubing that I was using for water changes.

3rd Picture is a close-up of the fitting. The tubing is something I had lying around and it actually fit pretty snug. I really had to force it onto the fitting. I don't know how much pressure is going to be shot through the collection cup, so will I need a zip-tie or something to make the connection even more secure? Also, should I put the end of that airline tubing into a Homer Bucket (I don't know what else to put it in)?

I'm going to go ahead and rinse all the components in some warm water and then check back here to make sure what I just asked is kosher. Thanks in advance.

Caleb

[+C Lo Slice]

One last thing, that rubber o-ring around the collection cup -- is that what I want to rub down with the petroleum jelly? I had Wifey pick some up for me yesterday

[+o0zarkawater]

As far as the MaxiJet accessories go; nope, you wont be using any of them except the little comb like filter over the intake. (The piece down and to the right of the pump in your picture).

You are also way overestimating the amount of skimmate you are going to be pulling. A homer bucket is overkill unless you want to leave the cup alone for a year or more. The dirtier the neck of the collection cup gets, the less efficient the skimmer is. If you clean it weekly or bi-weekly you shouldn't be pouring out more than an inch or two of gunk. Probably will never reach the drain fitting. Unless you are skimming extremely wet.

The petroleum jelly is mainly just to keep the rubber o-ring around the collection cup rubbery. You probably wont be using much more than a fingertip full once a year if even. You dont want it to be dripping in jelly, just enough to keep it shiny. Maybe once every other month or so.

I would go ahead and leave the tubing on the fitting until you get the hang of what level you want the cup set at. Once you get it figured out, you should be able to plug that guy and just dump the cup weekly.

[+C Lo Slice]

As far as the MaxiJet accessories go; nope, you wont be using any of them except the little comb like filter over the intake. (The piece down and to the right of the pump in your picture).

You are also way overestimating the amount of skimmate you are going to be pulling. A homer bucket is overkill unless you want to leave the cup alone for a year or more. The dirtier the neck of the collection cup gets, the less efficient the skimmer is. If you clean it weekly or bi-weekly you shouldn't be pouring out more than an inch or two of gunk. Probably will never reach the drain fitting. Unless you are skimming extremely wet.

The petroleum jelly is mainly just to keep the rubber o-ring around the collection cup rubbery. You probably wont be using much more than a fingertip full once a year if even. You dont want it to be dripping in jelly, just enough to keep it shiny. Maybe once every other month or so.

I would go ahead and leave the tubing on the fitting until you get the hang of what level you want the cup set at. Once you get it figured out, you should be able to plug that guy and just dump the cup weekly.

Thanks for the advice. I just don't know what else I should put the end of the tubing into. Homer Bucket is pretty much all that I have to use.

I'm going to attach a picture of the warning for the drain fitting that came with the skimmer. It says to "run a hose from the drain fitting back to your aquarium for the first few days of use". Think I should abide by that guidline? Pic to follow...

[+C Lo Slice]

Here is the warning for the drain fitting