MidWest: did your skimmer go crazy last night?

[catalyst]

We, in the Midwest, had a huge Low Pressure front pass thru last night after enjoying an awesome High Pressure system for the last week+

All my needlewheel skimmers went nuts overnight, coinciding with the drop in Barometric pressure, I surmise

Of course, it makes complete sense - but it's one of those things you don't realize until it happens...

Explains why I was getting lower-than-normal skimmate production last week, too

[chadfarmer]

no mine has worked like nomally


st louis mo

[Jeremy B.]

We didn't have any issues here in Indianapolis. It seems like our front went through very early this morning.

[catalyst]

it's weird - i wouldn't think it was atmospeheric if it weren't for it happening to 4 different ER skimmers ... in 4 different rooms [cue 'twilight zone' music]

oh well ...

[BrokeColoReefer]

I live at 9000' above sea level, its permanent low pressure here, and much less oxygen. I have never witnessed any ill efects of either with skimming.

[catalyst]

it was the -change- from High to Low that caused the behavior

hypothesis was: water levels set under High barometric pressure were subsequently too high for the Low barometric pressure that swept thru, resulting in skimmer overflow

will just write it off to an anomaly

thanks for your replies!

[Pyrrhus]

Interesting hypothesis and I think more research and testing should be done before giving up on the idea.

I would think that this would have a greater effect on skimmers that have a lower air to water ratio or possibly only insump skimmers?

[Pyrrhus]

You should start a new thread in advanced for further discussion and testing, something like "barometric pressure and protein skimmers."

[drstupid]

i agree with your observations. the front blew through here this afternoon/evening and my skimmer went nuts. it's a beckett and periodically goes nuts just for the heck of it, but i'm pretty sure the change in barometric pressure had something to do with it. i've noticed similar behavior before.

i'd suggest you start a thread on "why skimmers go nuts" in general, but i think that's already been done. it's called the "MRC Club" :-)

[catalyst]

thanks for the encouragement - guess I didn't give enough time for the query to be answered

atmospheric pressure was the only environmental or situational variable that all 4 skimmer have in common (beside being stock needlewheel skimmers with gate-valves). It was a pretty drastic front - I suppose I should I get the official b4/after numbers from NOAA.

I guess more than anything, it was interesting to uncover yet another "thing" that may effect the optimal performance of our skimmers - I empty/clean my skimmer cups on a daily basis (need to!), thus I am aware of the slightest changes

I'm definitely going to keep track of how their performance correlates to major barometer changes - Spring will be a good test period

if there is data to be had, I will start a thread in adv topics

I'll check out the MRC thread you mentioned

[drstupid]

yeah 4 skimmers (presumably on seperate systems) all behaving the same is pretty good evidence the front had something to do with it. unless you happened to be painting the fish room. :-)

the MRC Club was sort of a joke, for those who own MRC's. they're well designed products, and skim like mad, but i've found mine incredibly tempermental. maybe i should follow your lead and try cleaning the tower more than 1-2 times a week.

on the other hand, they do encourage what i've found to be a healthy paranoia. when your skimmer could go crazy and pull a few gallons of water out at any given time, you learn to limit the amount of water in your ATO reservoir, test your salinity religiously, have plenty of premixed SW handy, and check its production at least twice a day.

paranoia is not a bad habit to encourage in reefers.

[reefarmer]

my skimmer always goes nuts because its a crappy Jebo!!

[catalyst]

Originally posted by drstupid
you learn to limit the amount of water in your ATO reservoir, test your salinity religiously, have plenty of premixed SW handy, and check its production at least twice a day

paranoia is not a bad habit to encourage in reefers.

I bet your tanks benefit greatly from this

I like how becketts will auto-shut-off if they go crazy - with the pingpong ball apparatus - can't do *that* with a NW

I'll have one in the not-too-distant future ... all in good time

[drstupid]

don't you find your needle wheels pretty consistent about their output? a couple of months ago a friend of mine gave up on his dual becket and bought a NW, he's very pleased that he can dial it in and walk away.

IME beckets do skim like little b@stards, but they are a pain to tune in, need constant adjustment, and require a lot of energy to do what they do. i'm watching my friend's experiment closely and may follow his lead and hunt down a used deltec sometime in the near future.

the grass is always greener, i guess.

oh, and please ignore this thread if you find my skimmer in the used equipment forum...

pete

[Jeremy B.]

In my opinion a Beckett skimmer with the proper size pump vs the chamber size will outskim any needle wheel venturi skimmer you can throw at it (including Bubble King), you just better be prepared to constantly keep it dialed in and clean!

[catalyst]

Originally posted by drstupid
don't you find your needle wheels pretty consistent about their output?

most of the time yeah, set and forget

Originally posted by Jeremy B.
In my opinion a Beckett skimmer with the proper size pump vs the chamber size will outskim any needle wheel venturi skimmer you can throw at it (including Bubble King)

this would be the motivation to go w/ beckett