Lazy Octopus skimmer?

[beatle]

I have an older meshmodded Octopus Extreme TS-150 skimmer in the sump of my 120g. The bubble production looks great and the pump is quiet, but the production leaves a lot to be desired.

My sump has 10 inch tall baffles so I placed the skimmer on a four inch stand. The top of the outlet tube is just shy of the top of the chamber where it begins to taper into the neck. Skimmate production has been pretty weak - relatively light in color and small in volume.

Bioload is very light: 2 mature false percs, coral beauty, firefish, four shrimp.

I do have a serious problem with an algae bloom ATM. The tank is approx a month old with "cooked" live rock. I know to expect a few issues when starting a new tank (this is my 4th new tank) but I've never seen a bloom like this so early. I'm not sure if my skimmer is doing its job or if I have additional issues. The NW-110 I ran on my 90 years ago pulled out gunk like a champ.

[wolrey]

That is a small bioload for a 120g. I would expect any skimmer to have much gunk to pull out. If you decide to add more fish, and end up feeding the tank more, I'd bet you'll see more skimmate!

[beatle]

That's kind of what I was expecting. I was more concerned with the incredible algae blooms so early in the tank, and the skimmer not pulling out the gunk before it can fuel the bloom.

[mm949]

its common to have algae blooms during cycling, keep in mind algae exports nutrients..
try keeping the alk high and the feeding low, reduce light cycle to a few hours
let the algae pull out the nutrients and in a few weeks it should starve itself out

[beatle]

Originally Posted by mm949

keep in mind algae exports nutrients..

That's how I i justified having such a hairy tank when I went skimmerless on my 40g before this one. Corals were happy, but coraline was nowhere to be found. Water was pretty clear considering I did not even run carbon on that tank.

I have a refugium on this tank with chaeto and a DSB that I hope takes off.