Protein Skimmer help

kingalee

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I have recently purchased a bubble magus 5 used protein skimmer. I’m new to this as I came from freshwater but how do I get it to stop filling up with water? It is in 7” of water. I was told to let it run a couple days with the over flow plug out of it and it would stop but it hasn’t and still is over filling and it’s been about 5 days. I just need some help
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kingalee

kingalee

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Additional info:
It’s on a 125g tank,
2 clowns
Blue hippo tank
Jeweled damsel
And a spiney box puffer

I have a decent selection of coral and anemones in the tank as well. It’s still a relatively new tank as it’s been done cycling for about 4 weeks now (yes I know 6 months for anemones but I took a shot and they’re all thriving)
 

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Euphyllia97

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It is not unusual in a cycling tank :) Also your skimmer needs to be running for approximately 2 weeks(ish) to create a small biofilm and wash away the factory oils. “Search for skimmer break in period”. Once this had been completed you will have to try and find a balance between water and air to optimize your skimming. You will have to play a bit with the turning knob to increase/decrease the water level. Play with the pump power if you have a DC skimmer or otherwise with the water level :) (Make sure your water level around the skimmer remains the same at all times)
 
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kingalee

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Turn this knob to adjust the water level flowing up..

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If I adjust it down to minimum the bubbles rise very quickly and so does the water level, if I turn it to max it slows this down but the water level ultimately still rises
 

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Additional info:
It’s on a 125g tank,
2 clowns
Blue hippo tank
Jeweled damsel
And a spiney box puffer

I have a decent selection of coral and anemones in the tank as well. It’s still a relatively new tank as it’s been done cycling for about 4 weeks now (yes I know 6 months for anemones but I took a shot and they’re all thriving)
You're going at warp speed, you can't stock fish as fast as you do with freshwater, you have to go very slow. Be very careful not to overfeed now or you might end up with stressed fish and disease,
 
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kingalee

kingalee

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You're going at warp speed, you can't stock fish as fast as you do with freshwater, you have to go very slow. Be very careful not to overfeed now or you might end up with stressed fish and disease,
Understandable, they all seem to be fine with no casualties to coral, fish or anemones (one has split and all are still alive) I check my levels daily and everything fits in the parameters needed. I don’t plan on adding anything else for a min.
 
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kingalee

kingalee

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It is not unusual in a cycling tank :) Also your skimmer needs to be running for approximately 2 weeks(ish) to create a small biofilm and wash away the factory oils. “Search for skimmer break in period”. Once this had been completed you will have to try and find a balance between water and air to optimize your skimming. You will have to play a bit with the turning knob to increase/decrease the water level. Play with the pump power if you have a DC skimmer or otherwise with the water level :) (Make sure your water level around the skimmer remains the same at all times)
That was the reason I bought a used one was to miss the break in period, it was used for a year and some change before buying it by the other guy
 

Euphyllia97

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That was the reason I bought a used one was to miss the break in period, it was used for a year and some change before buying it by the other guy
Hmmm would still give it some time. Maybe you might have almost nothing in the water to skim at the moment. Otherwise keep the water level at its lowest as possible with the turning knob and play with the height of the skimmer pump in the water :)

Also I don’t think your bioload is too crazy for a 125G assuming those fish are not fully adult yet. Anemone splitting however is not always a sign of thriving :) Sometimes when they are stressed they also split in 2 to increase their chances of survival
 
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kingalee

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Hmmm would still give it some time. Maybe you might have almost nothing in the water to skim at the moment. Otherwise keep the water level at its lowest as possible with the turning knob and play with the height of the skimmer pump in the water :)

Also I don’t think your bioload is too crazy for a 125G assuming those fish are not fully adult yet. Anemone splitting however is not always a sign of thriving :) Sometimes when they are stressed they also split in 2 to increase their chances of survival
So leave the overflow plug out still and just let it run on the lowest setting? And yeah I read that but everything else is fine anemone, I have a total of about 6 or 7 along with some corals
 

Euphyllia97

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Yeah I bet it will suddenly start to work as expected. Been having some trouble with my skimmer as well (brand new tho) only started to do its job after 3 weeks. These things are a bit annoying, but once they are ready to go, they behave a lot more stable Couldn’t even imagine to be able to fine tune a skimmer the first time I was working with this equipment

Sounds like you know what you are doing! I have the feeling people are very fast to say something is not possible in newer tanks… I agree it can be harder and can turn bad more quickly, but as long as you are on top of things… good luck and enjoy the reefing
So leave the overflow plug out still and just let it run on the lowest setting? And yeah I read that but everything else is fine anemone, I have a total of about 6 or 7 along with some corals
 

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