The Puffer Forum

I posted this on aquariacentral and got no replies.

My GSP's 50 gal is at about 1.014 sg as of now. At what point may I begin use of the protein skimmer?

Also, a little "arm" that levels the protein skimmer against the rim of the tank broke off during shipping. What can I use to re-attach it?

Usually I run protein skimmes when the SG is at 1.015. To re-attaatch the arm you can use super glue .

are you positive that will be sufficient? I don't need any fancy 3-parts-mixed cement or plastic glue or anything?

Also, hooray. I should be running the protein skimmer this week, then. I tried it at a lower salinity and I didn't get froth, just bubbles....

I asked Coralife and a couple of other skimmer vendors last year and they all recommended at least 1.018 SG, higher SG is better. You can use skimmers at lower SG but they will not be quite as effective.

Well in the end your still raising your SG, so whether you put it in now or a few weeks from now it wont hurt to get it running.

Yep!

Im running it now, my salinity is like 1.015 as of today.... and no froth...?

What kind of skimmer is it? It may need to be adjusted.

cpr bakpak 2, used from ebay

I had an HOB PS for a few months. I had to constantly adjust it to get it to produce skimate. Try adjusting it until you get a lighter colored wet skimate, then lowering the adjustment to get the darker, dryer skimate. My PS goes NUTS when I add any frozen cubes that have gel in them (I have stopped using frozen food w/gel added...), try adding some to see if it will produce skimate at such a low SG.

i'm getting like, a few millimeters of froth at the top of the water. But other than that the whole thing is full of water and fine bubbles in the water, but not like, froth.

Be sure the bottom of the cup is practically touching the top of the bubbles. Your SG just may be too low for any skimmate yet.

the bottom of the cup is submerged below the bubbles....

I'm not getting any froth.

How do you "adjust" a ps to produce skimmate?

I'm not at all familiar with the bakpak ps set up. If you don't have the directions that came with the ps, then go on line and see if the manufacturer will let you download them. Most bigger company's let you. Some will take customer service/tech support calls also and you can usually find the telephone number on their website. Maybe they would know what sg your ps will support. I know with my prisim, there was a nob attached to a rubber hose that would let more flow/air into the chamber. Try getting those directions.....