# How To Tune And Get A Protein Skimmer To Work/Skim?



## Vinoy Thomas (Jan 4, 2013)

Hi Everyone,

For the last two months now, I've been setting up a salt water tank and I've reached the point where I need a protein skimmer for my sump.

I got the skimmer 2 or 3 weeks ago, and I am now just starting to use it in my sump.

Only problem is, I don't know how to make it SKIM!! I've tried a lot and it's getting VERY frustrating.

The protein skimmer I have is an ASM-G1X.

No matter how I adjust the adjustment pipe, the skimmer refuses to produce any PROPER skim mate. It either fills the cup and over flow in the sump or doesn't get into the cup at all.

If anyone has this skimmer, please HELP ME. Or if anyone had any idea why this is not working for me, please ADVICE ME.

Thanks in advance,
Vinoy


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## jd81 (Dec 16, 2011)

There is usually a break-in time for skimmers, can take a couple hours to a couple days. So once you have it in the state where the foam level is too low to go into the cup, leave it like that and wait a couple days. Foam should rise slowly and eventually go into the skimmer.

Do you have a bioload in your tank yet? If no, the skimmer will not produce skimmate if there is nothing to skim.


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## Vinoy Thomas (Jan 4, 2013)

Hey,

Thanks for the reply.

I may have forgot to mention that I picked this skimmer of another guy I found in Kijiji.

When I stopped by his place to pick it up, the skimmer was filled with BLACK skim mate, nice and thick  I don't know what happened to it now 

Also, I'm pretty sure that my tank has a bio load since it has been running with fish for nearly two months now.

Thanks for the help,
Vinoy


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*skimmer*

have u youtubed the skimmer model and make for info


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## jd81 (Dec 16, 2011)

You can also try to find out the recommended water level, i.e how deep in the water the skimmer should be.

I did a quick google, and I saw a guy recommending 7-9 inches on this thread:

http://www.3reef.com/forums/protein-skimmers/asm-g1x-skimmer-77460.html


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

Water level is very important as diff skimmers have diff sweet spots.
You can say water level is the macro adjustment for your skimmer.
And adjusting the pipe is the micro adjustment for your skimmer.
Lets say your pipe is fully open and you still overflow, means you should raise the skimmer, by making a table of some sort.


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## Faizan (Mar 17, 2013)

All I can recommend is to check the proper water height for the skimmer and let it break in. I once had a skimmer that took 2 weeks to break in!!! After that, it produced the nastiest looking filth I have seen in my life, it brought tears of happiness and disgust to my eyes


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

Faizan said:


> All I can recommend is to check the proper water height for the skimmer and let it break in. I once had a skimmer that took 2 weeks to break in!!! After that, it produced the nastiest looking filth I have seen in my life, it brought tears of happiness and disgust to my eyes


LMAO thats funny and gross


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