Tip of the Day – 9/20/2012

When setting up a brand new protein skimmer, keep in mind that there is a brief “break-in”period before it will start performing at a normal operating level. During the breaking in, the protein skimmer will do one of two things. For some, the skimmer will hardly do anything at all, causing the water level inside the body to stay low. For others, the skimmer will seemingly go nuts and overflow the collection cup as soon as it’s plugged in. Either way, the break-in period usually lasts as little as a day or as much as a week in some cases. After the break-in, the protein skimmer should be pulling out some really nasty crud from your aquarium, assuming it is adjusted appropriately. Depending on who you talk to, there are a million different reasons why skimmers go through the breaking in phase. The most common of which is the idea that the skimmer has oils and other substances it from the production process that prevent it from working normally. It is said that the skimmer is broken in when the oils have been washed off, allowing the skimmer to operate normally. The reasons are really neither here or there, the point is that you may not have a protein skimmer that works as desired right out of the box. Give it a few days before rushing to judgement.