Should a protein skimmer always produce scum

[Ssdangeranger]

My protien skimmer doesn't always seem to produce scum. It seems it only produces scum a few hours after i feed my fish and corals. Is this normal? Is my tank water that clean?

 

[Ssdangeranger]

It takes days to fill up the cup

 

[Jdodson11]

That is a good thing, how many fish and corals do you have? What size tank and what skimmer are you using? I think the skimmer is working and just removing all the crap, once the crap is removed there is nothing left, one way to tell is dump some of the skimmate back into the tank and watch to see if you skimmer starts to foam and produce skimmate. When I do this my skimmer instantly skins out the crud, then nothing after that.

 

[Jdodson11]

Skims

 

[Ssdangeranger]

It's a built in skimmer on my HOB refugium it has a 250 gph pump. My aquarium is a 55 gallon. I got 2 many fish to count and like 5 corals

 

[Reefing Madness]

If its part of a HOB, its definately not going to be meant to handle alot of fish. Do you have it adjusted properly? What pump is it using? Needle Wheel? What are your Nitrate readings? If its working properly you wont have any Trates.

 

[Bad Company]

It is my understanding that skimmers do not remove nitrates. They have no capacity to interact with NO3-. They only remove organic compounds, which upon decay become ammonia, which is broken down to nitrites by bacteria, which is broken down to nitrates by other bacteria. Am I wrong?

 

[GrizFyrFyter]

It is my understanding that skimmers do not remove nitrates. They have no capacity to interact with NO3-. They only remove organic compounds, which upon decay become ammonia, which is broken down to nitrites by bacteria, which is broken down to nitrates by other bacteria. Am I wrong?

Correct. They also remove dead bacteria that feed on nitrate, that's why a strong skimmer is required for carbon dosing.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yup, you are correct. And if you have a big enough skimmer it removes all those bad elements before they are able to create an issues with Nitrates, thus keeping your Nitrates null and void.