[Jeremy0322]

There have been recent family events that have diverted some of my aquarium funds away from me at this time. With that being said i think for now i am going to do my 20 gallon decently until i actually have the money to do the 55 correctly. I have an excalibur skimmer that is run by a rio 600 and after tonight i finally had enough reasons to hook it up and get it running. It does not seem like it has all of the "foam" that i have seen in pictures. Is it normal for a skimmer to take a few days to get working. The tube is FULL of bubbles so i know it is doing something right but it just seems like they are not reaching the top yet.

[bri74]

It will probably take a few days for the skimmer to "break in" and start producing crap at least thats what happened with mine. The amount of crap depends on the load of the tank. What kind of adjustment do you have on the skimmer?

[Jeremy0322]

Just an air intake. And there really isnt much in there. A clown and a firefish. That is it plus there is about 25 lbs of rock

[reefnoob1991]

If there's a riser tube raise it just a tad, it may skim a bit more wet but hey it's skimming something! That's what I had to do and now I'm pulling out coffee colored waste

[Jeremy0322]

What does a riser tube look like...

[reefnoob1991]

Where the water comes out...there's space between the output and the other tube so try and close it together and see what happens, also try moving your collector cup down

[pogodzib]

It is very common for skimmers to take up to a week after being setup or sometimes even cleaned, before they produce foam. If it doesn't get better in 2-3 days, then you should start thinking about why it may not be producing foam. Usually it is because the unit isn't getting enough air, something in the water, water level in the skimmer needs adjusting, or the cup is too high so the foam doesn't reach the cup.