# How to start up protein skimer



## AYE RUSS (Oct 18, 2009)

Ok so i bought a used protein skimmer and i pretty much assembled it the way it was suppose to but as far as i know a protein skimmer produces all this foamy bubble stuff in the main tube but when i started mine up i just pretty much plugged it in and the power head filled the tube the water and out back into the tank. Am i doing something wrong?


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

:-D

You forgot to install the venturi. What brand protein skimmer did you buy?


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## AYE RUSS (Oct 18, 2009)

just a cheappy odyssea just to get me by for now. i know its very low quality but should be better than nothing. Where does the venturi go?


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

The odyssea model skimmers use a power head to drive water into the skimmer chamber. The power head has a venturi opening at the intake. You just attach a piece of air line tubing to the intake, and air is drawn into the skimmer.


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## AYE RUSS (Oct 18, 2009)

ahhh yeup just figured it out! thanks. sorry to bother you for another question now that i see the bubbles flowing through how exactly does the skimmer work? when does the bubbles start flowing to the top of the cup?


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## AYE RUSS (Oct 18, 2009)

still no bubbles on top of the cup


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

You want to column of bubbles to run at about 1'' to 2'' from the collection cup, leaving open space at the top of the skimmer shaft. It will take a few days for the skimmer to break in, and then you will begin to see a foam develop in the empty space, being pushed up the neck of the skimmer and into the collection cup.

That is the complicated answer. The easy answer is this... go look at an aquarium with a protein skimmer in operation so that you understand how the skimmer works. This will be much easier on you.

I should mention that you bought a very poor quality skimmer. You will be very disappointed with the consistency of the output. Sometimes it will go weeks with almost no skimate, and then it will overflow every day. When it comes to skimmers, you get what you pay for. I have never found a skimmer that is less expensive than $80 - $100 that performs with any degree of satisfaction. Yes, I have use the Odyssea.


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## wake49 (Jul 2, 2008)

I have to edit as P. said what I was going to say about bubble production.

What size is this tank? The Coralife SuperSkimmer 65 is about $100 online, and I was happy with its production for my 46.


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

AYE RUSS said:


> just a cheappy odyssea just to get me by for now. i know its very low quality but should be better than nothing. Where does the venturi go?


im not familiar with this one but sadly with some skimmers, id rather run my tank with nothing. this is why reading online reviews on them is helpful.


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