Protein Skimmer Functioning 100%

[greece86]

I was told that the MRC-200 Skimmer loses most of its effectivness when water levels drop even the slightest. Dropping down to 10% effectiveness if water is not maintained at a constant level. Besides replacing evap water, what else can I do? Someone mentioned putting something into the sump???

[mullinsd2]

I have not used the skimmer, but I can tell you from experience that just about any skimmer will be effected by a water level change; even the slightest. My first suggestion would be an ato, because this will help the inhabitants most. You want to keep your sg as stable as possible. Secondly, a sump with baffles would help keep the skimmer dialed in. This is so because evaporation will not occur in the baffled area if set up correctly.

[Palting]

Yes, most skimmers are very sensitive to water levels. There are several options to fix this. ATO is one of them. Appropriate sump design and skimmer placement is another. Most sump designs have a compartment where the water level stay constant, and the only compartment that changes water level is the pump compartment. To a cerain extent, this is the advantage of HOB skimmers that go on the DT. In this scenario, the sump water levels can fluctuate, but the DT level stays constant.

Where do you have the skimmer, and how is your sump designed?

[Chris27]

External skimmers are a bit different in that aspect, they don't need to factor in the back pressure that is typically created in an in-sump skimmer that has the drain submerged in a tank of water. If I'm not mistaken, the MRC skimmers use a nozzle which is supplied a constant volume of water from a pump. Additionally, if the water draining out of the skimmer is above the water line in the sump, the level of the sump will not have an effect on the skimmer efficiency.