Oil Slick

[sinkingbeach]

I'm getting a buildup of oil in the return section of my sump, middle section of this pic. In case your wondering the right side is a refugium, needs to be weeded, thanks Mike ;D ;D

I would imagine this is something to be concerned with ??? ???
Is this a lack of skimming or flow ??? ???

 

[mladencovic]

Is the surface really that calm (second pic) or did you turn off your pump? If I am reading your (first) pic correctly, and that is that the the middle pipe is your outflow from the sump, the left baffle is open at the bottom and your skimmer is taking and returning the water in the left compartment, then I would say that there is a bad flow and that there is nothing to grab that water. How, exactly, does your flow go (compartmentwise)?

 

[Carlo]

That's quite a lot of proteins built up there.

Does all flow go to the fuge then center section and then to the section where you skimmer is currently? Is the return pump in the compartment where the skimmer is currently?

If so it would seem you need to move the skimmer over to the middle compartment. Run the OUT of the skimmer back to where your skimmer is currently sitting.

How about some more info on what each of those pipes in the sump are and where they come from?

Carlo

 

[sinkingbeach]

This is what it looked like when I pieced it together

The bottom pipe runs into the refuge, top pipe into the skimmer section.

the pipe in the middle runs to the tank(return) both the skimmer section and the refuge fall into the middle return section, teeth on the refuge side and baffles on the skimmer side.

and yes my return section is that calm nothing was turned off...

 

[Phyl]

Seems like the fall from the skimmer chamber isn't enough to disturb the surface and keep the DOC suspended in that middle chamber, so it is just sitting there. If you didn't want to change much you might be able to just add a small powerhead in that middle chamber to disturb the surface. That would stop the waste from collecting there at the top.

 

[Carlo]

Before you start mixing that in you might as well remove the oily surface while it's easy to get to. Try sucking it out with a shopvac or scooping it out with a 20oz cup or something.

Can you rework the skimmer output with some PVC so it will discard directly into the middle chamber? You should be able to go right over top the baffle. That would surely break up the surface in that section. It could cause micro bulbles in the return however depending on the skimmer and return pump. I'd give that a try and if it doesn't work go with the small pump idea Phyl mentioned.

If you go with a small pump you could even put it on a timer so it only runs once in a while.

Carlo

 

[mladencovic]

Can you rework the skimmer output with some PVC so it will discard directly into the middle chamber? You should be able to go right over top the baffle. That would surely break up the surface in that section. It could cause micro bulbles in the return however depending on the skimmer and return pump. I'd give that a try and if it doesn't work go with the small pump idea Phyl mentioned.

This will also improve skimmer's performance because it will ensure that skimmer will not take in the water that is already skimmed - intake and output will be in two different chambers.