melev

As I've explained previously, when my skimmer's cup gets full I end up with a wet mess on and around the sump. Prior to MACNA I set up a waste collector tied to the Apex to avoid the clean up. While away, my tank sitter had to empty it out once, but until today I'd not seen first hand how it worked. I knew in theory what should happen, but it's nice to see a plan work out as expected.

The Phosphates measured .33 yesterday.

Last night, I dosed Phosphate Rx after lights out to knock down the PO4 level in the system. I put a filter sock under the drainline to catch the particulates, and went to sleep. Today when I got up, the skimmer was running at 50% full meaning the waste collector was full. Upon entering the fishroom, that's exactly what had happened.

I drained the gallon of waste water and reinstalled the lid, and remembered to put the drain line back into the waste collector. The Apex is programmed to give me five minutes to get this done, then the second pump turns back on and skimming resumes.

I tested phosphate levels again today and they are now .09 ppm, which is closer to the .02 ppm level we aim for.

10 minutes later, my skimmer was running at 50% again, and I discovered the collector was full with another gallon of watery skimmate. This was tossed out again, and the skimmer was adjusted slightly to avoid a third incident.

I'm going to add a line of code to the Apex to disable to the Skimmer Swabbie when the waste collector is full to avoid damage to the motor. Having the squeegee drag against the dry neck of the skimmer is pointless and may ruin the pump prematurely.