The Purpose Of A Skimmer & Adding Salt

[KAPEL]

Hi all, I am new at this and bought a TL550 marine tank. I have run the water for a good couple of days after adding the drops for getting rid of all the chemical in the tap water. I should add the salt now. What is the idea of a skimmer and when should I switch it on???
My skimmer currently when switched on are pushing water through the 4 holes on top of the lid. Is this because there is no salt in the water yet?
Really appreciate all the help I can get.

 

[ech0o]

okie, will try to hit all the points asked and what i could pull from your situation. 
 
i am hoping you did not put your liverock/sand into a tank of tap water with no salt.  what is in the tank already?  
what kind of salt are you going to use?  i have noticed that skimmers don't foam up unless there is some salt in the water, not sure what causes this.
are you going to run a fish only tank, fish with liverock, or full reef?
what model skimmer do you have?
 
most people don't use tapwater, as there is already so many trace elements in it, when you add the marine salt to it, you get an overload in many elements, as well as phosphate which causes bad algae.
before you add any life to the tank, i suggest you get the salinity meter, and all the appropriate tests for marine aquaria (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/calcium/kh/phosphate/salinity)
 
 
i suggest you read this article as well http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/410541-marine-aquarium-faq/
 
my tank is running about 3 months now, before i had all of the information, and all the testing equipment, it looked terrible, algae, no coral growth, dieing fish.   now after i took the time to do some reading and understanding of how different life forms use different elements within the salt water, and got my testing stuff, my tank is blowing up with growth, it is beginning to look amazing!

 

[KAPEL]

I am ready to add my salt to the water. What is the main function of the skimmer and when should it be started up? When I switch mine on, the water is squirting out of the top 4 holes. Is this because there is no salt added to the water yet?

 

[Chad]

Sounds like there's a valve that needs to be closed a bit.
 
A skimmer uses foam fractionation to remove dissolved organics from the water. It's commonly known as a protein skimmer but it removes far more than just proteins.  
 
If you're interested in some detailed reading on the subject try this link http/www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/1/aafeature2#section-0.

 

[KAPEL]

Thank you for the info. I have run the tank for about 4 days with the tap water and the drops supplied by the experts to add to the water. I now have added the salt (Red Sea Salt) and is going to run it for about a week without anything.
Do I need to start the skimmer now or is it not necessary yet?
 
Your advice is really appreciated!!!

 

[Chad]

It takes skimmers a bit of time to break in so I always suggest you begin running them right away even when there aren't organics for them to remove. They also store a quantity of water in the skimmer body so having them running helps to set water levels.
 
As mentioned the use of tap water is something that is strongly cautioned against. RO/DI water is considered best practice. The salt mix will take this water and create from it the proper environment. Tap water contains metals and dissolved solids that are harmful and promote algae growth as well as having the ability to alter the pH and other properties of the water in a marine tank. RO/DI has zero TDS and is generally considered "neutral" water.
 
I noticed you have another thread about the skimmer...I will combine this one and that so we can have the conversation all in one place...