i recently bought the oddysea ps75 (heard is was like the best bang for the buck)
and i cannot get it to dry skim no matter how low my water level is
my water level is 4 or 5 inches below the collection cup (not exaggerating) but the cup fills with water in a matter of seconds.
i have it in the in-sump mode and i took off both sponges with the water output at 100% and 2 airline tubes attached to the pump

does anyone in this forum have this skimmer?
if so, how did you get it to work?

Give it time to break in.

are you getting extremely fine bubbles in the chamber. You only need to run the air into the intake of the pump, a contol valve for the airline will be very helpful. It may take a little while to break in, but you should atleast be able to turn the flow control for the skimmer up high enough to see the skimmate accumulate. Water in the skimmer's chamber should be at a constant level or setting it will be very difficult.

im getting pretty fine bubbles i guess

my water leve in my sump and in the skimmer are constant
but the thing is, i have the water in the skimmer set to the lowest possble level (4 inches under the cup) but its still wet skimming like crazzyyy
and if i use the air control valve, water spills into the cup even faster

im going to try using the hang-on configuration but putting it in my sump, beause i see all the successful oddysea ps75 in the hang-on mode

heres what it looks like..

just out of curiosity, what are you doing with the water that fills up the cup? Are you just pouring it back into the tank or dumping it out, like NOT back in the tank?
Are you dosing anything? Any water conditioners of any kind? If you have the return portion wide open hanging it on the sump or tank isn't going to get the water level in the skimmer much lower, it already looks like the water level in the skimmer body is pretty much even with the output. I don't really think it's the skimmer (could be wrong of course) but me thinks it may be your water... or something that's in it I should say. That seems like an excessive amount of foam. If what ever is causing it to foam that much, well if you are just pouring that water back in the tank it's gonna keep doing the same thing. Just pour the stuff down the sink and keep topping of your tank with fresh saltwater for awhile and see if the skimmer starts to settle down.


Steve

yeah i pour the water back into my sump because the water in the cup is like almost clear. its like if you got a tea bag and dipped it in a bucket of water for like 5 seconds. but there is some build up on the inside of the neck of the cup, but barely.
im not dosing anything and im just going to let it overflow for a few days and wait for it to break in.

and if it clarifies the water thing, i did a newbie mistake a filled my tank with tap water. but im going to do huge water changes to RO water after it cycles. i dont know if the tap water foams more or not.

I wouldn't let that pour back into the tank

So it's a new tank as well, not even cycled yet? Yeah, dude, if you are planning on doing water changes anyway.... don't pour that water from the skimmer back in the tank. You're not going to get anything even remotely close to a heavy skimmate on a new tank. Pour that water out... and top off with new, or just do your water change now and leave the skimmer alone. Whatever is causing that much foam is just going to keep doing the same thing if all you are doing is pouring it back in the tank.... STOP IT!...lol

Oh, and if you don't feel like sitting there babysitting the skimmer while it's filling up.... turn it off and come back to it when you can spend the time dumping the cup and topping off.... make sense?

Steve

oookay! ill keep tossing the 'skimmate' that my skimmer has yet to produce.

how long will it take until im close to start making dark smelly and satisfying skimmate?

Sean.... what you're tossing is what is making it foam like that.

And you don't get the good stuff till something is taking a dump in the tank, whether its fish, snails, corals or your next door neighbor.


Steve

wow your magical! i tossed a cup of 'skimmate' and the bubbles went down and i actually had to add the airline control valve and lower the water output to keep it right below the collection cup.

i guess we'll see in a day or so if it volcanoes again

Why yes..... I am.
And, for a small administrative fee I also grant wishes.




Steve

the water level is alot higher than mine, may not be a problem. Glad to hear it's working for you, I'm a big believer in these for an affordable skimmer. The large pumps or internal sump pums are great as well.

well, it looks like this now and its bringing out some light green water

alright, well its broken in
and it works very well

just a pic for anyone who would be considering using this $40 skimmer

Your feeding way too much, LOL. Looks as good as the expensive ones.

yeah i am haha

Very nice. I'm running this as a HOB/HOT and it works really well. I fiddle with the drain valve a lot just to "optimize" the skimming but it's pretty consistent without that. It might not be the most efficient skimmer (output per watt) but it's excellent for the price and can be modded for better performance if you're so inclined.

lol, that's disgusting

howw!?
what are some mods i can do to it to make it perform better

There's a huge reef central thread on this. Supposedly the easiest mod yielding the best results is to attach enkamat mesh to the impeller with zip ties. That seems to help increase the air flow, which is a measure of skimmer output. It's such a popular mod that there's a website devoted to selling mesh mod kits.

Check out http://www.meshmod.net/