mels95yj Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 I feel your pain. I just got mine last Friday, and it's doing the same thing as yours. I've cleaned it twice in hot water to no avail. I built a "chair" for it to sit on raising it about 2" above the tank to try to build some back pressure. That seems to help, but by no means is it fixed. The cup is raised almost to the top and the bubbles are half way up the tube. If I lower the cup any, it fills up within a minute. Have you added anything to tank (chemicals, red slime remover, etc)? Are you using epoxy to bond the rocks together or mount corals? The only thing I've added to mine is Red Slime Remover and 2-part. I'm also using Instant Ocean epoxy to bond the rocks and corals. Are you using RO/DI and if so, how new are your filters? I'm trying to figure out if we have anything in common that would cause both of our's to do this. I'm going to let mine run raised like this for a while to see if anything happens. Good luck! Link to comment
MarcG Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 here are some pics of my frustration If thats where you are running your cup....thats way too low. Raise it. Mine would be constantly filled if it was that low. I thought you mentioned it was as high as it could go? Mines at least an 1.5" higher than that. Link to comment
MarcG Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Just ran over and snapped a pic of mine..... At the current level I get a pretty wet skim. Sometime I run it another .25" or .5" higher than that for a "dryer" skim. Link to comment
wamb0010 Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Ok - this thing is working awesome now! way better than my old tunze 9002. Now I just need to get my stupid ecobak pellets to tumble and i'll be set! Link to comment
MarcG Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Ok - this thing is working awesome now! way better than my old tunze 9002. Now I just need to get my stupid ecobak pellets to tumble and i'll be set! What did you do? Raise the cup or something else....in case somebody with the same issue runs across this thread. Link to comment
wamb0010 Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 What did you do? Raise the cup or something else....in case somebody with the same issue runs across this thread. Well i'm not quite sure what the x-factor was....... So I rinsed out the entire skimmer like crazy with hot water and I did a water change. Then I put the skimmer back on and started it back up and even with the cup all the way to the top it would fill up in a minute. Then I said F it. Pushed the collection cup all the way down so the skimmate would go through the overflow directly back into the skimmer (if it were all the way up, it might splatter on the side or on the wall). Then I stuck a huge wad of paper towels on the top of the collection cup because there are 4 tiny holes on each corner of the collection cup that bubbles escape from and form a mass of water on top of which splatters on the walls. Then I let it run like this for at least 24 hours. Then I raised the cup all the way to the top and the bubbles didn't keep on coming, they actually leveled off (preiously, if removed the collectoin cup the bubbles would keep go and over flow the skimmer body..). So I set the cup at the appropriate level and when I came home from work today I had about an inch of chew spit colored skimmate and I was loving it. When I dumped it out it really stunk so I know something is working! Link to comment
wamb0010 Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Sorry MarcG - I didn't see your earlier posts about the collection cup level. The reason I posted the pics was to show what the bubbles looked like because earlier someone was asking a question if it was water level or skimmate and I was a little confused so I took a picture in case I wasn't understanding correctly. Yes, I certainly had it higher but it would fill up as fast at the highest level or the lowest level and I didn't want anymore water to get on my walls than there already was so I made sure that the overflow went back into the skimmer (it filled up very fast, by the time I took those two camera pictures it was overflowing). Thanks for all of your help though. I appreciate it. Link to comment
FishStrings Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Best advice is to move the o-ring down and get the cup high as possible or take the collection cup out maybe for at least a week or two. Aquariums which have never been skimmed before make a skimmer go absolutely wild. With that said, the foam should only initially reach 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the neck for margin of error. Link to comment
jdokos Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Installing mine tonight after an EZ-Clean bath. Hoping for the best. Link to comment
jdokos Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Ugh!! Same issues for me. Im running it in insta-fill mode to see if it breaks in. Link to comment
MarcG Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Ugh!! Same issues for me. Im running it in insta-fill mode to see if it breaks in. I didn't have these issues with mine but I did set mine up and had it running in a 5 gallon bucket for an hour or so before I put it on the tank. I wonder if that helped me out. Link to comment
jdokos Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Mine has finally started to break in now. Not overflowing anymore and producing some skimmate. I did do one mod I highly recommend. I put a 2-3" piece of 1/2" tubing on the end of the overflow elbow and stuck the other end in the skimmer body. That way it won't spill out over the outside of the skimmer even when the cup is set high. Link to comment
wamb0010 Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 Mine has finally started to break in now. Not overflowing anymore and producing some skimmate. I did do one mod I highly recommend. I put a 2-3" piece of 1/2" tubing on the end of the overflow elbow and stuck the other end in the skimmer body. That way it won't spill out over the outside of the skimmer even when the cup is set high. That is a good idea. I think I will do that when I get home as well. Link to comment
ermartin Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Mine has finally started to break in now. Not overflowing anymore and producing some skimmate. I did do one mod I highly recommend. I put a 2-3" piece of 1/2" tubing on the end of the overflow elbow and stuck the other end in the skimmer body. That way it won't spill out over the outside of the skimmer even when the cup is set high. Thats exactly what i did during the breakin now my cup sits much lower but it really helped during breakin period Link to comment
mbonus Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 How's everyone's skimate? Anyone getting micro bubbles? Link to comment
ermartin Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 How's everyone's skimate? Anyone getting micro bubbles? No micro bubbles for me skimming well but im still playing with the height of the cup to try to get the best performance Link to comment
lreice Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Mine has finally started to break in now. Not overflowing anymore and producing some skimmate. I did do one mod I highly recommend. I put a 2-3" piece of 1/2" tubing on the end of the overflow elbow and stuck the other end in the skimmer body. That way it won't spill out over the outside of the skimmer even when the cup is set high. Mine was caused by Red Slime remover. The hose idea is genius and I'm running mine clean now. Link to comment
1fishmonger Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Still very happy with mine. Skimmate is moderately dark, almost a dark tea color. I pull about a full cup every 2 days so I suppose you can call it 'skimming wet'... Might try different heights at some point to get the thick nasty skim but for all purposes it's fine where it is now. Hooked up the tubing as someone suggested for overflow. FWIW, cup is about 1.5" from the top. Not aware of micro bubbles as this is in a back, custom AIO chamber. Don't see any in the chamber either but hard to tell. Link to comment
wyattroa Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Just ran over and snapped a pic of mine..... At the current level I get a pretty wet skim. Sometime I run it another .25" or .5" higher than that for a "dryer" skim. Mine is looking the same way right now.. I have had it up for a little over 2 weeks I would say. Robert Link to comment
jojoe972 Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Bumping an old thread for an issue I am having. So my skimmer was working great but then I found out one of the LFS stores that I get RO/DI water from was basically selling tap water to me. Not sure how long either they had been doing this. My fault that I never checked the RO/DI for purity. Never getting my business again but anyway...... I did a few water changes and loaded the tank with phosphate remover because I was afraid that the impure RO/DI had leeched into my live rock. Now my skimmer is producing a really wet skimmate and I assume it is because of the remover that I put in last. What do you guys think? Link to comment
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