Prizm Skimmer Issues

[Danno]

Well I finally got it installed and had it running for about 2 weeks now.. Got the noise down to a rather low level.. I Adjusted the flow to where the bubbles started to form right above the o-ring on the collection cup but noticed I wasnt getting very much skimmate.. Adjusted a bit higher and was getting a bit more. Still no little microbubbles in the tank. Now out of no where in the last few days i have been getting a TON of little bubbles all over the tank, so I adjusted the flow down a bit. No luck.. I then took the entire thing apart and gave it a good cleaning, still no luck. Closest I have come to getting rid of them is by putting some polly filter in the outlet.

 

Does anyone know how to get rid of those darn bubbles?

 

Its in a Eclipse 12 so the bubbles are quite noticable.

 

Thanks!

[Aiptasia]

Yes. First, give it a few days to start skimming. The more it can remove, the less microbubbles you'll have in the tank. Usually this happens when you install any HO skimmer for a few days, as it's this time when the water has the most DOC in it. Re-adjust the skimmer so that the water line is just above the bottom black o ring in the collection cup and let it run.

 

Second, you can install a noise filter from a powerhead on the venturi tube. Red Sea should have added one for the Prizms because they can be noisy. I stole one out of the parts bag on one of my powerheads and it reduced the noise by 200%. Adjust it so that it still allows enough air into the venturi tube to competely fill the contact chamber with bubbles.

 

Lastly, did you purchase the deluxe model with the surface overflow cup and the media basket? If not, go ahead and order the accessories right now. The surface overflow cup is invaluable as the DOC you want to remove from the tank is concentrated the most in the top 1" of the surface water. The media basket will also help break up microbubbles in the tank, even if it's completely empty. I like to put a little mesh baggie of purigen or reef carbon in mine from time to time to remove even more DOC.

 

Even with all of that, the microbubbles will continue to flood the tank for a few days while the skimmer first reduces DOC in your water. The more it removes, the less the bubbles will appear in the tank.

 

BTW, I find my prizms work better when they're a little dirty. After a thorough cleaning, my skimmers won't produce any dry skimmate at all for about 2 days. You really only need to clean them about once a month, when the bubble chamber becomes overgooped (totally brown/green).

[Danno]

Thanks Aiptasia,

 

Yea after a week of it running it did skim rather well, probably got about 2 inches of skimmate in the cup. Right about that time the LFS told me that the phosphorus and silica levels were to high, so I took the Carbon(came with the skimmer) out and put some phosguard in. Cleaned the skimmer while i was adding the phosguard. The bubbles seem to start appearing like 3-4 days later, thats when I took the enter thing apart to no avail. Yes I did get the deluxe kit to.

 

Also, I hate to sound stupid, but what is a Noise Filter? I only have to Mini Jet 606's and I dont think they came with them..

 

Where should I adjust the flow to? Red sea says where the bubbles form at the o ring is good. But I found that by adjusting so the bubbles above the O Ring and about a little more than half way up neck i get more skimmate. The dark brown stuff.

 

I think ill stick with your theory, let the thing get a little dirty and see how it runs. I just got to stop being such a neat freak with it!

 

Thanks for your Help!

[Aiptasia]

It looks like a little cup shaped cap with a tapered end that will fit into airline tubing. A lot of powerheads come with them as they are often used as pumps for skimmers, using the noise filters for quieting down the venturi in the process. The other end of it will have a rubber gasket that you can adjust the airflow/noise with. Sometimes they have a little sponge or paper core inside them for further noise reduction/air filtering, sometimes not. I stole mine from the accessory parts from a few hagen powerheads. Look at the paper manual that came with your powerhead. It should have a parts list. Many people toss them out thinking they don't need them.

 

Use reef carbon judiciously as it can remove some trace elements. I like to use it for two days (on the weekend) to remove anything my caulerpa algaes may have released, and it can also remove the "chemical warfare" compounds some corals will naturally release. The rest of the time I run a little purigen in the media basket in a mesh baggie.

 

I find that mine run better when the wet foam line is just over the black o ring, about 1/4 to 1/2 way up the fat part of the reaction chamber. This produces a thick dry stable dark foam in both of my tanks. I clean them once a month, when the fluted neck and the skimmer cup become thick with a crust of protein goo. I don't go crazy, just wipe out the crud with a dry paper towel and rinse the cup out.

 

Sounds like your tank is settling down. Try to use RO/DI water, or steam distilled (glass) as it will have almost no phosphate/silicate in it. My tap water here is full of phosphaes and silicates. Eventually, if you've had an algae problem, the algae blooms will crash to a level where your reef janitors (snails) will be able to keep them in check.

 

Most of all, have fun. All skimmers need tweaking from time to time, and the Prizm is no different.

[Danno]

Ah..

 

Now I know what your talking about.. Ill have to go to the LFS and pick a Noise Filter up. Im sure they will just give it to me, there usually pretty cool about that.

 

To silence mine down, I disconnected the airline from the Collection cup and got 1 meter length of it hanging off the back now, quiets it down a bit, but its still noticeable. Just got to watch the collection cup level. Also I dumped some water around the inlet pipe chamber and that seems to have really helped. I think with the noise filter it will be down to a almost un-noticable level.

 

Right now I only got a RO unit in the Condo. And algae and Diatoms have always been a big problem, and didnt slow down until the phosguard. As far as I read RO alone does not remove Phosphates or Silica. I was thinking about getting an addon DI unit to take care of that.. DrFosterSmith has one for like 55 bucks, so in the long run that would be cheaper that buying phosguard.

 

Looks like I got my skimmer adjusted to right about where you got yours, so at least i got one thing right!

 

Thanks again!

I really apreciate your help!