Skimmer problem i mentioned at last meeting

So i fired her back up, and my tank turned into a protein skimmer, its so bad that you cant see an inch in. I managed to snap a pic of the skimmer. This way you can see what i mean by filling up the chamber… my guesses… a hole somewhere in the intake thats pushing air in at small bubbles. Then when it hits the bubble refiner the little bubbles get really small and dont have enough air to get to the top… Or somethin else… I also lost my oring in cleaning have to get one of those…

Here it is moments after being plugged in…

before half of that holding chamber used to be crystal clear… you can also see the 38g protein skimmer lol

if u can bring it with u to the meeting, i will take a look at it for ya. one of those things, its really hard to diagnose without having it right in my hands. know what i mean?

yeppers… its all dissasembled, and sitting in a container in a closet because i got mad at it… i will bring it to the oct 10th meeting at fishbowl…

is that a seaclone? if its a seaclone your problem is that it is a seaclone.

hands down worst skimmers ever, my remora takes out in a day what my seaclone took out in a month.

Nah its a coralife superskimmer… i think i works good… pulls out about half a cup per day on dry skim… or did

[quote=“TimH07, post:4, topic:2129”]
is that a seaclone? if its a seaclone your problem is that it is a seaclone.

hands down worst skimmers ever, my remora takes out in a day what my seaclone took out in a month.[/quote]

but for half the price… there is nothing at all wrong with a seaclone. doesnt sound like u had the clone dialed in. ALL skimmers work from the same princible. air against water=friction=charged molecules=attracting dissolved organic compounds=floats to the top with the bubbles. they just do it differently, and some r more efficient than others. (i agree) but im sure the precision marine bullet skimmer prolly pulls way more than…whatever. for 700 bucks!

i just dont think u can compare a spray injection skimmer to a venturi. its like saying, my airplane flys faster than your boat. they both travel in entirely different modes, but arrive at the destination nonetheless.

i’ve flooded my apt twice using that corallife skimmer in the HOB configuration…the skimmer is very finicky you’ll need to adjust the height of the bubble trap to be 1/4" above the water line and make sure it’s level or it will malfunction…the skimmer works very well once you tweak it… i also have mine in a sump which seems to be the only way to run it…did you break in the skimmer?

Ya… thats what i normally have… but the bubbles normally never get that far down into the holding chamber and i never have that many bubblescoming out of the return… i will have it at the next meeting for everyone to mull over and see… i think its something with the intake

did you break in the skimmer?

ya it has been up for almost 2 months now… and i broke it in for the 72 hours or whatever you had to do at the begining

Ok here are my observations:

There is nothign wrong with that large chanber being filled with bubbles - the more bubbles the better. If they are not able to make it all the way to the top of the cone then you need to adjust the red knob on top - I believe turning it clockwise raises the height of the bubbles - you should shoot to have bubbles about 1/4 way up the cone in the top cup.

I also do not see the bubble trap under your return line from the skimmer. You should have a black box with a couple sponges in it and a hole in the top to stuff the gray plastic return tube in. using the bubble trap will greatly reduce the micro-bubbles in your display.

Craig

[quote=“Cdangel0, post:11, topic:2129”]
Ok here are my observations:

There is nothign wrong with that large chanber being filled with bubbles - the more bubbles the better. If they are not able to make it all the way to the top of the cone then you need to adjust the red knob on top - I believe turning it clockwise raises the height of the bubbles - you should shoot to have bubbles about 1/4 way up the cone in the top cup.

I also do not see the bubble trap under your return line from the skimmer. You should have a black box with a couple sponges in it and a hole in the top to stuff the gray plastic return tube in. using the bubble trap will greatly reduce the micro-bubbles in your display.

Craig[/quote]

i also don’t think the skimmer will function properly without the bubble trap…the instructions are pretty specific about having the trap 1/4" out of the water/having the skimmer level…i know if mine falls off its egg crate support water will shoot through the air hole and nothing will work

Its normally there and is on normally correctly… But the bubbles never got down to the bottem in that magnitude before… even with the bubble trap they came through… they were so fine that they got through the white part and into the tank… ill try to see if can maby add another white pad to stop that from happeneing… anyone got any extra white pads… hmm… dunno ill bring it on the 10th anyways… i can tell the diff though with it not being on there…

[quote=“fishguy9, post:6, topic:2129”]

[quote=“TimH07, post:4, topic:2129”]
is that a seaclone? if its a seaclone your problem is that it is a seaclone.

hands down worst skimmers ever, my remora takes out in a day what my seaclone took out in a month.[/quote]

but for half the price… there is nothing at all wrong with a seaclone. doesnt sound like u had the clone dialed in. ALL skimmers work from the same princible. air against water=friction=charged molecules=attracting dissolved organic compounds=floats to the top with the bubbles. they just do it differently, and some r more efficient than others. (i agree) but im sure the precision marine bullet skimmer prolly pulls way more than…whatever. for 700 bucks![/quote]

half the price? not really when you figure you have to learn the hard way and buy the p.o.s. and then buy a better one. seaclone 100 was 100 bux, aquaC remora was 164 bux, so i spent 264 on skimming by being cheap. yes i was that guy. did i have it dialed in? what part of what i said didnt sound like i had it dialed in? i had the p.o.s. for 2 years and had to adjust it every day because one day too much water another day too much air. its garbage. (fish store guys wont tell you so though)…

i just dont think u can compare a spray injection skimmer to a venturi. its like saying, my airplane flys faster than your boat. they both travel in entirely different modes, but arrive at the destination nonetheless.

thats a bad example to be honest, your boat can just get there but in a week i’ll have too many nitrates in my tank and i’d rather take the flight that removes them in a few hours.

my seaclone did however make a great ATO pump/tube

[quote=“TimH07, post:14, topic:2129”]
(fish store guys wont tell you so though)…[/quote]

and im THAT guy… verdict_in

wouldnt u think the “fish store” guy would be pushing the higher $ models?? i mean, your basically saying that the lfs’ r gonna push anything to make a buck… so what would be the gain in selling a cheaper skimmer?
…maybe im just confused here

LOCO<

anyone will hate something they cant get to work right…

ahh yes… people are giving lfs bad raps there are tons of good ones, and i think this club has them dialed in. then there are the lesser fish stores who charge 100+ more than what it retails for and cons people into buying things when A they dont need it or B they need something more… Not gonna name stores just gonna say been there and done with that… i need a new LFS…

I use 3 seclones. two 100’s and a 150. they work perfectly fine once you throw away the OEM air valve and replace it with an Airline needle valve. Ive used them for 10 years now. they pull lots of dark, thick gunk out of tanks that have nothing but some frags , a dozen snails and hermits and a one inch sand bed. and a chaeto fuge too. still, it keeps pulling gunk out of the water. my 3 systems run about 75-90 gallons each. thats about their limit.

crystal clear.

Nothing wrong with seaclones.

Must be a user problem.

i never said they dont pull gunk, mine did as well. i said my remora pulls in a day what my seaclone pulled in a month, i get between 6-10 fluid oz. of skimmate per DAY.

when skimming it IS a race, faster is better

another note. why dont the fish stores ever carry the great products? all i ever see is coralife and the low end equipment… wholesale prices?

theres no market for the higher stuff most people who go to LFS arent looking for the exp crap… and this thread is getting off topic lol

[quote=“Marchingbandjs, post:19, topic:2129”]
theres no market for the higher stuff most people who go to LFS arent looking for the exp crap…[/quote]

hit the nail on the head there… esp with the way the economy is, and a few of the lfs switching owners and remodeling etc, its hard to have a huge amount of money invested in something that prolly wont sell but maybe once a year or so. and most of the time, those big purchases r planned in advance, so y not just order it? any store can get ya pretty much anything within a week. 90% of customers dont want expensive equipment. they want a saltwater tank, and dont want to spend a whole bunch of dough. in comes the lower end equipment. its unfortunate, but true.

so the point is, most ppl arent into it like us!! lol

[quote=“Marchingbandjs, post:19, topic:2129”]
and this thread is getting off topic lol[/quote]

sorry… slap-stick