moondoggy4
Team RC
What is the air mod on a 9002 skimmer? How is it done? Thanks in advance:dance:
9002 mod
- Thread starter moondoggy4
- Start date
I know there is a youtube video, I have watched it and frankly don't see the point of this mod, it cannot increase performance or ease of adjustment unless there was a defect with the original parts or the adjustement is difficult to reach due to the way the skimmer is installed.
Reefinabox
New member
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t80cE7eBiHg
And whether you care to believe it or not this mod makes a HUGE improvement in performance and ease of adjustment. I understand German engineers could never begin to believe their designs could be improved but there is room for improvement here. It doesn't matter how the skimmer is installed, the original adjustment is tucked under the cup and unless I get my 4 year old daughter to adjust the air the cup gets knocked around. As for performance, it pulls much more air given that it can pull from open air rather than the minute gap between the neck of the cup and the skimmer body. I realize you must work for Tunze given your signature, but sometimes it is ok to step away from the company line and accept that your products can be improved.
And whether you care to believe it or not this mod makes a HUGE improvement in performance and ease of adjustment. I understand German engineers could never begin to believe their designs could be improved but there is room for improvement here. It doesn't matter how the skimmer is installed, the original adjustment is tucked under the cup and unless I get my 4 year old daughter to adjust the air the cup gets knocked around. As for performance, it pulls much more air given that it can pull from open air rather than the minute gap between the neck of the cup and the skimmer body. I realize you must work for Tunze given your signature, but sometimes it is ok to step away from the company line and accept that your products can be improved.
I apologize but no offense was intended and there is no need to be hostile. My loyalties are not the issue here, I am just using logic to try to find the improvement in performance, I could understand in some circumstances it may make it easier to adjust, but that is all. Short of some defect or flaw in assembly being present on what you had, this would not improve performance. The basic physics suggest this would only decrease performance, the air hose is longer, the venturi has not been improved and the airline is not a larger diameter, this would only reduce airflow. This is not a knock on your mod, but without any explanation as to how this would improve air flow or bubble size the only change was that the adjustment is more accessible and this change will only help some users with a small filter compartment who have difficulty accessing the adjustment. I stick to my conclusion, something had to have been wrong with your skimmer for this to have boosted performance.
ToXIc69
In Memoriam
thanks for the vid...
Reefinabox
New member
I'm sorry if I came across hostile. I have been dealing with another situation where a product has some very clear flaws in operation yet the manufacturer swears it is "operating as designed". The 9002 skimmer is a great skimmer right out of the box, no question, there are just a few tweaks that make it that much better. A minor flaw is in the routing of the power cable in the bottom of the skimmer. No matter how hard I tried I could not get the bottom of the skimmer on without either the bottom not fitting on all the way, the side of the skimmer body bowing out or a little of both. This allows microbubles to leak out of the bottom of the skimmer, one of the major complaints. I found by trimming the feet on the pump the power cable had ample room to pass, the bottom fit snugly on the bottom and no more microbubbles. I realize the pump is designed for many different uses but in this application the feet are of no use and are causing a clearance issue. The other minor flaw is how insecure the collection cup is. This is a by-product of the stock air intake system. Because there has to be an air gap around the collection cup intake tube, and the design of the seat for the intake tube inside the skimmer, it allows the cup to move off center which reduces efficiency. A minor revision to the seat inside the skimmer could fix this problem easily.
Again, I'm not trying to be hostile or rip the product apart. I love the skimmer for what it does do, skim quietly and efficiently while fitting inside the back chamber of my tank. I just feel that these few things could make it an even better value in its stock form.
Again, I'm not trying to be hostile or rip the product apart. I love the skimmer for what it does do, skim quietly and efficiently while fitting inside the back chamber of my tank. I just feel that these few things could make it an even better value in its stock form.
I had assumed you were the producer of the video, which is a great video. If you are not and you look at the pump in the video it has a thinner cord, some earlier pumps had a much thicker cord and this caused the fit issue you describe with the bottom cover, this cord was overkill, it can be installed without the side or bottom bulge you describe but it is very time consuming and difficult and I just accepted the side bulge in my case as it was the easiest.
We always use this airgap design because it acts like a mute for the passage of air, the cup essentially is a silencer and dampens the wooshing noise, but I can see the potential problem you describe, the most common issue with this design is if the water level is too high the partial vacuum can draw water up into the air intake and reduce efficiency, in fact part of the design is that when the cup is removed some water should be drawn in to clean out salt creep in the air line, but it is less than perfect, cleaning salt creep with saltwater is not ideal.
We don't deny that anything we make could be better and we always are making improvements. I think you will find more than most companies we look to improve and take feedback seriously. We are however also a small family company with less resources and we can't always react as fast as we would like, sometimes we know something should be improved but we determine it is less important than another change to another product and we have to sort of pick our battles. So much of the 9002 is hand made that this also leaves a fair amount of room for human error, the basic shell of the body is an extrusion and the top and bottom pieces are molded, but every hole and thread and internal plates is installed and drilled or cut by hand. The assembly is very old fashioned with a lot of hand made wooden jigs to place the various pieces.
We always use this airgap design because it acts like a mute for the passage of air, the cup essentially is a silencer and dampens the wooshing noise, but I can see the potential problem you describe, the most common issue with this design is if the water level is too high the partial vacuum can draw water up into the air intake and reduce efficiency, in fact part of the design is that when the cup is removed some water should be drawn in to clean out salt creep in the air line, but it is less than perfect, cleaning salt creep with saltwater is not ideal.
We don't deny that anything we make could be better and we always are making improvements. I think you will find more than most companies we look to improve and take feedback seriously. We are however also a small family company with less resources and we can't always react as fast as we would like, sometimes we know something should be improved but we determine it is less important than another change to another product and we have to sort of pick our battles. So much of the 9002 is hand made that this also leaves a fair amount of room for human error, the basic shell of the body is an extrusion and the top and bottom pieces are molded, but every hole and thread and internal plates is installed and drilled or cut by hand. The assembly is very old fashioned with a lot of hand made wooden jigs to place the various pieces.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
I can clearly see one distinct advantage of this mode. That is that you can actually use a long airline instead of a short one as shown in the video to inject outside air to sump water to boost pH levels. This is of course if the position of a tank is near a window.
Yes, but this may restrict the air so much it won't work, from testing this pump and venturi it cannot pull air against more than about 2ft of head, but that is under water. I think to do this unless the window was immediately behind the tank, an airpump would be needed.
calistyle
Active member
Interesting thread.
The air value is in a horrible spot and the skimmer performances is slightly better than using a net to remove waste. I apologize if I seem upset, It's just that the tunze offers 0% performance over solana stock skimmer and was a waste of money.
But atleast the Tunza ATO was nice.
The air value is in a horrible spot and the skimmer performances is slightly better than using a net to remove waste. I apologize if I seem upset, It's just that the tunze offers 0% performance over solana stock skimmer and was a waste of money.
But atleast the Tunza ATO was nice.
As far as the airscrew, I cannot help you their, it has been in the same place for 20 years so it shouldn't be a surprise, the 9002 is just an updated 3110 and they have been around a very long time. They were not made for all in one tanks, they didn't exist when it was designed, they were made for a plain glass box and then the screw is readily accessible. It's replacement will have a different design with a more accessible screw but that is about a year away.
We wouldn't sell so many of these and get the reviews they do if they didn't offer a benefit so I have to assume that something is wrong with the skimmer or the installation and I would be happy to try to troubleshoot that. But I need a more informative post than "this sucks", I need details of what is wrong and ideally a picture of how it is installed.
We wouldn't sell so many of these and get the reviews they do if they didn't offer a benefit so I have to assume that something is wrong with the skimmer or the installation and I would be happy to try to troubleshoot that. But I need a more informative post than "this sucks", I need details of what is wrong and ideally a picture of how it is installed.
lowscooby76
Member
i learned something here.i did not know the 9002 was not made for the all in one tanks or the solana.it is so hard to find a skimmer the size of the 9002 and will fit in a solana.i have been thinking about the mod just so when i turn off everything to feed the tank or to do a water change.the water level will not go too high and the air intake and the airscrew are under water.i was thinking if i did the mod i would not have to hear the water in the air line and it would be better for the skimmer if it was not put under water so much.Roger do you have any tip that might help with thisyour are always there to help out how ever you can.
It fits, but the skimmer was around long before any of these tanks and these tanks are largely a US phenomena that cropped up after that "Nemo" movie.
This mod would help in the case you describe, if the skimmer is gurgling water is in the airline and this mod would raise the air intake. My advice though would be to use the same type of larger size silicon airline so you get as much air as you can, also shop around for a valve, one issue I have seen is that some valves are 1/2-1 turn for full open and then it is very hard to fine tune the air adjustment vs 5-6 turns for full open. Keep the airline as short as you can, obviously it needs to be longer but the pump is small, it doesn't have that much power so head lengths for air draw will affect the performance, a couple inches more will be fine, but 6+" will likely be a problem.
This mod would help in the case you describe, if the skimmer is gurgling water is in the airline and this mod would raise the air intake. My advice though would be to use the same type of larger size silicon airline so you get as much air as you can, also shop around for a valve, one issue I have seen is that some valves are 1/2-1 turn for full open and then it is very hard to fine tune the air adjustment vs 5-6 turns for full open. Keep the airline as short as you can, obviously it needs to be longer but the pump is small, it doesn't have that much power so head lengths for air draw will affect the performance, a couple inches more will be fine, but 6+" will likely be a problem.
lowscooby76
Member
Thanks Roger sound good i have a old Seaclone Skimmer from back back in the day i will just use the air valve off of that and go to lowes or home depot to get the silicon airline.
As I recall the Seaclone used the same air adjustment that Maxijets used on the venturi kit, they were a bit sloppy, it might work, but might not, I never recall them being very precise. A standard plastic single airline valve might be the best bet. At least here, Lowe's only has vinyl and latex small tubing, you might need to check an aquarium shop or online dealer.
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