9010 hydrofoamer venturi problems

[happyclam]

Hey Richard.

I have a 9010 skimmer which has been skimming poorly. We determined that the venturi was broken in shipping (inner venturi part detaches from outlet pipe of pump), so I glued the parts together with Superglue. The skimmer performance increased after glueing, though I feel it is still running sub par.

The skimmer produces ~100 ml a week of dark skimmate for my 130g system containing 120 lbs LR, 2x diamond gobies (4" & 6"), 3x chromis (2-3" ea.), and 1x yellow tang (4-5"). I feed ~1/2 a cube of mysis daily, sometimes more. I used to feed a lot of pellet food, but hair algae started to grow on the rocks so I discontinued feeding the pellets. I still have a fair amount of hair algae on the rocks. Should I be getting more skimmate considering the bioload? No products are added to tank besides RO water, and water changes have been infrequent (getting back on track though with 5-10% water change weekly).

Anyway, my thought is that I did not adequately seal the venturi with the superglue so it is not building the proper amount of pressure. Should I just order the new part (# 0235.130) to replace it? Would it greatly improve skimmer performance, or will it only be a negligable improvement?

Sorry for my long-winded question.

Thank you for all your help and hope you have a merry Christmas.

happyclam

 

[rvitko]

I think you would see some improvement, how much will depend on how well the glue was done. I would skim wetter, this will remove more nutrients overall largely by keeping the neck cleaner so it skims better a day or so down the road, I typically would expect 250-350ml of tea colored skimmate per week.

 

[happyclam]

Right now, I have the blue screw completely removed and I still get the dark, "dry" skimmate.

Today I completely took apart the skimmer and cleaned it, soaked it in a weak vinegar solution, and applied a layer of epoxy gel over the superglue on the venturi. I'll let it cure for a day and see what happens.

If I do decide to just get the new part, should I just order it on the Tunze website?

Thank you for the help.

 

[rvitko]

Yes, I am pretty certain based on your description that a new impeler housing/venturi will fix it. Today is our last day this week of shipping. We are closed next week to do inventory and wrap up year end bookkeeping but if you place an order on tunze.com it will ship after the new year.