9010 not skimming

[spleen93]

Hi guys. On a recommendation from me, a friend of mine bought a 9010 for her FOWLR tank (44 gallon pentagon) and set it up in the return compartment of her wet-dry filter. It's been running now for 2-3 wks and while it creates some crud along the neck of the cup, it never really spills over into the cup itself. I've read through the recommendations in this forum and we've confirmed that the bottom plate is on all the way (with bevel towards the front) and that the airline is on correctly on the venturi. The output of the pump is inserted into the matching fitting in the body of the skimmer. The blue screw is open all the way and the bubbles foam furiously right below the collar of the body but it never seems to come up very much. Water does eject from the return tube (a gentle overflowing) as well as exit the hole in the back of the skimmer.

(sorry for low res blurry cell phone picture - picture of the bubble level in the body of the skimmer, neck and cup removed)

What can we do to get it to skim better? It's sitting in the sump in about 5 inches of water (technically on the low end of the range). Would it help to raise water level? Is part of the problem that it's after the wet/dry (bioball) section and the carbon? Would it be better to tank mount the skimmer instead?

Spleen

 

[rvitko]

What inhabitants are in the FOWLR and how long has it been set up? What you show looks fairly normal. What is the SG as well? Does water exit the outlet pipe?

 

[spleen93]

It's lightly stocked - it's got a clownfish, a blue damsel, a coral banded shrimp, a sea cuke, and a bunch of snails. It's been up for about a year at this time. SG was around 1.024 when she checked it last - I didn't check it when I was over there the other day. Water is exiting both the outlet pipe (very gentle overflow onto the sponge which is about an inch below the exit) and also from the hole in the back of the skimmer. The skimmer runs quiet, no strange boiling noises.

Thanks again, Roger.

Spleen

 

[rvitko]

It really looks to have the proper air flow. With such a light stock and no corals I assume, it is likely that there just is not much to skim. A skimmer can only remove cellulose and proteins. You might try as a test stirring up the sand lightly and dusting the rock and feeding freeze dried krill as the chitin content can also boost skimming.

 

[spleen93]

She got frustrated and decided to try to tank mount it instead. Voila, skimmate! Produced 1 inch of dark skimmate overnight. Weird. But at least she's happy now. "Now THIS is why I bought a $300 skimmer!"

Spleen

 

[IPT]

Interesting - my skimmer is much improved (when the pump is running that is) but it has yet to make any dark skimate. Roger any imput as to why the mounting made such a difference?

 

[rvitko]

If the skimmate is light close the air screw 1/8 to 1/4 turn and wait a day to see the result. There really should be no difference, the skimmer should in fact be slightly stronger when run in sump. I would have to assume some part is not installed correctly or had a flaw.