9011 DOC Skimmer removed sump kit

[bad inferno]

Having run my skimmer within the sump for 5 months I was not real sure how it was performing on the basis I have very little fish load thus I thought low skimate. Tank is 4' moderate stock of SPS and LPS. I used to empty <70ml per week from the cup. The sump water level was probably 2" down from the water line mark on the skimmer in this mode. I had a nice gentle flow out of the standpipe no microbubbles so all seemed good albiet low skimate.

So last weekend I took off the sump kit, pipe & bottom & insternal cover plate. My sump level is quite high and can run it at the correct level for "in tank" operation still however located in exactly the same position in the sump. Its run now for 3 days and have 200ml of skimate.

So in my configuration the 9011 performs better without the sump kit than with it on. There is a very small possibility that disassembling the unit and putting it back together may of also contributed to the performance increase however I was very careful in the original assembly and also making sure the bottom plate was inserted correctly and sealed. I have assembled it twice over the past 5 months and had not previously made a difference.

Anyhow happy with the operation now and in fact my airscrew can be set to the nominated 3-4 turns. For in sump operation the screw seemed to do very little and I had to run it nearly all the way out.

Maybe for the sump kit I had been running it at too high a water level. Just thought I would share my findings for those that may have a high sump level and may want to try this as well.

Cheers

 

[rvitko]

My best guess would be that the stand pipe was in too far so the water was backing up into the air intake with the sump kit. Generally something would have to be wrong with the sump kit or how it is installed, the best DIY test of the sump kit is that it would still push water out the stand pipe at only 4" submerged and that at higher submersion depth, there is no gurgling noises.