9015 concerns

[mseepman]

Hello Roger,

I'm hoping that you can help me out with my 9015. When I originally purchased this unit, it had a bad venturi and I never got good skimmate out of it, but Phil eventually replaced that for me.
Even now though, I really don't get very good results from it. The skimmer is in my sump, in fairly calm water with a constant water level approximately 1 inch below the water level mark on the side of the unit.

Here are the things that I know are not causing my issues:
The pipe is not in too far (I've adjusted it based upon previous entries you have made on here.)
The air hose is not kinked.
The base and inputs are all installed correctly according to the manual.

I get foam up the neck of the skimmer cup, but even with the air screw all the way open as recommended in the manual, I only get wet skim-mate at a rate of about 100ml per week in a 90 Gallon tank with a heavy bio-load.

I know that this is not near what I should be pulling out of the system.

Any help would be great.

 

[rvitko]

So the skimmate you collect is very wet?

 

[Alex Chen]

Hi~ Roger

My customer also has the similar situation on his 9010.
He replaced the new 0235.13 assembly. And all other parts, air tubing, insert, nozzle, housing base and input, are all installed correctly and air screw is all the way opened, however, its performance doesn't change at all.

Now he connected a small section of PVC pipe to the water outlet for making it higher. Hence, the water level inside skimmer becomes higher. After this small moification, he found that it can produced a bit more waste water, about 100ml per day, but after the fisrt day, it begins difficult to skimmate and produces very "dried bubble."

According to the design of 9010/9015, they use the same pump and 9010 will be supposed to over skimming when the air screw is fully opened, right? But how come it still produces dried bubble and has difficulty of producing waste water?

 

[rvitko]

What is the power in Taiwan? 115V 60hz? 235.13 is the wrong assembly, it has a less efficient 2 piece venturi, 3130.13 is the correct one. The air open too far is almost as bad as not enough as you tend to get larger bubbles. Raising the pipe allows water to get sucked into the air intake and reduces airflow.

 

[Alex Chen]

Roger,

Sorry, I made the mistake, it is 3130.13.
The power in Taiwan is 110V/60Hz.
My customer just raied the pipe a bit higher, but the water level still lower than the air intake inside the skimmer. Because he said if he does not make it higher, the performance will be even worse.

Is there any other suggestion to improve the situation?

Thanks

 

[rvitko]

I know if I had it I could get it to work, but it is too hard to say without having it in person to work on. I would either send it to the factory or you could try posting a lot of pictures of the skimmer and how it is installed and I may be able to find out what is wrong.

 

[Alex Chen]

OK, Roger

Could you possible give me an idea what is normal waste production rate of a 9010 or 9015 skimmer in a relative heavy bio-load tank? Any certain example will be a good reference.

 

[rvitko]

You should get about 100-250ml a week in a 75-120 gallon aquarium with moderate to heavy stock and the skimmate should be the color of dark tea to light coffee but it can also be green colored if a lot of algae is present.

 

[Alex Chen]

Roger, thank you for the reply.

According to this skimming rate, I think my customer's skimmer is running normally. Maybe he just expected to have more waste water than it really does.

I will announce this point to our customers and I suggest you can point it out on your user manual. Because I think most hobbyists consider: the more waste water, the better the skimmer. However, it seems that Tunze skimmers are likely to produce more concentrated waste rather than just produce more volume, right?

 

[rvitko]

The 9015 will definitely produce more concentrated waste. The 9010 however should be able to produce a very watery skimmate. Even a fully loaded tank, if well established and through luck as well as a little planning can cycle a fair amount of the waste biologically so the skimmers don't have much to remove. If the tank looks healthy and ha no or minimal algae growth that is the real judge of the performance.

 

[mseepman]

Well Roger, In answer to your original question to me, yes the skimmate is really wet.

I've cleaned the unit and made sure that everything sits as it should. The unit sits straight (I used a mini level to make sure).

Maybe this is all that I should be pulling out but I bought the 9015 thinking that it would produce a concentrated waste.

Is there somewhere that I can get better instructions for pulling apart and cleaning the hydrofoamer? There is really nothing in the manual that I have found.

 

[rvitko]

If the skimmate is really wet all you need to do is close the venturi screw. Close it in 1/4 turn increments, once a day until you get the skimmate the consistency you would like. Pages 73-95 deal with the pump cleaning and maintanence but it is almost identical to the Stream pumps which are dealt with in the top thread on this forum.

 

[mseepman]

I've been trying this...it's dried up a little but still surprisingly little production. I will keep working on it. Any other suggestions would be great.

Thanks.