Anyone with RedSea Skimmers. Need HELP!

[friendtothefish]

Hello All,

I have a Red Sea Turbo Skimmer that I have had sitting in my garage for a month or so. I took it out of the box and noticed that a peice of it had broken off!

It was the valve that adjusts the airflow. Before I start with trying to get it replaced by RedSea. I figured Id ask if anyone knew an easy fix.

This is the break:

What do you guys think? Can this be fixed? Or should I just call RedSea.

Friend

 

[Anemonebuff]

If it did not crack through to the pipe it is irrelevant. That looks like it is just the piece that holds the tube. Either way I say get a better skimmer. IME they are not a very good skimmer. 55 gallon tank at most.

 

[outy]

just run it

if you need to fine tune air you can put a valve on the end of the hose. i really dont think youll have to do that

mine was a waist of electricity only pulled stuff out when the tank was crashing lol

 

[Steven Pro]

You probably don't need the valve, but if you do there are small ones you can buy at most any LFS that slip onto the end of the tubing.

 

[SDguy]

Adding a valve to the end of the tubing to control air can be very helpful when tuning these, err, finicky skimmers. The skimmer chamber of your sump (whether the skimmer is in it or outside of it) must have a CONSTANT, and I mean CONSTANT water level for the skimmer to work and pull out anything. I have a classic berlin that I used for a couple years. Not the best, but CAN work with patience.

 

[einsteins]

Just mod that thing with a kent venturi ...it will perform way better that way...

GL

 

[friendtothefish]

Man, How come everything I read before I bought this dam thing was good... And now all I am hearing is bad.

:mad2:

I really hate hearing negative things about something somone already owns. And the damb thing is brand new, havent even tried it out yet, and you guys are telling me it a peice of Crap???

Not Fun.

 

[SDguy]

No biggie. For the price, it's a totally acceptable skimmer. You've already bought it, broken it so you can't return it. Go ahead and try it. Like I said, constant water level, and needle valve on the air intake. I did the kent venturi mod. Works well, just needs a lot of horizontal space. I also did a mod where I removed the small center cylinder, and replaced it with one only 2-3" tall, including the center baffle of course to prevent a whirlpool. Again, hth

hth

 

[coralnut99]

For the time being, as SDguy said, you now have all you need to know to get this thing to do something. If you don't replace the venturi be prepared to clean the one that it comes with rather regularly. I bought two of them years ago for what was a ridiculous price for any skimmer. I should have known something was up when the boxes arrived, and the tape on them looked 20 years old, and were dusty. I eventually gave up, couldn't get anyone to take them just for the shipping cost, and pitched both in the trash. If you search through the lighting and equipment forum, some folks have come up with a bunch of mods for these things. hth