AquaC CLUB!

[acer]

Where do you have the air intake valve ( full open /closed/etc.) - also what is a full system specs. Is this a new skimmer that is 2 weeks old? If this is a 20 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump with one fish in it- maybe there isn't much skimming needed- you get my point. It looks, based on your picture, you may have not enough enough water going into it as I see no water line - only bubbles. Is the Rio pump in an area that the water level surrounding it is always level - so the water flow from it to the skimmer is always the same?

1) Check the air intake and make sure it is clear.
2) make sure the return line is not submerged at all

Easiest way to "dial in" one of these is to open the exit gate valve full, open the air intake full -then see if the Rio is pumping enough water in to get the water level to the line between the black and the clear ( top of the black box part of the skimmer). If the pump cannot get the water level high enough in the skimmer, then that is your problem- too much head pressure ( friction from the sides of the hose itself and the height of the skimmer) for the pump to get enough water flow into the skimmer.

So check/try/observe and let us know what you figure out.

 

[Kamidges]

Air intake is fully open- the skimmer is used- but running on my tank for about 2 weeks- it's a 90 gallon with an eshopps adv-100 sump- the tank is lightly stocked with 6 green blue chromis, 3 cardinals, and a handful of hermits- the rio is in a section of the sump where the water level does not fluctuate- I took off the air intake and it's free from any obstruction - I also checked the injector and it too is free from obstruction- at first my return line was submerged, but after reading thru the posts I modified it so that it is no longer submerged-

I have opened the gate valve all the way (and this is where it gets interesting) - sometimes the water will stay level with the top of the box and other times it will lower down about 1/4 of the way- if I open the valve while it's running it tends to maintain that height- if I start it with the valve open that's when it doesn't fill all the way up to that portion of the box-

In the picture, the water level is about right at the top of the box(not the inside plate but the actual top before the column)- I tried following the original directions and leaving the water level about 1/2" from the inner plate- didn't get any worthwhile results- then I read on here and in the updated directions to raise it to the top of the actual box just below the clear acrylic column- raised it to there and same results-

Could the "back pressure" from the 90 coming right off the gate be attributing to my issue? I'm just puzzled bc at one point it was making good foam (when I had the water level between 1/4 and 1/2" from the lower plate- then it started getting the burping bubbles and died off- never to return-

 

[acer]

hmmm... well Yes that is weird. I am fairly new to the AquaC club as I got my skimmer used also. I went thru the steps that I had to do - and figured out I had to raise my skimmer up out of the water a bit for my setup to work properly. But, your skimmer is out of the water and your setup is very different than mine and I don't have the experience to help you -sorry.

Yes- i guess there could be back pressure from the 90 immediately after the gate valve- it may act like submerging a hose attached to the gate valve. Is there a way to take out the 90 and replace with hose than has a gentle bend in it?

I still think the pump may not be pushing enough flow into the skimmer- if the air valve is totally open then you should be overflowing the skimmer -even if the gate valve is full open. I started by opening the gate valve full, shut the air valve completely off, then turn the pump on. water should fill the black box maybe 3/4 full. Now slowly open up the air valve and the air bubbles should raise the water level and stop opening the valve up when the water level is just when the black box and the clear tube meet. If I turn my air valve open full my skimmer overflows.

that is the best i can do for u. Sorry if I wasn't much help.

 

[AZRippster]

Could the "back pressure" from the 90 coming right off the gate be attributing to my issue? I'm just puzzled bc at one point it was making good foam (when I had the water level between 1/4 and 1/2" from the lower plate- then it started getting the burping bubbles and died off- never to return-

Yes, the elbow will create back pressure. I owned the EV-240 for several years. I put a 45 degree CPVC elbow with a short 1/2 stem pointing back towards the main body in the top of the elbow coming out of the gate valve and it fixed the back pressure thing. The 45 CPVC elbow and stem prevented water from splashing out of the elbow out of the gate valve.

 

[Kamidges]

Thanks for all your help guys- I decided to abandon the set up outside of the stand and drilled a hole in my sump- I hope this solves the problems I've been having-

 

[cas1069]

OK - even without lifting the unit above the water level in the sump it is skimming reasonably well. I just raised it about 2.5 inches with four layers of plastic egg-crate tied together with a Zip tie. This put the bottom edge of the exit out of the skimmer at the same level as the water in the sump and I immediately had to readjust everything. So yeah - it worked. However, I decided to clean out the skimmer cup and I cant get the collection cup lid off. Arggg....

Edit: Well- I had to pull on the casket to get the lid off, the casket tore - I hope that wont effect the performance of the unit. What a pain....

I use a suction cup on my lid when i remove it to give something to pull on. I alos marked the lid and cup so i know when everything is lined up

 

[acer]

That's a great idea.

 

[anarchyx914]

Hey guys,

I'm an aquac user for over a year now. My skimmer has been working great but recently skimmate and air has started leaking between the rubber seals on the top of the collection cup and where the collection cup meets the body of the skimmer. I have done a thorough cleaning of the skimmer and also made sure there was no gunk on the collection cup elbow or my drain tube as per the suggestion from the manufacturer but I an still getting gunk and air seeping thru the seals.

Does anyone here have any ideas? I am not getting many responses from the manufacturer anymore with further troubleshooting tips.

 

[cas1069]

Hey guys,

I'm an aquac user for over a year now. My skimmer has been working great but recently skimmate and air has started leaking between the rubber seals on the top of the collection cup and where the collection cup meets the body of the skimmer. I have done a thorough cleaning of the skimmer and also made sure there was no gunk on the collection cup elbow or my drain tube as per the suggestion from the manufacturer but I an still getting gunk and air seeping thru the seals.

Does anyone here have any ideas? I am not getting many responses from the manufacturer anymore with further troubleshooting tips.

air should be able to escape out of the cup as for skimmate you may need to adjust how wet or dry you are running it

 

[anarchyx914]

air should be able to escape out of the cup as for skimmate you may need to adjust how wet or dry you are running it

I've adjusted the air valve and gate valve every which way and I still keep getting skim mate leaking out of the seals. This thing ran so well for over a year and now I'm about to scrap it and go with something else because I can't fix this issue.

Whats even more frustrating, is that the people @ AquaC are not even responding to questions, my last response was 10 days ago from them.

I have tried cleaning the collection cup and seals daily, ive even pulled the 3/4" tube for collection off of the cup every time and clean that out with high pressure water. I still get air escaping from the skimmer and I can actually feel the air escaping between the seals on the cup/neck and cup/lid.

Thanks to anyone on here who has helpful suggestions to try and resolve this, its getting old waking up every morning to skimmate all over my floor and skimmer.

 

[anarchyx914]

A quick update.. The only thing in my system that has changed is that I have made a 2" PVC Tee on the pump intake so I can run my biopellet effluent into the pump inlet directly. It seems that this extra gunky biofilm from the biopellets being right into the skimmer pump inlet is what is causing the drain tube to clog up literally daily. I am still getting the seepage between the seals of the skimmer neck and collection cup and also between the seals on the skimmer cup and cup lid.

Not really sure what to do from here, as cleaning the skimmer neck, cup, and drain tube daily is a bit too much work for a skimmer. Its fairly common for biopellet users to try and run the effluent directly into the skimmer intake pump.

 

[cas1069]

A quick update.. The only thing in my system that has changed is that I have made a 2" PVC Tee on the pump intake so I can run my biopellet effluent into the pump inlet directly. It seems that this extra gunky biofilm from the biopellets being right into the skimmer pump inlet is what is causing the drain tube to clog up literally daily. I am still getting the seepage between the seals of the skimmer neck and collection cup and also between the seals on the skimmer cup and cup lid.

Not really sure what to do from here, as cleaning the skimmer neck, cup, and drain tube daily is a bit too much work for a skimmer. Its fairly common for biopellet users to try and run the effluent directly into the skimmer intake pump.

you may need to run wetter skim with the biopellet as they product lots of gunk

 

[TYC]

Anyone have experience using the Urchin skimmer?...just got one and wondering what height level do others keep the collection cup, low or high? When I leave it high, sometimes bubbles don't reach and if I lower the cup it seems to collect a lot of water quickly in cup...does it take few days to break in?

 

[smoothmove]

I just bought a used ev-400 for $110. I threw the aquas injector into my parts bin. I attached a mazzei 1" injector with a mag drive 18. It works better. It turned the skimmer from mediocre into a skimmer. I have been messing with it and am now impressed.

I am also trying a sedra 5000 needle wheel and that also skims better than the original spray nozzle. Flow is reduced and the column is filled up to the aquac sticker.

I like the design of the skimmer, just want to improve on the performance.

Anyone else try a needle wheel or mods on these skimmers?

 

[five.five-six]

I recently got a used remora body and my cobalt mj1200 showed up today. I don't have the o-ring, should it work without the ring? Also, I'm getting micro-bubbles and not much foam. Does the MJ need to break in before it starts working well?

 

[sh4rkbyt3]

The MJ doesn't need to break in the body of the Remora does though. Without the O-Ring you won't have any adjustability on your skimmate being wet or dry. It's kind of essential IMO.
Micro bubbles and no foam to start are normal. To alleviate the micro bubbles going back into the tank I used the overflow box that Aqua C sells and it did actually work. I can't remember quite how long it took mine to start actually producing skim but I'm thinking somewhere from 5-8 days?

I just got my new one today with the same pump. Unfortunately the tubing was too large for the pump's discharge so I had to cut the supplied 3/4" or 1" tubing and insert a 5/8" tube inside. Cut off about a 1/8" strip right down the 1" tubing lengthwise and then zip tied it with the 5/8" tubing on the inside and works like a charm. The ratchet clamps weren't available locally without ordering off of Amazon so I made do.

One question I have for current owners, the one I owned previously (10 yrs ago) didn't have the drain coming out of the collection cup which this one does. The drain fitting or plug doesn't allow for much raising or lowering of the cup. Has this been an issue for anyone?

 

[five.five-six]

Well, It took about 10 days to start skimming and it actually does a really nice job. I was going to just to just ditch it but was distracted by my new 135 gallon tank. I noticed a couple days ago that it was skimming quite nicely and the micro bubbles were gone. I have since raised the collection cup and the skimmate is quite gank.

 

[ggenung]

I thought my first Aqua C was a dud. It took 2 or 3 weeks and then it worked beautifully with little or no adjustment. Before it's broken in, don't try too hard to get bubbles to reach the cup. If you do, when it kicks in it will overflow the cup with a lot of water.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[sh4rkbyt3]

Mine's producing already after only 28 hrs of break-in for a brand new Remora Pro and brand new MJ1200. The tank is pretty clean and I keep feeding to a minimum so I'm very happy with the pump and Pro combo together.

Getting nice thick skimmate and very happy I made the plunge again. They guy who owned the tank before me was using a Fluval PS2 mini which is a total piece of junk but it came in the pkg deal for the tank, light, filter, fish and stand. I've worked with some really bad ones before but this Fluval Mini takes the cake. If you breathe, blink, whisper or sneeze plan on spending hours re-adjusting it and getting minimal results, if you're lucky.

 

[smoothmove]

Converted the EV400 with two needle wheel Sedra 5000. So far loving the results. Not as loud as the injector and a smaller pump.


I tried the Sedra 15000 and two Sedra 5000's. The two sedras work better than the one 15000.


Raised the water level in the skimmer to the bottom of the skimmer cup for contact time.