AquaC CLUB!

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flyingpolarbear,
I will, matter of fact I just lowered the air output .
As far as another pump, thats not going to happen now.
I started with a mag 5 and than upgraded to a mag 7.
I cant afford to keep buying pumps, I wish I read this stuff first, the ehiem sounds like the way to go, but too late.
To be honest , I ram a MTC air stone skimmer on my tank for years and it always pulled out great stuff with no fiddleing.
Got tired of buying and changing them but it worked.
Thanks,
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7436750#post7436750 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tatoofr
Greg,
The skimmer will run all day putting out nothing, and than all of a sudden start to over flow.
Funny thing I cant understand is that when I feed some flake food the skimmer goes nuts and overflows? I thought feeding would knock it back, or suppose to.
Click to expand...

By the sound of it, you have too much skimmer for that tank..
if sits idle, and when you feed it starts working.. its skimming what its being given like a vulcher.
COuld be the other skimmer wasn't getting it out so fast??

I know that's the case with my remora pro.. its on a 29 gallon QT tank.
when there isn't any fish in it, yes it will die and not do anything untill i moved water from the other system to it.
Or added a decent sized fish and feed, boom got skim for a bit and stop, feed, wait, skim, wait,feed,wait, skim.
When it was on a 55gallon with 5 fish it was skimming constant.
 
If it is inconsistent (nothing for hours, then sudden overflow) probably too much air is getting in. Try making finer bubbles using the air valve as the primary method of adjustment. This will allow the foam head to build slowly over time, in a more consistent manner. Coarse large bubbles break the foam head and have less surface area than lots of tiny bubbles. Observe how high the foam gets in the riser with less air. With a pump one size larger than the AquaC recommendation, dial in the air so the foam reaches near the bottom of the cup. Try this with your existing pump, let us know what happens.
 
I think I'm going to chop up my ev180 soon. I want to take advantage of all the air the eheim 1260 draws in, without flooding wet skim all over (and foam spraying from the cup lid). Simply put, If I use the amt. of air I'd like to use with the water height where I want it, there is way too much turbulence in the riser and the bursting point is at or beyond the lip in the cup.

This is a mod I've been thinking about doing for a while now, mostly inspired by the way you can run the ev400.(big riser, lot's of air) I'm going to chop the riser near the base or cup, and add a 5" length of acrylic tubing. Having all of that riser for the foam to expand in lets you use a lot of air, and affords the ability to run the water height at the top of the box without riser turbulence issues. My other option is to cut all of the riser out and add a 10" piece. Let me know what you folks think. (the 5" acrylic tube I have is extruded)

I probably should just order a new one made to my specifications, but I think I can pull this off. Wish me luck, and of course I'll post updates.

:)
 
You could also have Jason make an extender tube with the twist and lock flanges to go between the riser tube and the cup.
 
I agree with Greg. Rather than chopping up the skimmer, simply add a riser extension. That way if things don't work like you want, you can just pull it out and start back at square one.
 
I am concerned about foam escaping from the flange if I were to order an extension. Foam blows out of the cup lid when I crank up the air now. That's what I'm worried about coming out of the middle of the riser using an extension. I don't know, keep the replies coming to help me think this through. :)
 
Hello,
Well since the new settings, still nothing:(
I do get some foam in the riser but it never makes it to the cup.
If I turn up the air a little more the foam I had breaks down.
Frank
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7436547#post7436547 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flyingpolarbear
I ran into the exact same difficulty but the good news is that you can fix it, and make this skimmer work great. AquaC needs to update the instruction manual. First, use a larger pump, the Eheim 1262 or Mag 9.5. Second, use the air valve starting from an almost closed position, and gradually open it, until the foam head reaches near the top. Take a look at my post from a few days ago on this thread where I include the photo of my EV-180 in action. I had the exact challenge that you describe, before I discovered this tuning procedure.
Click to expand...

Well, after reading this I decided I'd go back to trying the Mag 9.5 on my EV180. 12 hours later and still no foam. I'm going to give it another 12 hours, but man, this thing just dumps heat into my tank.
 
why don't you give it a week to be fair. Try several settings. Play with the pump gate if your tubing is short, etc. Yeah, mags do run hot. I won't even try the mag9 on my 75 gal but on my 180 gal it was fine.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7441838#post7441838 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CaptainCoral
why don't you give it a week to be fair. Try several settings. Play with the pump gate if your tubing is short, etc. Yeah, mags do run hot. I won't even try the mag9 on my 75 gal but on my 180 gal it was fine.
Click to expand...

Well I've opened up the gate all the way and I've got the air valve closed about 3/4 of the way. The foam head is about an inch below the bottom of the collection cup. I figure it's not producing only because the pump is newish and hasn't gotten it's own slime coat yet. Same with the "foam" pre-filter on the pump.

If the eheims weren't so damned expensive I'd buy a pair and replace my return pump as well.
 
Hi,
Do you really think that the pump would slove our the problems?
I dont know, why do some of these skimmers work great for some and not others.?
All I know is that im starting to think that I wasted my money and this thing will never work.
I tried everything I can think of.
Frank
 
djtodd....What kind of plumbing set up do you have? (how long, elbows etc.) It seems to me that your plumbing is tight enough to maybe need some gate on that mag. That burst point sounds high for a 3/4 closed air valve. (I bet those bubbles are small though) Did the foam expand any to reach that height? That is going to skim very wet when it does kick in.


Hi,
Do you really think that the pump would slove our the problems?
I dont know, why do some of these skimmers work great for some and not others.?
All I know is that im starting to think that I wasted my money and this thing will never work.
I tried everything I can think of.
Frank
Click to expand...

It is difficult to help people over the internet, especially when there are so many ways to "skin a cat". I can give much better advise, if I actually see the set up. That will tell me a lot. Using a particular pump and saying so, but not showing how efficient your plumbing may or may not be could get you the wrong advise from knowlegable people. Once you see how they don't work, how they work poorly, and how they kick butt, then the picture becomes clear how to duplicate it. :) If I were you, I'd make sure the plumbing line is as short and efficient as possable (don't even bother to add a gate) Then see where that water line is at with different air settings. Water line at the box top or just under, enough air to skim, not so much as to flood. It should be nice and simple just like that.

FWIW, I've noticed patient people have the best "luck" with learning these skimmers
 
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I finally turned started mine up on the new 240 (EV-240 w/ Mag 18). For a couple days it just bubbled on the surface, then all of a sudden I'm getting thick foam up to about an inch below the cup, and gunk is collection there. The thing is, my air is all the way open, and when I close it off I hear it hissing through the JG port...should it do that? And should I close the air down? I thought more air would make it go higher?

jds
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7441912#post7441912 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CaptainCoral
djtodd....What kind of plumbing set up do you have? (how long, elbows etc.) It seems to me that your plumbing is tight enough to maybe need some gate on that mag. That burst point sounds high for a 3/4 closed air valve. (I bet those bubbles are small though) Did the foam expand any to reach that height? That is going to skim very wet when it does kick in.
Click to expand...

There's basically no plumbing between the pump and the skimmer. Maybe 12-16" of flex hose.

Here's a couple of pictures of the foam:

<img src="http://www.synthetic.org/lj/90g/mag-1.jpg">

<img src="http://www.synthetic.org/lj/90g/mag-2.jpg">

It was already a pain getting the thing attached to the skimmer. The pump output and the skimmer input are different sizes. Had to "make" a hose adapter by sticking a section of 1" hose on the pump and stuffing the 3/4" hose into that.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7442035#post7442035 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CaptainCoral
djtodd....Did you clean the riser, cup, injector etc when you swapped pumps? For shame :D
My mag9 has 3/4" inlet and outlet.
Click to expand...

Nah, didn't bother cleaning it. I figured the extra gunk might help speed up the "break in" period.

I just have the tube stuffed over the threaded output of the pump. I think other people must somehow do it the "proper" way and thus don't need to re-size.

If I just stuff it over the MAG7, it's a perfect fit on both the pump and the skimmer.
 
Yeah, that mag7 has 1/2" threads. If you get a threaded female3/4 to male 1/2" reducing pvc you can plumb it just like you used to with the mag7. The inside diameter of that reducer is the same as a 3/4 pvc nipple though, and the latter would be more correct than the former, but both would work well.
It is difficult to tell from the pics, but the bubble size looks small even at the crest. I think everything looks good. Probably just have to wait out the new plastic thing. Besides, if you could dial it in with the mag7, you'll darn sure be able to dial it with the 9! :D
 
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