AquaC EV-180 Skimmer Help

[Reefing Newbie]

A few days ago, my skimmer stopped skimming properly. For the past three weeks, it had been running perfectly fine taking out a nice dark brown skim and I would be empting out about 1 inch of skim out of a .5gallon milk carton every two days. I didn't really take notice of the skimmer water level until today then connected the dots as to why the milk jug was not filling up with any more skim. Would you guys recommend cleaning it out then go from there? Otherwise if this brand of skimmer has a reputation for more problems, what kind of skimmer would you recommend in its place? My tank is a 125 with a 55 gallon sump.

 

[Fish4Me2]

Make sure the air valve is not clogged. My old ev stopped working, and I discovered I hadnt noticed some serious salt creep that clogged up the air.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

I will look for that when I clean it in a little bit. Thanks for the heads up on it!

 

[jtma508]

Two things you need to periodically check --- and especially if the performance drops suyddenly: As Fish4Me2 said, the airvalve WILL slowly build-up salt. And it came be difficult to see cause it almost looks like the inside of the valve. Also, your water pump can pick up small bits of shell or skeleton which can lodge in the injector. Take that out and clean it as well.

 

[JohnM99]

Agree with above. Snails and other junk blocking the pump are the most common reasons mine has had problems - and cleaning out the air valve. If no water is coming into the box, it will be the pump. If water is coming in but you get no bubbles, check the valve.

Not sure what pump you have, but most are about the same with about 4 screws to take off and pull off the front of the pump and clean it ou

Otherwise this skimmer is quite reliable, although some newer skimmers may be more effective. (That being said, another study found that most skimmers remove about the same amount of TOC, which is less than half of what is in the tank. The reason for this is that the remaining TOC is not in a form that can be removed by clinging to bubbles).

I also have to add that the company gives very impressive service. Even though I bought my unit used, I cracked my air valve - and when I wrote the company asking to buy a new one, they sent me one for free. Can't complain about that.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

Thanks for the help, I checked in the skimmer and saw bubbles and water in there just that the level dropped down to about half of what it should have been. I got too busy over the weekend to clean, and should clean it in a day or two. It is operating fine right now, as I have about 2" of skim in the .5 gallon jug. Maybe I bumped the valve without noticing... Will still clean the skimmer and pump to get it working to its full potential. Good to hear that they have good service just in case I have future problems.

 

[Abaddon]

Thanks for the help, I checked in the skimmer and saw bubbles and water in there just that the level dropped down to about half of what it should have been. I got too busy over the weekend to clean, and should clean it in a day or two. It is operating fine right now, as I have about 2" of skim in the .5 gallon jug. Maybe I bumped the valve without noticing... Will still clean the skimmer and pump to get it working to its full potential. Good to hear that they have good service just in case I have future problems.

I hate to dredge up an old thread but how often do you guys take the air inlet completely out of the box and clean the salt build up out of the underside? I took mine out and it was so caked in there I had to use a screwdriver to clean it all out. It was more like calcium than salt! Less than a week later I had so much salt creep I had to take it down and clean it again. It was softer this time but once a week to clean the air inlet? That seems like a little much. I'm curious to see if it's just me!