aquamaxx ConeS CO 1 skimmer review

JNS Cones CO 3

JNS Cones CO 3

Wow I can't believe I had never come across this thread. I bought the CO3 from Big Al's a few month back for about $360 shipped and since I had read only good things I jumped on it.

I just filled up my setup for a water test yesterday and I found no water on the floor today so that was good but I ran the skimmer and I don't see the white wall of bubbles as I expected coming out of the bubble plate. Is it because it freshwater or is there some possibility that the air intake is obstructed? Not sure but any tips or suggestions are apprecited.
 
RedStangGA said:
I opened mine as well and other than parts were scattered everywhere nothing seemed broken. I haven't turned it on yet to test it.

Interesting that you've never seen a difference between fresh and salt. The one time I tested a skimmer in fresh it made absolutely no foam at all.
Click to expand...

Funny I was going over the thread again and just read you having the same experience that I'm having. I was confused as to why I was let getting more bubbles in the freshwater. Lol
 
How would one of these work on a 93 cube with medium bioload, sps dominate. Currently considering one of these or the nyos120.
 
it will work fine with a medium load but as your system grows out, it won't keep up IMO.
May want to look at the coneS CO2.
 
Took my pump out to clean over the weekend and my impeller looks like this. Is this normal and would this affect performance?
b0e6348a95de13e9ef45f4b8f29e8099.jpg
 
looks like a poor glue application. is it hard or slime like?

Your impeller is different than mine. You have a later model than mine.

does your pump vibrate and create noise?

If it's a hard substance like glue then you could always use a dremel (if you have one) and cut off the excess slag. dremels are very easy to work with. Personally i would get a back up impeller just in case ;-)

The impellers are not cheap though. I think between marine depot and other vendors they can range from $40 to $80. rediculous really!

marine depot is the cheapest if they have them in stock.

Tivo
 
aquamaxx ConeS CO 1 skimmer review

I took apart the pump to do a thorough cleaning and found this. Do you think this will negatively affect performance? The pump still runs super quiet with no vibrations but it simply doesn't skim like it used and I thought a thorough cleaning would resolve that problem. Do you think a new impeller would help this problem? Please help
 
Bolo Tran said:
I took apart the pump to do a thorough cleaning and found this. Do you think this will negatively affect performance? The pump still runs super quiet with no vibrations but it simply doesn't skim like it used and I thought a thorough cleaning would resolve that problem. Do you think a new impeller would help this problem? Please help
Click to expand...

Did you just clean the pump or did you do a deep cleaning of the entire skimmer including the pump? Either way, if it appears to be pulling a similar volume of air then just let it sit and bed back in. deep cleanings of a pump will require a bit of a slime coat to build back up on the components and a bit of re-breakin will occur. If you cleaned the entire skimmer body as well then expect a bit longer re-break. Maybe a week, give or take, depending on bioload.
 
Thanks for the reply. It's hard to explain what's going on so I think it'll be easier if I post some pics

Here is how it skimmed in its glory days. Smooth bubbles all the way up and a nice thick dense foam and the bubbles spill over and don't pop.
a774037ac08dc6973c07f402fd647661.jpg


But lately. Even before the cleaning there is an obvious break line in the reaction chamber and I'm not sure what's causing it.
bc868a566a4dcde47d638cbe0c0c05cb.jpg


It still skims don't get me wrong. Just doesnt have that thick satisfying foam head that's oh so exciting to look at. I have even more fish now than when I first got the skimmer so I know it's not from lack of bioload.

Thanks for any input/ assistance in advance
 
your chamber below the air water line doesn't look "milked out".

From the picture it seems like it's not drawing enough air.

Did you check the clear plastic nipple on the volute where the yellow air line attaches?

Take off the intake fitting that the air line plugs into. It will twist off with some force. Then look into the nipple and I'll bet you have some heavy build up in there. The body of yours looks like mine when I need to clean out the air intake. I use the non cutting end of a drill bit to punch out the deposits and then a q-tip to do a final cleaning.
 
Yes. I did that over the weekend. The volute had some build up also and I cleaned it out as well as the air line. Popped it back in but it didn't seem to help. Still had that apparent line in the chamber. Anything else I can try?
 
It will always have that line but when operating properly, the chamber will be so dense with bubbles that the air/water line is hard to see. You can see it much clearer in your pics because it's not pulling enough air. So you looked down inside the small clear acrylic nipple and it didn't have a lot of build up? When mine looks like that, the inner diameter is choked off with crust and is about half the size i.d.-HMM?
 
Yes sir. I did exactly like you suggested using a drill bit but perhaps I should give it a good vinegar bath to see if it helps any as well as the pump. If it doesn't do the job, do you think a new volute would help?
 
Bolo Tran said:
Yes sir. I did exactly like you suggested using a drill bit but perhaps I should give it a good vinegar bath to see if it helps any as well as the pump. If it doesn't do the job, do you think a new volute would help?
Click to expand...
A vinegar bath on the pump volute only wouldn't hurt. If the air intake nipple is clear I doubt a new volute piece would help. I would go with a new impeller. The one you have with that slag on it may be keeping the impeller from seating completely down into the bearing inside the pump and just a millimeter off can make a big difference in performance
 
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