BK Double Cone 130 newbie question

Mjm376bh

New member
Good day everyone and thanks for all the wonderful information here! I'm new to the hobby and also a very new owner of a BK Double Cone 130 - what an amazing product!

Question I have: every time I shut down the skimmer to empty the cup, I have to do a couple of restarts. On the first restart, the pump doesn't have full power. A second restart gets it back to full power and then it works with no problems until the next time I have to shut down the skimmer. Any thoughts?

The skimmer is plugged into the Apex power bar.

Thank you!
 
One of two things would be your issue. You either need to take the pump apart and completely clean it by soaking the block and impeller in vinegar. Calcium could be building up inside the block which would cause friction where the impeller shaft goes into the bearing inside the block. The 2nd possibility would be that there is water in the venturi line which would make it seem that the pump isn't running at full speed. An easy way to test and clean that issue without restarting the pump would be to place a finger over the air intake on the silencer when you first start the pump up. Then release it after a few seconds. That will clear any water from the line. if you skimmer is in more than 7" of water, this is the likely cause. Also, if you do nothing and let the pump run for a few minutes, the water will clear itself. It can be compounded by salt creep in the venturi inlet on the pumps nozzle. As such, it's wise to remove the nozzle from the block and inspect the venturi intake nipple and clear out any salt that is crusted up in there. I use a tooth pick to do that.
 
Thank you slief! The skimmer is indeed in 7.5" water - I will raise it by 1". Will check all recommended steps. Truly appreciate RE's customer service, what an amazing product. An absolutely pleasure to interact with such wonderful engineering. Best regards and a happy holiday season!
 
Thank you slief! The skimmer is indeed in 7.5" water - I will raise it by 1". Will check all recommended steps. Truly appreciate RE's customer service, what an amazing product. An absolutely pleasure to interact with such wonderful engineering. Best regards and a happy holiday season!

Glad to help.. You may need to re-adjust the volutes nozzle settings when you raise the skimmer. Maybe not depending on how much you can close the wedge pipe (to compensate for the lower water level) without impacting the skimmers performance. Take your time when making those adjustments. A little turn of the nozzle can go a long way. Give it some time to settle back in when you make adjustments as every time you put your hands in the water, the oil from your skin will impact the surface tension of the water for an hour or more. If you have long gloves, that will help to mitigate the surface tension changes so the effects of your adjustments are more immediate.
 
If you wouldn't mind, once you have your skimmer all dialed in, please share the sump depth and approximate number of turns out on the nozzle in the thread below. Your settings could help others get a starting point when setting up the Double Cone 130. Granted every tank is different but it's always helpful to have another users input.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2546139&page=11
 
I will start a new thread once I have it dialed in - probably in a couple of weeks. My load is still small (couple of clown fish and CUC), the tank is a Red Sea e 170 with the sump...so total volume at 56 gallon. Thanks again for the great work you do here.
 
Good evening again, just did a water change and restarted the skimmer - before the water change I had the wedge fully open, volute out 1.5 turns and I was getting beautiful skin mate.

After water change, I can't get the water to raise up in the skimmer no matter what I do. Tried turning volute out 5 turns, closing the wedge...nothing.

Took the pump out, took it apart and it's not dirty, clogged or anything suspicious. This is a 2-3 week old skimmer...not sure what's going on.

Water level is exactly at 170mm.
5551fed356ff05b8cd37ebf0dd725c9a.jpg
a3e14adb1d0d373b4b9bfd4ab40d3a18.jpg


Any ideas?


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Here's the skimmate production right before the water change...beautiful nasty stuff...IMG_0328.jpgIMG_0329.jpg


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