Bubble King Double Cone 150 Surging

[neeper]

Hi all, I'm still trying to get a Bubble King Double Cone 150 dialed in. It's been a few months but still not working right. It keeps surging and only stops when I've unscrewed the volute 7.5 turns. Here's the details of how I've got it setup.

- Display volume is 135 gallons
- Sump is 16 gallons
- Salinity is 1.025
- Bubble King Double Cone 150 depth is exactly 7"
- Volute is 7.5 turns out

Only time it stops surging is anywhere past 7.5 turns out of the volute. I saw thread from 2016 and the member recommended 4-4.5 turns out on the volute in 7" of water. Is 7.5 turns out on the volute too much?

 

[neeper]

Made a mistake, the total system volume is 135 gallons.

Display volume is 119 gallons and the sump is 16 gallons.

 

[slief]

Drop the sump depth a bit. I’d suggest 6.5”. And no, 7.5 turns out isn’t too much. Every tank is different and it’s really about dialing it in for what works best for your system and load. That’s why the nozzle has the range of adjustment that it does. Sump depth, load, surface tension etc all impact the ideal settings for any given tank. The 4-4.5 turns out is just a starting point with the Double Cone 150 on most systems.

Also, system volume isn’t as important as display sizing which I think you know since you were careful to include that but knowing the load in terms of number of fish and in some cases size of fish can be helpful as that gives some basis of the load. You can have a 1000 gallon display but if you only have 5 small fish in it, then you’d probably be best served with a skimmer rated for 25 gallons. And the load has a big influence on how any skimmer will perform. Knowing that doesn’t mean I could tell you what nozzle setting would be ideal but often the load or lack of can explain things when it comes to a skimmers performance.

 

[neeper]

slief, I've got the skimmer sitting in 6.5" of water no wand the volute is 5 turns out to make it stop surging. I've got the outlet pipe about 90% closed but the foam head is very low in the skimmer body and not able to make it far enough. The small bubbles are about 7" inside the skimmer body.

 

[slief]

slief, I've got the skimmer sitting in 6.5" of water no wand the volute is 5 turns out to make it stop surging. I've got the outlet pipe about 90% closed but the foam head is very low in the skimmer body and not able to make it far enough. The small bubbles are about 7" inside the skimmer body.

90% closed is too much and means you should raise the water level a bit. I’d raise it 1/4” at a time so you can get the line where bubbles turn to foam up much further. We refer as that line as a break line. It should ideally be up around 1/2” below the bottom of the cup and you should avoid having to close the wedge more then 50%. So raise your sump level, open the wedge and readjust the nozzle. Surging is usually the result of too much water going through the skimmer and with the wedge closed that much, it doesn’t take much to have too much water flow. You adjust that flow via the nozzle as it changes the water to air ratio but first thing is to use the nozzle to get the most dense foam possible, then make slight adjustments to your sump level so that you don’t need to close the wedge more then 50%.

 

[neeper]

Ok I've not got the skimmer at 6.75" in water height. Output pipe is fully open and I've got the pump volute screwed in all the way. What should I adjust first the output pipe or the volute? Please tell me the exact steps I should take.

 

[slief]

Ok I've not got the skimmer at 6.75" in water height. Output pipe is fully open and I've got the pump volute screwed in all the way. What should I adjust first the output pipe or the volute? Please tell me the exact steps I should take.

Open the nozzle. As I said in my previous comments in this thread, you should start at 4-4.5 turns out and open it more from there as needed. The idea is to get the most dense foam possible but EVERY tank is different so you need to tune it for your system. If you have the close the wedge pipe more then 50%, raise your sump level and quarter of an inch. The nozzle is for tuning the quality of the foam head. The wedge and sump level is for adjusting the water level inside the skimmer.