Bubble King Skimmer Club

[Jeremy B.]

Guys I've posted this question before and didn't get it resolved. I have a 140 gallon system with a bubble king mini 180. my problem is getting this skimmer to pull steady skimmate. today my skimmer had maybe 1/2" of skimate in the cup then and hour later its overflowing. I have the skimmer in about 7" of water. I've had this problem since I set the skimmer up 5 months ago. I've moved the skimmer lower in the sump and still the same results. I'm at a loss here, I spent 1000 on this skimmer and its not working out at all. THis is on a frag system with 100 sps frags and two fish a clown and a hippo tang. I thought it was a low bio load issue but that wouldn't make sense cause it's overflowing. It can happen in the course of a hour or two. Ive played around with the water level in the skimmer body and still no results. can anyone please help me out with this. Im practically begging. Is it possible that my skimmer is defective?

How much does the sump level fluctuate where the skimmer is sitting? How frequently do you make adjustments to the skimmer?

 

[bmooney31]

Thanks for responding Jeremy. Here is a picture of my sump. The water in the chamber with the skimmer doesn't really fluctuate. All the evaporation level is in the far right section. I will make adjustments and let it sit for a few days then adjust again. However, I rarely get to the second day cause usually it's already overflowed. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bmooney31]

Also for what it's worth I just checked inside the air silencer and it was clean as if it had never been used

 

[simonh]

Where do BubbleKing 250 owners have the waterstrip line (where the foam starts to split from the water/bubble mix)?

I run mine just below the bayonet fitting. It skims great, I'm just interested to hear where others are running theirs.

 

[Jeremy B.]

bmooney, keep me posted on what happens with the skimmer.

 

[watsonj]

Do you run Biopellets?

Guys I've posted this question before and didn't get it resolved. I have a 140 gallon system with a bubble king mini 180. my problem is getting this skimmer to pull steady skimmate. today my skimmer had maybe 1/2" of skimate in the cup then and hour later its overflowing. I have the skimmer in about 7" of water. I've had this problem since I set the skimmer up 5 months ago. I've moved the skimmer lower in the sump and still the same results. I'm at a loss here, I spent 1000 on this skimmer and its not working out at all. THis is on a frag system with 100 sps frags and two fish a clown and a hippo tang. I thought it was a low bio load issue but that wouldn't make sense cause it's overflowing. It can happen in the course of a hour or two. Ive played around with the water level in the skimmer body and still no results. can anyone please help me out with this. Im practically begging. Is it possible that my skimmer is defective?

 

[bmooney31]

I do run bio pellets but the skimmer was soon this before I put them on the system. Jeremy thanks for talking with me. I noticed a fee hours after we talked the water level in the slimmer seemed to raise on it's own. I have the thumb screw locked down on the stand pipe. What could make the water level raise on it's own? I reset it back to 1" below water level line. So I'll check it later to see if it moves. Also when you set the water line is it where the water/bubbles meet the just bubbles? Also I realize now what you were talking about the air void. Where should that be? I'll keep you posted. Thanks

 

[rob020880]

http://************.com/2011/01/20/bubble-king-double-cones/

New BK looks good

 

[sean2sean]

Thx for the cleaning tip. My bk is skimming like a champ again!

 

[Jeremy B.]

Glad to hear Sean!

 

[Jeremy B.]

Glad to hear Sean!

 

[whywhy99]

Now leaving BK for BM, I have run my BK 200mini for a year now. And It´s the worst money spent ever.

I have litterally tried everything to make it skim properly, but nothing helps. In my eye this thing is highly overrated.

In a week it only produce aprx 1-2 dl skimmate, and then it´s set wet. My tank is 500L and is heavily stocked, and I feed tvice a day.

 

[Jeremy B.]

Was your neck never mucked up during this time? Once the neck gets dirty, it needs cleaned. If it's not cleaned it will start skimming wet. This holds true with just about any protein skimmer out there.

 

[whywhy99]

The thruth is that the only thing that gets dirty is the thing on the stolen pic , the foam never really enters the cup. Only when I set the skimmer to skim really wet.If I adjust it to factory settings, there´s no skimmate att all. It only gunks up the thing on the pic.

(I cant find the right word for the thingy)

 

[Jeremy B.]

Run the water level of the skimmer right at the orange o-ring in the neck, or maybe a half inch above it or so. I think you will see a big difference in doing this.

 

[whywhy99]

Tnx, I will try this. But I have already had it running wet, I will compare the BK 200 mini with my newly ordered Bubble magus 155E

 

[whywhy99]

Here´s antoher Q, why won´t it work with the factory settings ?

 

[fishypets]

Here´s antoher Q, why won´t it work with the factory settings ?

There are no such thing as "factory settings" when tuning a skimmer, each tank is different and there are many factors that will affect how a skimmer runs such as: specific gravity, water level, temp,etc.

 

[whywhy99]

That makes me wonder why they bother putting the sticker on it.

 

[Jeremy B.]

In my opinion the sticker should never have been placed on there!