Bubble King Skimmer Club

[Surferboy1500]

Bought a Supermarine 200 at the end of March. I've had some serious problems with it. It is sitting in 9 inches of water, but I cannot get it to not overflow even with the exit valve completely open (by adjusting the pipe riser), which causes it to send out tons of microbubbles out with water. It will overflow within a minute and I have to turn it off.

In order to make it even usable, I ended up taking the small pipe that I assume recirculates air on the pump off so that and plugging it (the red stiff airline hose). Even without this recirculating, I'm still barely able to get it to skim without overflowing, and have to remove an entire cup everyday. Its not skimmate as much as slightly murky water. Any ideas anyone?

 

[Jeremy B.]

- Is this a new system?
- Have you added any type of additives or medications?
- Have you used any frag glue or epoxy recently?

 

[Surferboy1500]

- Is this a new system?
- Have you added any type of additives or medications?
- Have you used any frag glue or epoxy recently?

System has been up and running since Feb 2011 and no additives, medications or epoxy. I thought it would just take some time to stabilize but after two months it's still running fully open on the riser valve although the micro bubbles that are pushed back into the water have decreased after removing and plugging the airline tube. It was suggested to just raise the whole thing but I could only wade it like an inch or else the pump would be out of the water. I also tried turning the tube on the front of the pump from the "ideal" spot denoted by the two dots with no luck.

 

[sreefs]

I had the same issue, and changed the water depth to 8 inches after a day or two it settled down (working great since). Also take several gallons of over flow water out, let it drain from the skimmer cup to a large bucket.. Replace with fresh salt water.
HTH

 

[Jeremy B.]

What were told the ideal spot was for the venturi? If it's too far closed the skimmer would overflow and spew bubbles most likely. I also agree that going to 8" would help.

 

[Surferboy1500]

How can I raise the skimmer/pump? Any easy ideas?

 

[Jeremy B.]

Use a few pieces of egg crate stacked on top of each other, a salt bucket lid, or anything else that you can come up with.

 

[Surferboy1500]

I thought about eggcrate but the skimmer and pump have those little rubber pegs to keep it quiet. they wouldn't work on the eggcrate.

 

[sreefs]

Get a piece of plexiglass from Lowes, and put his on top of the eggcrate!

 

[bayoupr]

Get apiece of PVC sheet cut to the footprint of your skimmer including pump, go to HD or Lowes and buy nylon bolts and nuts the length that you need to raise it. Drill a hole in all four corners and install the bolts and you now have a table to raise the skimmer. This way you keep flow passing under the tray and don't get a build up of detrimus in the sump

 

[Canadaguy]

Get apiece of PVC sheet cut to the footprint of your skimmer including pump, go to HD or Lowes and buy nylon bolts and nuts the length that you need to raise it. Drill a hole in all four corners and install the bolts and you now have a table to raise the skimmer. This way you keep flow passing under the tray and don't get a build up of detrimus in the sump

What an excellent idea with the nylon bolts!

 

[flipteg]

would you all recommend shutting the pump off when cleaning the cup. i usually shut the pumps off on my skimmer but i'm not sure if doing that every 2 days to clean the cup will reduce the life of the RD pump.

 

[sreefs]

I mark where the sweet spot is on the pipe and them turn it so it is wide open, wait for the head to drop and take off the cup. Clean the cup and neck then put cup back on and then turn the pipe back to the sweet spot.
HTH

 

[flipteg]

i got my Mini 160 today! :celeb3: this thing is quite a bit bigger than what i was expecting from seeing it in the pictures. because of this, i considered getting the 180 instead for my 57 gallon tank. Jeremy convinced me otherwise over the phone. seeing the skimmer in person, i can now appreciate where he is coming from. the term "mini" is a bit of a misnomer here.

compared to what it's replacing. a SeaSide Aquatics CS1. it is practically the same as the Bubble Magus NAC7 but the CS1 has a Sicce PSK600 pump instead of an Atman. i thought the CS1 was huge when i first got it.

 

[shaggss]

yep I have to 160 too. GREAT skimmer. Never had a problem with mine and been going strong almost two years. Quality is second to none. I have mine on a 50G and it pulls some really good stuff out. Enjoy!

 

[flipteg]

what is that red tube that sticks out from the back of the pump and connects to the pump's output?

 

[Reef_Noob]

what is that red tube that sticks out from the back of the pump and connects to the pump's output?

Interesting observation....what is that? Some kind of anti calicination bypass?
The pump in the 160 does look different too.
The gen 2 versions have a white volute. Is this a new version or a new pump altogether?

The skimmer is a real machine and it does its job to perfection with minimal tinkering.

 

[Reef_Noob]

would you all recommend shutting the pump off when cleaning the cup. i usually shut the pumps off on my skimmer but i'm not sure if doing that every 2 days to clean the cup will reduce the life of the RD pump.

A great question....what would be your suggestion Jeremy? Does switching on/off during the cup cleaning cycles affect pump life?
Or following sreefs suggestion (post #1213) would be best choice?
C'mon experts we need ya here

 

[flipteg]

i have always turn off my skimmers when i clean the cup and prefer to do it that way. although i never had any problems with any of them, it seems like the Red Dragon is more finicky which is why i want to make sure since i usually clean the cup once every 2 days.

i was reading something about the bypass yesterday and i think all it does is bring water inside to the impeller assembly to cool it to preven calcium precipitation since calcium precipitates on warmer surfaces. i guess the output where it is attached to is venturi driven where the water flowing out of the pump also sucks water through the impeller compartment.

as for the white volute, the v2 160 version never got a white volute. i think for the 160, they were able to raise the air draw from 400 to 600 lph just by improving the impeller and venturi without having to go to a bigger white volute.

 

[Jeremy B.]

The Mini's are starting to change over to an anti-calcium loop as well now, just like the Delux counterparts, that's the red tube you see going to the back of the motorblock.

In my opinion there is no need to ever turn the pump off when cleaning the cup unless you have an external skimmer and there is a chance of it overflowing. I always leave the pump on unless I'm pulling it out to clean it completely.