Coralife 65 Super Skimmer

guppy74

guppy74

New member
I just bought my first skimmer it is a Coralife 65 Super Skimmer. I need some advice, should I have the water flow control valve completely open and adjust the red air flow knob or what should I do? I dont seem to be geeting much skimate or any gunk. HELP PLEASE.
 
Ugh, I am sorry. I had this skimmer for about a year until I just got plain fed up with it. If you can I would suggest returning it and replacing it with a better HOB skimmer. With that said the CSS can function, but it takes quite a bit of patience and a very slight touch when tuning it. I always has the valve from the pump wide open, maybe not all the way during break in though. Very slight adjustments in the red knob make dramatic changes in the skimming. If you keep this skimmer I would suggest making a mark on the pipe with the red knob with a permanent marker so when you decide to fiddle with it and it goes nuts you can easily get back to the previous "semi-sweet" spot. Good Luck!
 
i have been running one for over a year with no problems. breakin takes a day or 2. you didnt say if you were using it as a hob or in sump. if hob i had to shorten the tube from pump to skimmer and did the fishing line mod. if putting in sump thats a whole differant game. when i built and put a sump on tank i had to put it in chamber 1 with the water levle the same hight as if it wer a hob and it worked great.

but i will say it took me about 2 weeks to get it set right.

robert
 
Ky1 I am running it as HOB and what is the fishing line mod? Why did you shorten the tube to the pump?
 
The idea by moving the pump closer to the surface is that it will collect more protein, thus skim better. A word of caution with this skimmer though, it is very sensitive and if used as a HOB, it will flood the floor! I recommend this skimmer to be used only "in" a sump. Other than that, it will produce skimmate but will be difficult to stay "tuned" for very long.
 
When I first started using this skimmer I had the red flow valve closed all the way and only adjusted the in tank flow valve. I as well used it as HOB. After a few weeks I was able to open the in tank flow valve all the way and only had to adjust the red valve. A few things with this skimmer. One, make sure you have the output basket about an inch above the water line, helps with micro bubbles. Two, make sure that the tube the water comes out of is about 1/4 of an inch above the water in the basket. Three, make sure the white foam pad isn't clogged. It gets dirty very quickly and will make the water flow over instead of through. This skimmer worked well for a while. I got rid of it though, the first one I got in the mail leaked from the main input tube, got a replacement and after about two months started leaking from the bottom of the skimmer body. I now run a prism. It does take some tuning, as soon as your water level drops it will not skim anymore and it will need to be adjusted/ water topped off. After a while though you can take the in tank flow valve off to get the motor closer to the surface.
 
You can do a search for the "Fishing line Mod" but all you really do is get 8-10# test line and 'weave' it around the needle wheel impeller in kind of a criss-cross web pattern. Don’t go to heavy or to light, the main purpose of the mod is to better break up the air bubbles and draw in (slightly) more air/water.

Alternatively you can put a single layer of mesh in there for a really cheap "mesh mod" but I am uncertain how big the volute is and how much mesh you can get away with. If possible do 2-3 layers of mesh if there is indeed enough room inside the volute.

I can attempt to find my old pump and take a picture to better illustrate what the "fishing line mod" looks like, no guarantees though that I will find the pump as I got a different skimmer a long time ago. Also if I do happen to locate it I can see if it is feasible to do a mesh mod and what you can get away with.

Or hopefully someone else will chime in that is more knowledgeable than I am.
 
I would recommend not using the "bubble diffuser box" at all. I found that these sponges got dirty very fast and then caused the water to back up and flood the floor. I would take a mesh media bag and loosely zip tie it to the outflow, and cut a small slit near the top. The mesh bag will take much longer to get dirty and the slit in the top will prevent the water from backing up if it does get clogged. I would also add an auto drain to the collection cup because it has saved my floors many times. To do this I drilled out the vent in the cup cap, then inserted a piece of airline tubing and sealed it with hot glue. To the piece of airline tubing in the cup i got a small piece of plastic and bent it into a shallow U shape. I then ran the other end of the airline tubing into a 1 gallon container. It takes a couple weeks to break the skimmer in, but it is a constant battle to get it dialed in. It seemed to me that the skimmer was very touchy, and either skimming way too much or not quite enough. Oh and one last thing, make sure you absolutely check the venturi about once a month or every other month. If the air intake gets clogged you will have a flood, I promise. Good luck with this skimmer, it can work well, but it is a struggle to get it there. Best!
 
Thanks to all of you. I think my collection cup my have a drain, it has a small nipple with black cap on it.
 
Mr. Wiggles said:
Ugh, I am sorry. I had this skimmer for about a year until I just got plain fed up with it. If you can I would suggest returning it and replacing it with a better HOB skimmer. With that said the CSS can function, but it takes quite a bit of patience and a very slight touch when tuning it. I always has the valve from the pump wide open, maybe not all the way during break in though. Very slight adjustments in the red knob make dramatic changes in the skimming. If you keep this skimmer I would suggest making a mark on the pipe with the red knob with a permanent marker so when you decide to fiddle with it and it goes nuts you can easily get back to the previous "semi-sweet" spot. Good Luck!
Click to expand...
That is right on the money. I use a SS65 for a few years until I got my NW110. The SS65 is touchy and can overflow. You will need to keep your tank water level stable, any change in water level will effect the skimmer. I would agree return it if you can. The HOB Octopus skimmers are great. I kept the pump valve wide open and used the red knob to control water level. I also did the fishing line mod to the needle wheel, it helps to make smaller bubbles. I also drilled out the air inlet a little so the pump could pull in more air.
 
 
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It seems that now my skimmer is not producing any foam. Does it take a few days to get the foam to start.
 
Are you saying it isn’t foaming over the neck of the skimmer? Or that it isn’t producing any air bubbles or very few air bubbles inside the skimmer chamber? If it is the latter there may be an obstruction in the air line. If it’s the former it might take a day or 2 to build up a good foam head. Or you or someone else may have stuck their hand or something in the tank that was a little 'oily' that caused the skimmer to stop producing.
 
I have had this skimmer for over 2 years now. It is a very good skimmer but is very finicky. I used it as a HOB for over year and it required a lot of attention to the gate value and the red value on the top. Everyday, sometimes more than once a day, I had to close/open the two dials to compensate for water level. When I installed a sump and a auto top off things got easier. This skimmer works best when the water level stays constant. If the water gets high....its skims too much and overflows. Water gets low....it does not skim at all. So best to have an auto top off and/or sump for this to less hassle.
As for break in time...it can take a week or more. During this time i find it best to adjust the knob on the gate valves right after the pump to about 1/3 flow. Everyday open it up a little more. Once this valve is fully open you can start adjusting the red dial on top to get either wet or dry skimmate.
Hope this helps....if you have any specific questions dont be afraid to shoot me an PM or ask here on the post.
Good Luck
 
how close to the surface should I have my pump? if it should be close then I have to remove the water flow valve. with it attached it is a good 6 to 8 inches from the surface.
 
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