Coralife needle wheel skimmer...

[alexb518]

i bought one of these things for my 50 gal...and i thought it worked fine for what i paid, but now i think it's a piece of junk. but, before i toss it, i wanted to know if i'm doing something wrong. here's the problem: every time i unplug it, it starts skimming super dry. then, as the days go on, it starts skimming wetter and wetter--if i leave it for a week, it will be filling a cup a day. it's frustrating b/c i constantly have to monitor it and then adjust the thing. any last suggestions before it becomes part of a land fill?

 

[Dave12678]

Is it in your tank or sump? I know when the water lvl drops in my sump it drops in the skimmer to don't know why but it does. My coralife skimmer works great, pulls out some dark tar looking gunk.

 

[Azial]

After breaking mine in I haven't had any issues, I don't have to mess with it much at all. Why are you unplugging it?

 

[gabegmonkey]

Ditto to Dave & Azial's comments...

if it's in the sump it will fluctuate based on evaporation...

If you do decide to ditch it you should try to sell it so that it doesn't really end up in a landfill

 

[blazin]

Yeah, i noticed mine works best when I keep the water level the same constantly. The lower the water, the higher the pump, more air it pulls.

 

[kenny77]

Why you unplug it?

also wet skimming is does miracle. how are your tank parameter?

also skimmer takes some time before starting to skimm the really bad thing. for how long it has been runny. I beleive your skimmer either hasn't break doing yet because you keep unpluglinng it, or you are just having some wet skimate. wich is good. check on your salinity level if in this case. since wet skimming will affect your salinity level

 

[IPowderBlueTang]

I would try to run the skimmer 24/7 and see if it works better, I have 2 CSS and after I unplug to clean it takes time to get back to running normaly. I run mines all the time and they pull a lot of gunk out. Keep your tank water level always at the same level and adjust the skimmer to skim dry and it will pull alot of dark stuff out.