DAS skimmer club
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
The restriction is going to be at the point with the smallest inside diameter. I am not talking about ID of the RO tubing being smaller than that of the flexible air line. I am talking about the little stems on the pumps that the other end of the airline tubing slides over. If the ID of these stems is smaller than the ID of the ro tubing then the RO tubing isnt doing anything to further restrict the air. If the id of these stems is smaller than that of the little ro tubes you inserted innthe airlines, then they arent helping to restrict the air any more than leaving the air lines wide open. In other words, IF the little intake stems have a smaller ID than your RO tubing, you arent further limiting the air at all.
Skimmate production and quality is fine tuned by a combination of flow rate through the skimmer (turnover), water level in the skimmer and air flow. You can have the water level at a certian level and if you have too much air you can skim too wet or have overflows of clear water. Whereas, reducing the air a little bit you can get a darker/dryer skimmate with no overflows. The more air, the higher the bubble break point in the neck and if it gets too high it will overskim. So it's a combination of air flow and water level height. It seems that the bubble size may be a little smaller and/or the balance of water level with air flow may be a little better for skimming with these skimmers with the air valved down a little bit. Some users run it wide open but it seems that most are restricting air a little bit allowing a little bit higher water level in the skimmer and getting better skimming like that rather than lowering the water level and running air wide open.
Whatever the case, if you are having issues wioth overskimming you either need to lower the water level or decrease the air (or both). Since I have a feeling that the ID of the RO tubing may be larger than the ID of the pumps air intake stem, I'm suggesting you check that and if so, realize that you are not reducing the air with the ro tubing inserts (and if you are, it's possibly not enough) and to try using a pair of the valves instead.
Skimmate production and quality is fine tuned by a combination of flow rate through the skimmer (turnover), water level in the skimmer and air flow. You can have the water level at a certian level and if you have too much air you can skim too wet or have overflows of clear water. Whereas, reducing the air a little bit you can get a darker/dryer skimmate with no overflows. The more air, the higher the bubble break point in the neck and if it gets too high it will overskim. So it's a combination of air flow and water level height. It seems that the bubble size may be a little smaller and/or the balance of water level with air flow may be a little better for skimming with these skimmers with the air valved down a little bit. Some users run it wide open but it seems that most are restricting air a little bit allowing a little bit higher water level in the skimmer and getting better skimming like that rather than lowering the water level and running air wide open.
Whatever the case, if you are having issues wioth overskimming you either need to lower the water level or decrease the air (or both). Since I have a feeling that the ID of the RO tubing may be larger than the ID of the pumps air intake stem, I'm suggesting you check that and if so, realize that you are not reducing the air with the ro tubing inserts (and if you are, it's possibly not enough) and to try using a pair of the valves instead.
I had completely forgotten about the venturi itself. Thank you for making me aware of this oversight. With valves, do I want the bubble breaking point halfway up the neck within the collection cup? And when adjusting the breaking point, is that something I should adjust right after plugging the pumps in, or do I wait?
You should be able to judge the breaking point as soon as the level stabilizes after you plug the skimmer back in. But if you just fed or had your hands in the tank or some other maintenence that normally affects skimmer performance, then you would need to wait a while for things to stabilize.
But as a ball park, with the stock valves ... if you set the water level in the skimmer with the recirc pumps off (or the air blocked) to right where the black ABS "cone" meets the clear body and then let the air flow and adjust the air valves so the indicator is at about 1 or 2 oclock, that should get you in the ballpark. From there you can raise or lower water level and/or reduce or increase air to dial the skimmer in. I would play with the water level first to adjust the skimmate and just leave the air valves at about 1 or 2 oclock. But you can adjust both to fine tune, just make one adjustment at a time, a little bit at a time. Just use the starting water level and air valves at 1 or 2 oclock as a baseline and go back to that if you think you need to start from scratch at any point. After complete break in and once you get a feel for the skimmer it's all really easy. These skimmers are pretty tame overall and it's really not too hard to get a handle on them. They really arent very fussy at all.
But as a ball park, with the stock valves ... if you set the water level in the skimmer with the recirc pumps off (or the air blocked) to right where the black ABS "cone" meets the clear body and then let the air flow and adjust the air valves so the indicator is at about 1 or 2 oclock, that should get you in the ballpark. From there you can raise or lower water level and/or reduce or increase air to dial the skimmer in. I would play with the water level first to adjust the skimmate and just leave the air valves at about 1 or 2 oclock. But you can adjust both to fine tune, just make one adjustment at a time, a little bit at a time. Just use the starting water level and air valves at 1 or 2 oclock as a baseline and go back to that if you think you need to start from scratch at any point. After complete break in and once you get a feel for the skimmer it's all really easy. These skimmers are pretty tame overall and it's really not too hard to get a handle on them. They really arent very fussy at all.
Yes, looks exactly the same as what comes with the DAS. There is a little piece of black tubing on the valves barb to build it up larger so that it will fit snug on the DAS airline tubing. So, you probably need to slide a short length of regular airline tubing or peristaltic tubing on the TLF valves so that they will fit snug when you slide them into the the DAS airline tubing.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11376108#post11376108 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ding2daDong
An update with my DAS ex-1. It has been pulling tons of skimmate and I have it tuned for more of a dry skimmate so every 5 days to a week this is what I have been cleaning.
yummmm
-Matthew
Wow that is nice! how is your bioload? mine is not even near to that but my bioload is only 3 small fishes and a few sps frags. How are you feeding it?
jman77
New member
This is what my EX2 looks like now
I'm skimming on the wet side now , but man did this thing some nasty junk when i was skimming dry. It's sitting inside a half filled 120g tank that is in the process of being built, hopefully i can have the sump finished next week so i can move the skimmer inside the stand and get it plumbed ...
I'm skimming on the wet side now , but man did this thing some nasty junk when i was skimming dry. It's sitting inside a half filled 120g tank that is in the process of being built, hopefully i can have the sump finished next week so i can move the skimmer inside the stand and get it plumbed ...
swilliamson
New member
EX-3 Wanted
EX-3 Wanted
Used EX-3 wanted.
PM me if you have one for sale.
EX-3 Wanted
Used EX-3 wanted.
PM me if you have one for sale.
flaco626nj
New member
THIS IS EVERY THREE DAYS IN MY 90 I HAVE AN EX-1 MODEL
