ETSS Skimmer Club!

[harlequinacro]

Adding more balls will help, your not reducing after the gate valve right?

 

[rigleautomotive]

Ok.. what am I doing wrong? I'm overflowing my waste cup... when my valve is 95% open? I have 13 bioballs in each tower, iwaki 40-rxt pump on my 800. Soon as it kicks in it overflows my 1 gallon waste bucket. Should I add more bioballs?

adding more balls will only reduce the amount of air the skimmer takes in thus limiting performance.
Your skimmer is possibly not draining good enough.(without more details)It may be the sump being to deep(water depth) or possibly something in front of the 1.5 inch skimmer drain reducing the amount it can drain.It can be further tuned by using a ball valve coming off the feed pump to throttle down the feed water .

 

[Zagzoo71]

Well I think I found the problem, the guy who I bought the ETSS800 from didnt have the gate valve on it (screwed into the black box), I am just using a ball valve in the return line. Or does it make a difference?

Anyone have an sxtra to sell???? lol

 

[Zagzoo71]

Thanks for the help all! Re did the plumbing for the skimmer installed a gate valve instead of a ball valve, removed 1 bend from the plumbing. Now I have a straight shot to the sump with 1 elbow (2 45's) to sump. After 5 hrs.. it kicked in and I have semi-dry foam. woo hooo!

 

[rigleautomotive]

Thanks for the help all! Re did the plumbing for the skimmer installed a gate valve instead of a ball valve, removed 1 bend from the plumbing. Now I have a straight shot to the sump with 1 elbow (2 45's) to sump. After 5 hrs.. it kicked in and I have semi-dry foam. woo hooo!

:dance:

 

[Zagzoo71]

:dance:

Ok think i got this skimmer tweeked in:

Is this ok? or too dry foam?

thanks!

 

[llebcire]

I've been running the Reef Devil Deluxe on a Mag7 for quite a while and have always gotten moderate production (watery).

I cleaned it last Thursday and finally did with the tuning guide says for low output pumps - reduce the # of bioballs. Current setup doesn't allow an adequate external pump.

Went from 12 to 9 and the output is very dark and nasty. Hope it keeps this up!

3days:

-Eric

 

[reefernutz]

So I am trying to figure out if this an older reef devil? I picked up a blueline 30 to power it and I have to throttle it way back.

I just got this same skimmer and I have a couple of questions. First, what size and how many bio-balls should this have in it. Also, what pump should I use with it?

 

[bif24701]

Ok, I had been running my sump buddy 40 with the Rio 2000 it came with but I've swapped it out for a mag 7. How many bio balls should I be using? I have seven. Also, is bigger better as I also have a mag 9.5 I could through on it if it'll help production?

 

[Iostream]

For the Protean 400 system, I went through the same steps. The mag 7 will make a big difference. The Mag 9.5 will also make a big difference. I found the best number of bio-balls was 10, but YMMV. With the Mag 9 and 10 bio-balls I have been happy with the protean system.

 

[jmsalt1]

bif24 - I always ran my SB-40 with a Mag 9.5 but since you own both, you could try the 7 and if you don't like it, try the 9.5 to see if it is better. I seem to remember running fewer bioballs helped with skimmate production as well. Cant recall the exact number I was using when I had it working to my liking but somewhere in that 8-10 range sounds about right. I have an old SB-40 sale thread out there. If anyone is interesed, I never sold it and it is still for sale. I still have a Mag 9.5 to go with it. Both all cleaned up and ready to ship.

 

[bif24701]

Ok, so ill put the 9.5 on the skimmer and put the mag 7 on the return. I think I have to much flow through the Protein sump anyway, microbubbles. I don't have any more of the small bio balls. Could I just use regular bio balls instead?

 

[bif24701]

This is the action I'm getting right now with the mag 7 and 7 bio balls. What do you think? Does it look right?

 

[bif24701]

Bump

 

[reefernutz]

This is the action I'm getting right now with the mag 7 and 7 bio balls. What do you think? Does it look right?

Looks like it's skimming well. Do you find it does better with fewer bioballs?

 

[bif24701]

I'm not sure, it has taken a lot of time for me to really get it dialed in mostly becuase its my first skimmer. Each morning though I lose my foam head, don't understand why.

I made this trap to keep the skimmer area stable and removed my filter bag to make the skimmer get raw water and the bag kept blocking the gate valve case they were to big.

 

[reefernutz]

That trap is a great idea.......I may just have to steal it!!

I have an older Reef Devil 40 and just can't get it to foam. I think I may be using the wrong sized bioballs. How high up the riser tube do the bioballs go?

 

[bif24701]

About 3/4, the Sump Buddy uses the small bio balls. Don't know what should be used with the reef devil.

 

[bif24701]

That trap is a great idea.......I may just have to steal it!!

I have an older Reef Devil 40 and just can't get it to foam. I think I may be using the wrong sized bioballs. How high up the riser tube do the bioballs go?

I like to soak my bio balls on vinegar for a hour or so and that seems to help out.

 

[bif24701]

Why does my skimmer lose its foam every morning for hours? Is this common for ETSS skimmer or all skimmer? Is there something I can do about this? Frustrating.