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I've read every post in this thread tonight. I even had to wait for the nightly maintenance to finish before I could finish. Here's my problem:

I have a 3-week old RS-100. It makes bubbles. They rise up about 1/2 way in neck. It makes skimmate, but not very much. I've tried less air, more air, lower riser, higher riser, wait a couple of weeks.... My water quality is very good, but...
Could it be that I drip Kalk 24/7? I drip about 1 drop / 5 seconds.

I've sent pictures to Chip after talking on the phone, but either the E-mail was too big and he didn't get it, or he's been busy. The pictures show bubbles and light/avocado green skimmate.

My tank is a reef 90 with 29 gal sump with Chaeto, 750 watts, 1. 0245, fish, anemones, clam, crabs, corals, 450 Ca, 0 This, 0 That, 0 The other too, 10 - 11 dkH. pH 8.3. H20 almost 100%. I use RO/DI, 15 gal water changes every 10 days. Reef Crystals by Instant Ocean, 80 - 81 degrees (working that).

Any ideas?????? Thanks.
 
Another thought about weak skimmer production problem: I've read that drawing water from the sump to skim is less efficient than directing water from the overflow to a smaller isolated box, and using that water to skim.

So, I built a box that my two overflow pipes dump in to, and I drilled a hole in the side of the box to feed directly into my skimmer pump intake. So, it's getting 100% overflow water. The excess continues to the rest of the sump/refugium.

Could this water be too turbulent, since it comes directly from the fallen water? I've heard that turbulent water is bad. I've heard that water diluted with sump water is bad. Which is worse? I've been told to turn the skimmer around to get the pump intake away from the fallen water. It used to be that way (originally). I spent hours getting it to take overflow water directly in, but I didn't try that until the skimmer hadn't produced much for over a week.

When the intake was away from the overflow water, it drew water from the refugium (Chaeto) area because the body of the skimmer is so wide, and it blocks water from the overflow area. So, with it oriented that way, it got post-Chaeto water. With it oriented the new way, it gets water directly from the overflows. Is this bad? Is the old way better? Have I bored everyone yet?
 
One more thing - My old, cheap skimmer was producing moderate amounts until I started dripping Kalk. When I started dripping Kalk, the old skimmer stopped producing (Coincidence?). I took it out and cleaned the heck out of it. It still didn't produce much, so, I thought the skimmer pump had gone bad, so I bought my RS-100.

Does the Kalk precipitate out the stuff that would otherwise be skimmed? Am I mixing my Kalk too strong?
 
how much flow do you have going through the sump? I use to have a mag 9.5 as the return on my 75 and experienced what you are going through, then I went to a mag 7. This seemed to increase the skim a little more.
Do you have the gate valve mod? The gate valve will allow you to get the water level higher into the neck.
The Chaeto could be pulling a lot of the stuff out. When I added Chaeto to my sump, I did notice that the color of my skim changed to a light brown.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8331796#post8331796 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Hampton
I've read every post in this thread tonight. I even had to wait for the nightly maintenance to finish before I could finish. Here's my problem:

I have a 3-week old RS-100. It makes bubbles. They rise up about 1/2 way in neck. It makes skimmate, but not very much. I've tried less air, more air, lower riser, higher riser, wait a couple of weeks.... My water quality is very good, but...
Could it be that I drip Kalk 24/7? I drip about 1 drop / 5 seconds.

I've sent pictures to Chip after talking on the phone, but either the E-mail was too big and he didn't get it, or he's been busy. The pictures show bubbles and light/avocado green skimmate.

My tank is a reef 90 with 29 gal sump with Chaeto, 750 watts, 1. 0245, fish, anemones, clam, crabs, corals, 450 Ca, 0 This, 0 That, 0 The other too, 10 - 11 dkH. pH 8.3. H20 almost 100%. I use RO/DI, 15 gal water changes every 10 days. Reef Crystals by Instant Ocean, 80 - 81 degrees (working that).

Any ideas?????? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I think I know what your problem is. I had the same problem on my cs8-1 (20" tall, 8" diameter). For some reason, the bubbles would not make it over the collection cup. I found a simple solution. What I did was to extend the riser pipe. I had real dry foam before I extended it and the skimmate quantity was very low. After I placed a coupler on the riser, the water level was much higher on the cup, and this achieved the skimmate that I wanted. Try this and see if this works. Just go to a Home Depot and take the stand pipe with you. Find a coupler that fits on top and extend the pipe. I think the coupler added an additional 3-4" to the riser pipe. Hth.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8332327#post8332327 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dr
how much flow do you have going through the sump? I use to have a mag 9.5 as the return on my 75 and experienced what you are going through, then I went to a mag 7. This seemed to increase the skim a little more.
Do you have the gate valve mod? The gate valve will allow you to get the water level higher into the neck.
The Chaeto could be pulling a lot of the stuff out. When I added Chaeto to my sump, I did notice that the color of my skim changed to a light brown.
Click to expand...

Dr,

I'm sorry, but I missed your post originally. I have about 600 gph through a 29 gallon sump and 90 gallon tank. I used to get plenty of skimmate in a cheap skimmer, then it quit. I bought the ER RS-100, and it has never really skimmed much. I think there is something about my tank that changed. It's probably not the skimmer(s). But still, I can't help but think there is something I can do to get more.

I can raise the stand pipe enough to overflow my collection cup, so that's not it. I'm at a loss. I want to get more SPS, but I don't dare until I get this remedied. My water quality may already be great, but am I really that naieve?
 
Just done a fast look back at this thread and don't see
anything. [May have gone to fast]
But has anyone fond a good place to order just the gate valve
as i have the rest of whit i need cant see ordering a Kit
 
premium aquatics sells the whole kit for 39.95,look under skimmers...euroreef...parts and its at the bottom of the page.
 
HERE IS My mod to the CS 250


hope you guys and gals like it .

from the sump
.
waterfield008.jpg



to my external sump OH YAAAAAAAAAAAA

MY MODDED CS to RC
DSC00894.jpg



what ya think everyone I'm thinking of going with sp 5's with it it s running on sp 3's now dual's that is
 
Nice skimmer rich. If it doesn't end up working out for you. You can always send it to me. Of course you will need to pay shipping, because that is one big box. Anyway I'll pm you my address just in case. This must be the introduction of the opposite sketch or something....
 
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