Help josh unscrew his tank

[Fmellish]

One last thought.

Even with the airvalve closed, the skimmer still breathes in a lot of air from the John Guest valve in the top of the skimmer box.

Have you factored this into your recommendations for me?

I notice when I put my finger over the John Guest valve the skimmer output calms down. Should I plug this hole?

Thanks
JOsh

 

[bennyinca]

:eek1:

Josh, is there anything on the output of the skimmer? filter / sponge ?

 

[gcarroll]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7661301#post7661301 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fmellish
One last thought.

Even with the airvalve closed, the skimmer still breathes in a lot of air from the John Guest valve in the top of the skimmer box.

Have you factored this into your recommendations for me?

I notice when I put my finger over the John Guest valve the skimmer output calms down. Should I plug this hole?

Thanks
JOsh

Sorry Josh I never knew there was a JG fitting. It is not standard on the EV180. That is why I stated that there was no way it could overflow with the air valve closed. Tie a peice of air hose in a knot and stick one end in the JG fitting. Unless you have another way of pligging it. Is the gate valve of the skimmer above water level? Can you take a pic of the skimmer that you can post. Don't make it too small I want to see detail. maybe 800x600

 

[Fmellish]

Ok, I' m a little calmer now.

You are right Greg.

What you've been telling me, it not so certain words, is that the key is the amount of air being taken in.

I have plugged the JG hole, and now the bubble column is not rising so aggressively.

So now, the air valve will actually have a purpose.

WHy didn't I know to plug that hole before? I've been running my skimmer wrong for 7 months.

I'll keep an eye on it now, and may need to open the air valve a tad to get the bubbles to rise.

Thanks
Josh

 

[Fmellish]

I'd like to share some helpful advice, that isn't printed in any of AquaC's documentation.

If you don't use the John Guest fitting, make sure to seal it off.

Otherwise you cannot control the air intake.



Josh

 

[Fmellish]

We have lift off.


Thanks Greg, I am skimming now. It is not the kind of skimmate I am used to, it is very wet skimmate, but it's dark, so I'm happy.

I will be adjusting the air valve ever so slowly as with this pump it can easily overflow my skimmer if I add too much air.

THanks again.

Now since I haven't skimmed for 3 weeks, this skimmer has his work cut out for him!

THanks
JOsh

 

[NicoleC]

Aqua C's instructions are awful. When you first look at them, you think they are great, but I haven't talked to anyone who actually got their skimmer to skim that way. :rolleye1:

I also overdrive my EV180 (with a Dolphin DP800), but with a valve to throttle the pump back a little, which works better for me for some reason... increased velocity? Dunno. Air about 1/2 way one. Gate valve fully open. Using the suggested pump -- a DP540, I got nada. Zip. Zero.

AND the ozone fitting snuggly capped with a John Guest valve, since the JG end cap didn't plug it 100% for some reason. If you find your plug leaks, Lowes has a pretty good selection of JG fittings including the valve I used.

Considering how many Aqua C adjustment threads there are out there, and none of the setups that work seem to match each other, I strongly suspect there is a lot of variation from unit to unit that affects performance.

Hey Josh... don't forget to clean out the injector every now and then.

 

[Fmellish]

Thanks Nicole.

I did indeed clean out my injector nozzle a few weeks back when I started having issues. In my case there was nothing in it, it looked brand new.

I agree about the skimmer. I think it has great potential once you figure out it's specific needs. Mine looks very hand made and the orings leak a little here and there, and they hardly put any teflon tape on the threads for any of the components. I'm sure you could have 100 people with 100 EV-180s and each would require different tunings.

I just homemade a plug for the JG fitting by cutting a 1" length of JG tubing and using my stove to melt the end shut.

I just wish I would have realized sooner, (like 7 months ago), that the key to how high the water rises is air intake. Then I would have made sure to cover that hole. I always wondered why adjusting the air valve didn't do anything. The instructions should be modified to say "you can adjust the airvalve to adjust the height of the bubbles, but if you have a JG fitting that is not used it will counteract the air valve because air will always flow in through the JG fitting, so plug it if you're not using it".

Did that sound eloquent? I should write skimmer user manuals.

Josh

 

[Fmellish]

One last post to this thread, and it is link to today's blog update.

http://fmellish.shackspace.com/aquarium/

 

[818]

Thats one clean TANK!

 

[Fmellish]

Thanks! You should have seen it in June of 2006!