I have a marineland 100. Its sitting in the sump in correct amount of water. Ive only had for 8 days so i understand that it might take more time to break in. Problem is the people at marineland say that if valve is turner all the way to left its wide open. (valve is all the way to left). The water level is barely an inch over the center tube part tho. If i turn all the way right it stays abaout same level. If i turn valve towards middle it gets the highest but still not even to the bottom of collection cup. Its been all the way left only for 4 hours. They say wait 5-6 hours for results but that seems kinda bogus. If its gonna make water level raise by turning valve left why would water level drop for multiple hours?
U say the water level needs to be below the duct? (gray tube correct)? That is less than eight inches. manuel says that skimmer needs to be in 3-8 inches of water. I often hear of wet and dry skimming. Would the water level being abve or below this duct be the difference in the two? Either way ill try ur method of skimming because the people at marineland act as if theyve never seen a skimmer before. quite frustrating. thanks
also how high up is ur water coming in ur skimmer? as of right now the highest i can get it is to the top of the bottom section (right where the collection cup screw off point is). Is that typical? Is that gonna be high enough when the foam does start to push up in to collection cup? I swiveled my valve. No luck will try after work but right now still looking like it gets most power thru valve being in middle which makes no sense
I have the Marineland Pro 300, same as your 100, only bigger. Let's see if I can help you, one topic at a time.
Wet vs dry skim. Wet skim contains mostly water and is relatively clearer like weak tea, hence the term "wet". Dry skim contains mostly junk and has less water, usually dark in color almost opaque, hence the term "dry".
This is wet skim. Note how high the water level is in the center tubing, and holw "wet" the bubbles look as they overflow into the cup, and the skim is like weak tea. The valve is set towards the right.
This is dry skim. The water level is less than half up the center tubing, and the bubbles are mostly junk that some of it have dried and forming solid particles in the cup, and the skim is like dark pea soup. The valve is set more to the left of middle.
Optimum water level (3"-8" for the model 100). This refers to how deep your skimmer is sitting in the water, measured from the bottom of the skimmer to the water level. If the skimmer is sitting right on the bottom of the sump, then it's the actual water depth of the sump skimmer section. If you raise the skimmer on a platform, them you measure from the bottom of the skimmer to the water level. On my 300, it's sitting in about 7" depth/water level.
valve adjustment This controls the output flow from the skimmer. All the way to the left is wide open, and the water level inside your skimmer is going to be very low. The more to the left, the more "dry" the skim, to a point where there is no skim. All the way to the right restricts the output, so that the water level inside the skimmer has to rise higer to overcome it. The more to the right, the more wet the skim, to the point where your cup keeps filling up with clear water and overflowing within minutes.
If your Maineland Pro 100 insump skimmer is sitting in 8" of water (measured from the bottom of the skimmer to the top of the water it is sitting in) and you turn the valve all the way to the right, you should be able to make the cup overflow from very, very wet almost clear skim within minutes. If you cannot, then there is something wrong with your particular skimmer, and will need to be replaced under warranty if it's new.
That's all IMO, of course. HTH!!
