I need help with Aquamaxx skimmer please

[Smknnoakland]

I bought the aquamaxx-xc-hob a few weeks ago. It has been up and running for 3 1/2 weeks now.it is not pulling out any skimmate. I have the collection cup pushed all the way down. The bubbles don't even go up the neck of the cup. It does seem to push bubbles up the neck of the collection cup every once in awhile. There will be about a 1/8 of a inch of watery skimmate in the collection cup from time to time. I had the coralife SS 125 before this. That produced dark skimmate quite often. A lot of people on here said that skimmer was garbage though. Testing my water every couple days. PH= 8.2, ammonia= 0, nitrite= 0, nitrates= 0, phosphate= .25, calcium= 400, alk= 9. The tank is almost 2 months old. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[electrotech]

How high is the water level in the tank? Sounds like it's not pumping enough water into the skimmer, are all the internal plumbing parts connected right?

I have the HOB-1 on my 37 gallon and it works well.

 

[Smknnoakland]

Tank level is full. All the plumbing is hooked up right.

 

[electrotech]

Is the airline unrestricted? If it can't suck enough air it won't make enough bubbles.

 

[Smknnoakland]

The airline is unrestricted. I'm about to give up on this thing. Go back to the old one I guess.

 

[Xavibear]

What's in your tank? Maybe there is not enough in the tank yet to pull anything yet.

 

[Smknnoakland]

2 yellowtail damsels, 2 chromis, 1 tomato clown, 1 ocellaris clownfish. I also have a cleanup crew. 12 hermit crabs, 2 emerald crabs, 12 cerith snails, 8 nassarius snails, and 12 nerite snails. A few snails and crabs have died. Found a snail half way across my front room. I feed every other day. I switch off between pellets, flake, frozen. The tank is 72 gallons with 80 lbs of live rock. Thanks.