Is my skimmer broken

[mazda2002]

Hello, I was hoping you guys could help me figure out if my skimmer is working and how I can fix it.

I have a Tunze DOC skimmer 9005 on my 77G FO tank.

I bought it 2 months ago and I had 3 fish at the time.

The first night it produced a small amount of dark green water and has been producing a few grams of dark water a week since.

Until 2 weeks ago, I noticed there was almost nothing produced. I messed with the air knob and water flow for a few days and decided to take it apart two days ago. I found a small snails shell in the pump and some salt build-up in the air hose. Based on the pictures in my instructions manual, I see no sign of damage in any part of the pump. Only the collection cup was cracked and so I changed it.

Today there was a little bit of clear water in the cup, so I took it apart again to see if I missed anything.

To my novice eye, the air bubbles seem bigger than they were and there is no foam build-up at all.

I now have 6 fish in the aquarium, is my skimmer working?

Can I test it?

I was thinking of building a sump and a DIY skimmer that would overskim the water completely. Is there anything wrong with doing that?

 

[Jar*Head]

There is a hard tube that connected into the air tube and connected into your pump make sure that one is attach to the pump Most of people accidentally disconnect them therefore the protein skimmer don't produce any foam...

 

[rvitko]

How far open is the air adjustment screw? If the hose has a lot of salt, I would suspect it may be submerged too deep and not taking in enough air and some water is getting in the line.

 

[mazda2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14378381#post14378381 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rvitko
How far open is the air adjustment screw? If the hose has a lot of salt, I would suspect it may be submerged too deep and not taking in enough air and some water is getting in the line.

When I took the skimmer out, the auto top-off added some water to replace the skimmers volume. So when I put the skimmer back, the water lvl was too high.

Today the water lvl is almost back to normal. The skimmer has not accumulated any significant amount of skimmate, but there is a foam build-up.

When I took the pump apart, I could blow threw the air tube with no restrictions.

I set the screw one or two full turns in, from being completely off. Is that how I should adjust it?

 

[rvitko]

I would close the screw completely, open it 3 turns and then open it 1/4 turn per day until you get a skimmate that is between the color of coffee and tea. It can also be green if a lot of algae is present. If the skimmate is too wattery, close it 1/4 turn but always wait a day between adjustments.

 

[mazda2002]

I adjusted the screw like you said, it seems to be workng now,

Thank You !!!