Mesh Mod on 9010????

[pezcubano]

I have a brand new 9010 and after 5 days it had produced ZERO skimmate. I followed all the tips I could find on RC. I tried the mesh mod and when I plugged the skimmer back in I could hear the pump getting stuck. I also read Roger's reply in another post where he sounded dubious as to the mesh mod. Is the mesh mod legit? I'm trying it out before going to the gate valve mod. HD had very few pieces to put together the gate valve mod and I'd rather avoid it if at all possible.
Any other suggestions to get foam building in my 9010???
Thanks

 

[rvitko]

Pez, can you tell me more about your tank? Maybe post a photo. What are the inhabitants? How long has it been set up? What are some of the water chemistry conditions, mainly salinity or SG?

 

[pezcubano]

75G tank 48x18x21
Right now is has a mix of live rock purchased from lfs, base rock, and live rock that the previous owner gave me when I bought it from him. There is about 1-2" of live sand on the bottom.
Inhabitants so far as just hermits and snails. I'm waiting until I get all the pieces in place before I begin adding fish, inverts, and finally lps.
Water chemistry has 0 amonnia, 0 nitrites, and 0-5 nitrates.
Salinity is 1.026
pH is around 8.4
The tank has been set up for roughly 1.5 months. I bought it used with a little water in it and a sump that was still full with 20G in it. There is a fuge with 3 different algaes in it. When I filled the tank with new water it never cycled, probably because the sump still had all the "cycled" water in it and it just spread the love to the rest of the tank.
Let me know what you think, especially about the mesh mod...
Thanks

 

[Maeda]

I would try the gatevalve before the mesh.

The mesh seems a little silly to me as the 9010 already makes more air then the neck can handle.

I found the gatevalve solved all my tuning problems.

 

[Melbourne]

Pez,

Give your skimmer some time to break in, 5 days might not be enough time. You probably don't need to do anything to it. As for the mod's that worked best for me - it was the mesh mod hands down. But these were done on DOC skimmers that have been running for well over a year. I could run my 9010's wide open without filling the foam extractor's before - with the mesh mod I can easily do this now and with finer bubbles. So I'm seeing the benefits of that mod. The gate/valve mod is really to allow finer adjustments in conjunction with the air valve on the skimmer, because you want to have a stable foam column for better skimming results.

 

[cjgalante]

I was going to do the mesh mod then someone told me that it tends to burn out pumps due to more drag.

Chris

 

[rvitko]

Any time you mod a pump it is prudent to check it on a watt meter. After your modification the pump should not draw more than the original wattage. When I was new to all this I remember trying to hot rod skimmers and trying bigger impellers and needle wheels and not knowing about the wattage limits of the coil I burned out a few pumps. They will often run for many months but they will eventually fail if you push them past the limits.

 

[rvitko]

Pez,

Your tank is just simply too new and too clean. A skimmer removes larger organic molecules like proteins, amino acids and cellulose. I would suspect any waste in your tank is already broken down by bacteria to ions and small molecules the skimmer cannot remove. There just is not enough waste for the skimmer to work.

 

[pezcubano]

Thanks for the tips. I'll wait until I've got more inhabitants in the tank and see how the skimmer is doing then.
Interestingly enough I tried mesh mods for the past few days and they would not allow the pump to function correctly. Now I've taken them out and my skimmer appears to be working very well (collecting moderate amounts of skimmate) The skimmate is clear (because I've got very little waste in my tank), but its collecting. I'll get back in touch when I get more inhabitants.
Thanks to everyone

 

[marspeed]

mesh mod gatevalve ????????????????????

 

[pezcubano]

Marspeed - I'm not sure what you are asking.
The mesh mod is a modification using mesh that you can do to the pump in the 9010.
The gatevalve is another mod that you can do to the L shaped piece that allows water out of the 9010.
If you go to the Tunze forum you can find detailed descriptions and pics on these mods.