MRC MR-2 shooting water

[DMBillies]

Ok, so that title is a little dramatic, but I just installed my new skimmer and got the pump fired up tonight (must have kind of stuck itself over the past couple of months of non-use). I find that when I turn off the water, a small stream of water comes out of the air intake for a few seconds. Anyone with ideas why?

Also, I tried making a waste collector and I need some ideas. First, I thought I could use a ping pong ball to close the air output coming from the waste collector. I reasoned this would create positive pressure in the skimmer body and the level in the skimmer would go down (and no air would come in through the beckett). This would allow me to run the air intake from the outside. This works, but again water shoots out of the air intake (a little more vigorously under this circumstance, which does me no good because it could drain my tank that way). Thoughts on making a waste collector that will bring air to the skimmer from outside but still allow me to choke the skimmer of air?

 

[crumbletop]

I thought you were supposed to block the air _intake_ with the ping pong ball thingy. That would keep it from creating bubbles which would lower the level and you'd have no skimmate production.

Not sure about the squirt of water you are getting. There is usually a cotton ball in the air intake to cut down on noise, which would block any squirts -- so I've not seen what you are seeing. If it is just a brief thing it is probably ok. Not sure if any of the parts need to be cleaned or not.

 

[fishdoc11]

You shouldn't be getting air shot out of the air intake. Sounds like something isn't put together right. Is you beckett assembled correctly?
These might help:
http://www.rl180reef.com/180/pages/hardware/filtration/dualbeckettskimmer.htm
http://www.myreefcreations.com/information.php?info_id=9
Chris

 

[gflat65]

I'd check the Beckett, too. I don't usually see any water in the injector above the air intake, during operation or at startup/shutdown. If the Beckett were upside down, maybe it could do that?

 

[ocd_mariner]

If the water level is too high in the skimmer body (above the air intake on the beckett), when the pumps are turned off, water is going to shoot out. Somewhere in their instructions they mention this. Grats on the mr2, ive got an mr2r and its flippin awesome.

 

[fishdoc11]

Chuck makes a good point as well. Since it's when it's turned off ( something I didn't catch my first time reading your post ) and if you run the water level is fairly high you might need to make a riser like the one in this pick:

 

[DMBillies]

I think ocd_mariner nailed the water shooting out of the air injector on shutdown problem. My air intake is at the bottom of the union nut holding the neck on, maybe four or five inches lower than what Fishdoc's looks like. Right now it isn't producing an incredibly stable skimmate (my guess is that the cleaning it got messed it up for a bit) and running it lower than the air intake is definitely too low. I'm about 99% sure that I'll be buying a tube extension (a la fishdocs pic) so maybe I'll just raise the injector all the way up right now. Sure, it might look silly for a while, but then I won't have to spend the time and money to do it again later.

Now the waste collector...

I basically copied these (http://www.myreefcreations.com/index.php?cPath=24_67). I have an open side with a ping pong ball in it and a dart to connect to the waste cup on the other side. I've not actually seen one of these hooked up, but it seems to me that they would have to restrict air output of the skimmer via the collection cup, producing more internal skimmer pressure, and causing the level in the skimmer to fall that way. If this assumption is correct, then perhaps raising the injector to fix the above issue will also allow me to control the skimmer without having to change my cup and still allowing me to have the air intake come in directly from outside the house?

 

[fishdoc11]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13126539#post13126539 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DMBillies
it seems to me that they would have to restrict air output of the skimmer via the collection cup, producing more internal skimmer pressure, and causing the level in the skimmer to fall that way.

That's correct.

Also it doesn't hurt anything to go ahead and make the beckett extension now. It will just look like a downdraft

 

[DMBillies]

Playing around with the height of the water in the skimmer it appears that the water height was also the issue with restricting the output. So I guess I'll be picking up some plumbing parts.

Thanks for the help guys.