csb
New member
Second post here... been lurking for a while, glad to finally get around to joining.
Ok, so I have a 30g tank. When I originally set it up, I went with a cheapo Red Sea Berlin Air Lift 60 skimmer... kinda weak, never really skimmed much. Although, new tank... never really had any bioload other than curing my rock to cycle, so it did an OK job at the time.
Anyway, I have 3 LFS's here in southern NH... 2 really good reef stores, and a Petco. Why in the hell I went to Petco, I'll never know... but while thinking about my small inadequate skimmer, I decided on the spot to buy a new one.
"Hey this looks cool...". So I bought a seaclone 100. Then, I went home and researched it to find out how good or bad my purchase was. AWW CRAP!
Ok, so I found out in a hurry that it wasn't that great. BUT... I put it on the tank anyway, and since I'm the kind of stubborn jerk that I am, I determined to make this thing work!
1 week later - I got it to work last night and it actually skimmed for a few hours. I never expected that!
After reading all the seaclone mods out there, I first tried to take the whole thing apart to cut down the length of the inner tube. Seems to be the most popular mod, but good luck with that Mr. Tiny Hands. Left it stock.
Thinking more about it, I also started to observe and note how the seaclone never stopped pumping bubbles into my tank, like a $100 airstone. Even after a week, nothing but bubbles in the tank and no junk in the cup. After trying the entire range of adjustments on the maxijet 1200 pump, I sortof figured that half the problem with the skimmer is with the venturi & pump.
It seems to me that the pump provides too much flow and not enough air ... and good luck trying to adjust it!! It also seems to me that the one single venturi adjustment, which adjusts both air and water flow in tandem, is never capable of getting either parameter close to where they need to be.
Here's the mod I tried that finally produced some results... I drilled a hole in the top cover, and dropped a limewood airstone down into the bottom of the skimmer. It's connected with rigid tubing running right down the inner tube of the unit.
Now, instead of one crappy venturi, I now essentially have 2 adjustments... one for air and the old venturi to adjust water flow from the pump. Last night, I set the waterflow down a bit, and cranked up the air. BINGO! From the moment I set it, it was very obvious that it was doing *something*.
I also noticed that pumping more air into the unit actually stopped putting bubbles into the tank. Slowed down water flow enough I guess. Just for safe measure, I jammed a chunk of filter material into the output of the skimmer.
Then, I went to bed.
Woke up this morning to find half a cup of sludge begging me to join it for breakfast! I couldn't believe it, but that's all it took. MORE AIR!!
Today the seaclone has slowed down a bit... I also adjusted the air again to be a little less agressive. I think a week's worth of organic build-up in the tank kinda sent it into overdrive last night after I made the mod. Kinda funny though, how the tank obviously had so much junk in it, yet the stock seaclone couldn't even pull out a drop!!!
Anyway... off to tackle my next project... new sump. I think this skimmer will prob do an OK job now.
--Chris
csb
Ok, so I have a 30g tank. When I originally set it up, I went with a cheapo Red Sea Berlin Air Lift 60 skimmer... kinda weak, never really skimmed much. Although, new tank... never really had any bioload other than curing my rock to cycle, so it did an OK job at the time.
Anyway, I have 3 LFS's here in southern NH... 2 really good reef stores, and a Petco. Why in the hell I went to Petco, I'll never know... but while thinking about my small inadequate skimmer, I decided on the spot to buy a new one.
"Hey this looks cool...". So I bought a seaclone 100. Then, I went home and researched it to find out how good or bad my purchase was. AWW CRAP!
Ok, so I found out in a hurry that it wasn't that great. BUT... I put it on the tank anyway, and since I'm the kind of stubborn jerk that I am, I determined to make this thing work!
1 week later - I got it to work last night and it actually skimmed for a few hours. I never expected that!
After reading all the seaclone mods out there, I first tried to take the whole thing apart to cut down the length of the inner tube. Seems to be the most popular mod, but good luck with that Mr. Tiny Hands. Left it stock.
Thinking more about it, I also started to observe and note how the seaclone never stopped pumping bubbles into my tank, like a $100 airstone. Even after a week, nothing but bubbles in the tank and no junk in the cup. After trying the entire range of adjustments on the maxijet 1200 pump, I sortof figured that half the problem with the skimmer is with the venturi & pump.
It seems to me that the pump provides too much flow and not enough air ... and good luck trying to adjust it!! It also seems to me that the one single venturi adjustment, which adjusts both air and water flow in tandem, is never capable of getting either parameter close to where they need to be.
Here's the mod I tried that finally produced some results... I drilled a hole in the top cover, and dropped a limewood airstone down into the bottom of the skimmer. It's connected with rigid tubing running right down the inner tube of the unit.
Now, instead of one crappy venturi, I now essentially have 2 adjustments... one for air and the old venturi to adjust water flow from the pump. Last night, I set the waterflow down a bit, and cranked up the air. BINGO! From the moment I set it, it was very obvious that it was doing *something*.
I also noticed that pumping more air into the unit actually stopped putting bubbles into the tank. Slowed down water flow enough I guess. Just for safe measure, I jammed a chunk of filter material into the output of the skimmer.
Then, I went to bed.
Woke up this morning to find half a cup of sludge begging me to join it for breakfast! I couldn't believe it, but that's all it took. MORE AIR!!
Today the seaclone has slowed down a bit... I also adjusted the air again to be a little less agressive. I think a week's worth of organic build-up in the tank kinda sent it into overdrive last night after I made the mod. Kinda funny though, how the tank obviously had so much junk in it, yet the stock seaclone couldn't even pull out a drop!!!
Anyway... off to tackle my next project... new sump. I think this skimmer will prob do an OK job now.
--Chris
csb
