One of my nano doc skimmers won't close

[Kinetic]

I have two Nano Skimmers in my 32g tank, and I have a few problems.

I've been running one of the skimmers for about 2 months, and it works great... except that it only skims about 1 inch of skim (very wet) and it stops skimming. This happens in about 2 days. After that, it won't skim at all anymore, meaning none of the bubbles break into the cup. I'll tune it higher, and it'll start overflowing the next day. So every 2 days i have to clean it, and it never skims more than 1" of skimmate in the cup. What could I be doing wrong?

My second one I added recently, brand new so it's not broken in yet I guess. For some reason the top on the skimmer won't sit flush. The top not meaning the cup etc, but the top that has the airline screw etc. It just doesn't match up or something, and is always popped up at an angle. I thought it might be the airline hose, but that seems ok too. Might it be a manufacturing defect? Maybe i'm not popping it on correctly?

Also, the second one adds an amazing amount of heat to my tank. My tank sits at 80 degrees with one skimmer, when the skimmer is off, it still sits at 80 degrees. With my second skimmer on, it goes up to 83.7 degrees!! Do skimmers run hotter in break in periods? I don't remember having that problem with my first one.

Thanks!

 

[rvitko]

I don't understand the heat issue, that shouldn't be. I would wonder if the motor has a 50Hz propeller, double check that it is identical to your other.

I have the same problem with mine- regarding the lid. Just push it on firmly making sure all 4 corners are seated, when I do this it works, if I leave one corner up a bit, it pops out. I will look into this more.

Regarding the skimmate, I don't have an answer, the only thing that makes any sense is that oils from food, etc are coating the cup and stopping the skimming process.

 

[Kinetic]

I'll pull both skimmers out this weekend to do a comparison. I'm pretty sure the heat is coming from the second skimmer, but I'll do a few more controlled tests to triple check.

I'll also try to lid thing, but it definately seems like my newer skimmer's lid is harder to get seated correctly.

Maybe i have some weird oils in my tank keeping the skimmer from skimming more than 2 days =/ maybe I have some LE coral of some sort that is unknown and excretes anti skimming oils j/k

thanks for the prompt response, i'll keep you updated