Poor skimmer performance

[beefcake]

My poor skimmer just isn't working very well. It's an Aqua C remora pro that I've had for about 3-4 months now. As you can see I had to modify the pluming to get it to fit in my tank. I have a Mag 1400 driving it and it seems like it has plenty of bubbles. I noticed there is a small white screw inside where the water and bubbles squirt out of. Can this be tweaked to increase my performance ? Maybe I need a bigger pump ? I hear good things about these skimmers but mine has really been a disappointment.

After about 12 hours of skimming .....

 

[raddogz]

The injector may be clogged.

 

[reefer Rob]

LOL I wish I had your problem! My ASM G-3 doesn't even do that!

Best of Luck!

 

[Yinger]

the aqua C produces foam through the injection and water pressure. With all those bends you are probably loosing quite a bit of water pressure thats' why there's not too much foam. Just use a straight flex tube from the pump into the injector pipe.

 

[beefcake]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7453786#post7453786 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Yinger
the aqua C produces foam through the injection and water pressure. With all those bends you are probably loosing quite a bit of water pressure thats' why there's not too much foam. Just use a straight flex tube from the pump into the injector pipe.

Thats what I was thinking too. Theres no way to plum it without bending the pipe though.

 

[old salty]

Is there any way you can catch the output water for, say 6 seconds to find out how much water you are actually pushing through the skimmer? The elbow fittings are most likely cutting down some of your flow.

Also, I noticed that you are running an Ecosystem fuge. Did you just hook this skimmer up or has it been running for a while? The reason I ask is because my Deltec took about 4 weeks before it really began to pull lots of junk out of the tank. The Ecosystem fuge may actually be outperforming your skimmer.

 

[beefcake]

I've had it running for about 4 months now. Yes it is an ecosystem fuge I doubt it's really doing that much since my nitrates are always around 25ppm. I think I'll check the injector for clogs before I do anything else.

 

[chadfarmer]

2 90degrees
2 45 dergees

are you using the mag3

try a mag7

 

[beefcake]

I was thinking about a bigger pump also. With all those bends (its actually 3x 45's and 1x 90) I guess I may have to go with a larger pump. Right now I'm using the rio 1400 which I think is actually rated for more flow than the Mag3.

 

[franklinbeens]

how high is the rio1400 pumping? the screw is to access your injector w/ the pipe cleaner not to tweak anything

 

[DocG]

You definately need a bigger (higher pressure) pump.

If you look at the max head of the rio 1400 and the mag 300 you find that the rio has a max head of 6', the mag 300 has a max head of 10.5. So even though the rio is rated at more gph - by the time it hits the skimmer it is going to be very, very weak. You would find that the mag3 will do a better job. The mag7 however will do a far better job

 

[beefcake]

Hmmm, i'll have to check out and see if the Mag 7 will fit the same size piping.

 

[Donjc]

The white screw is to clean the injector. Also since you have some bend in plumbing. I wolud increase your pump from MJ1400 to a mag 3 or 5 good luck

 

[h20cooled]

I had the same problem with my aqua C after 2+ years it never improved. I just replaced it with a Tunze 9005 skimmer, in the 4 days its been connected its skimmed at more then the Aqua C did in 2 years...