Questions on the Vertex Cone 200

[andyco]

Hello,

I've been reading through the monsterous club thread, and my head is spinning on getting my vertex cone 200 adjusted.

I thought I would throw this out in a new thread (which I probably should have titled help the bone head adjust his skimmer . And, you can't tell me to RTFM - there is no manual!

Here goes:

1. If I want to control wet vs. dry skimming do I turn the red tube or do I raise / lower the water level? Right now, it's at about 8.25" and skimming quite dry (but nasty).

1.a. How far can the red tube close off (all the way seems a bad idea)?

1.b. How far do most people have their red tube closed?

2. If I close off the red tube too much, water drips out the air hose that goes from the red tube to the pump. Is that normal?

3. 2 extra parts came with the skimmer - one hose with a red nozzle on the end, and one gray nozzle. What are these for?

This is on a 120 w/ 40 sump and lots of large hungry fish & coral.

Thanks,

-andy

 

[sreefs]

To skim wetter close the red tube a little more, this raises the water level inside the skimmer. Do slow small adjustments then observe for a day, then close more or less then observe to fine tune. The tube with the red end is so you can place the pump farther away from the skimmer body in your sump if needed. The gray nozzle I think changes the water/ air mixture drawn into the skimmer. Someone who knows can chime in on this, it is for either bigger or smaller bio load , I don't remember if gray is for larger bio load or smaller bio load.
HTH some
Pat

 

[bigtex52]

Andy, how deep is your skimmer sitting in the sump, bottom of the skimmer to the surface of the water?

 

[andyco]

Its in ~ 9.25" of water, and skimming well.

I was just curious at the role of the red tube vs. the water depth...

 

[HeneryH]

10" was too deep for me and overflowed like crazy, even with the gate 100% open.

Now I am at 8 3/4" and running about 90% closed. It is already pulling skimmate out.

The bubbles in the main chamber are down to just about the lip of the innner bubble chamber. They are not down below the lip, but I really only have it running for a couple of hours so maybe things are not settled yet.

BTW, I checked the boxing and the second venturi was not there. I'll email PA and ask for a one to see how that works compared to the default one.

 

[bigtex52]

The red tube (wedge pipe) regulates the outflow of water from the skimmer. Closing the wedge pipe more raises the water level in the skimmer body and therefore makes it skim wetter. Conversely, open it a little and the water level will drop and make it skim dryer. If you need to make it a little wetter, close it just a tiny bit 1/8" and give it about 24 hours to stabilize. If it needs more after that time, keep repeating until you get what you need. Good luck!