Pat Niemeyer
New member
The answer to this question may be the obvious - that my pump is too strong for this skimmer - but I'm not understanding a few things so I'll ask:
I have a needle wheel impeller driven skimmer in my (EShopps) sump:
(rough pic of the skimmer) https://imgur.com/a/hSxEA
And I recently replaced this: ASM 3500 pump http://a.co/7gWJdgW with a: Marine Source SP3. http://a.co/dxp5Lj2
They don't list GPH for the latter but it appears to be a smaller pump and was cheaper.
What I wasn't expecting is that after replacing it I cannot seem to get it to stop overflowing. The controls I'm used to are: amount of air in the venturi and the amount of back pressure adjustable with the height of the tube shown on the left. But even with max air in and min back pressure (tube not extended at all) foam overflows into the cup.
Now, the cup can be *sealed* by closing it and turning it to lock it down and if I do this then it does not overflow... But I have never had to do this before and I it seems dangerous to me to rely on this. (Imagine the seal releases for some reason and it floods and washes a months worth of skim into the tank).
Questions:
Is it normal for the protein skimmer cup to be sealed?
Do I have any other options here other than that or to restrict the pump water inlet to reduce its power?
thanks,
Pat
I have a needle wheel impeller driven skimmer in my (EShopps) sump:
(rough pic of the skimmer) https://imgur.com/a/hSxEA
And I recently replaced this: ASM 3500 pump http://a.co/7gWJdgW with a: Marine Source SP3. http://a.co/dxp5Lj2
They don't list GPH for the latter but it appears to be a smaller pump and was cheaper.
What I wasn't expecting is that after replacing it I cannot seem to get it to stop overflowing. The controls I'm used to are: amount of air in the venturi and the amount of back pressure adjustable with the height of the tube shown on the left. But even with max air in and min back pressure (tube not extended at all) foam overflows into the cup.
Now, the cup can be *sealed* by closing it and turning it to lock it down and if I do this then it does not overflow... But I have never had to do this before and I it seems dangerous to me to rely on this. (Imagine the seal releases for some reason and it floods and washes a months worth of skim into the tank).
Questions:
Is it normal for the protein skimmer cup to be sealed?
Do I have any other options here other than that or to restrict the pump water inlet to reduce its power?
thanks,
Pat
