Tunze 9002 help

[Majority_Rules]

I'm having the WORST time with my Tunze 9002. I've never been able to get it to produce a thick foam. It's always very very wet and if I barely turn down the knob then no bubbles go into the collection cup. I've tried playing with the water level and the knob. I read on here if you cut the air hose inside it will help. I tried that and of course it didn't change a thing. Has anyone been able to produce a good skimmate with this thing? How low are you guys keeping it in the water? Does anyone have any pictures of what the bubbles look like with and without the collection cup. It would be nice to see where the bubble level is inside of the skimmer so I know where to put it. Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

[rvitko]

It will skim wet, it is a small skimmer and cannot reliably produce a thick dark skimmate like a bigger skimmer with a needle wheel pump. The bubbles aren't fine enough and the reaction chamber is too short. There is no advantage to thick skimmate anyway. A wetter skimmate will generally remove more phosphates and a 9002 typically produces a skimmate that looks like lighter iced tea when it is properly tuned. I would tune it by setting the water level about 1/2" below the marked water level. Open the air screw 3 full turns and turn it 1/4 turn per day until you get roughly the skimmate color of iced tea and then try 1/8 turns within that range to tweak it.

 

[Majority_Rules]

Thanks for the fast response! It's good to know I'll never get a dark skimmate. My skimmer sits pretty low right now. I figured the lower in the water it sat the less the knob had to be opened which would make smaller bubbles and a drier foam. I'm sure that logic is quite flawed. But I'll definitely go home and see if I can raise it.

 

[rvitko]

The higher it sits, the drier the foam. When they sit low you actually get less air, if the skimmer makes a percolating noise like an old coffee maker water has gotten into the airline and is restricting air flow.

 

[Majority_Rules]

Yeah, I think I read somewhere if that happens you need to close the valve all the way and unplug the skimmer and wait 10 seconds or so. Does that sound about right?

 

[Majority_Rules]

Well I raised it. I plugged it in and the pump wouldn't work. So then I took the skimmer apart and looked at the pump. I'm not sure if the pump is broken or the propeller. The needle goes all the way into the pump, not sure if that's normal or not. I have to bang on the pump to get it to work now. It's the 8w version. Does anyone know how much a new pump would cost and how I would go about getting one?

 

[rvitko]

Yes on the 1073.008 the impeller spins on a shaft with rubber bushings on each end, very similar to most impeller pumps. Any chance you could PM me an email address and we can send some pictures back and forth of the impeller and what it should look like? I haven't seen a bad 1073.008 yet.

 

[Majority_Rules]

Sure, I'll shoot you a pm right now.