Tunze 9002 skimmer not working

[rvitko]

This would generally be something that happened at the factory and I have seen three causes, a crossed thread, a stripped thread or an oversize thread. The air screw is 6mm, the hole is supposed to be 5.9mm so it is tight and seals well. Other threads for screws are exactly 6mm (fastening screws), I have seen it happen where the tap is not changed to the slightly undersized tap.

We will send the part tomorrow.

 

[emmanuel]

rvitko thanks for all your help I received the new piece it was still the same then I checked the pump cause I remember seeing a post about a pump being in there backwards and mine was I'm sure I put it back in the way it was when I had to change the faulty venturi .The skimmer started to do something but same thing I either get a full cup of clear water or with a 1/8 turn of the screw get nothing at all I've had it with this skimmer I sold it on for $100
This is by far the worst piece of equipment I ever bought in my 10 years of reefing my first seaclone skimmer was built better and worked better than this

 

[Ginu]

I'm having troubles with my Tunze 9002 not producing any skimmate and I don't know what to do about it. Its been in the back area of the aquarium for a few days am it either produces no skim ate or just water pretty much.

I'm thinking of raisin the gravity by a little and see if it will start producing some smaller and perhaps some bubbles which stick together more...

I'm starting to get really concerned as I had very high phosphates and nitrates and the skimmer is not skimming anything, no to mention I started to dose carbon which reduced the phosphates to .12-.11 but the nitrates are going through the roof at 160 ppm +... It's very concerning to say the least.

Might have to plug in the smaller aqua euro skimmer just to make sure something gets pulled out at least.

Any suggestions on what I can do to fix this?

Current tank parameters are
Po .10
Nitrates 140-160
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Calcium 420 - 490
Gravity 1.024
Temp constant between 25-26 C as I run a chiller

Bioload in a 34g is
Pair of clowns
Cleaner wrasse
Bicolor blenny
Wheelers goby
Tiger pistol shrimp
Cleaner shrimp
Peppermint shrimp
Coral branded shrimp
Various corals bout 10 different kinds
Sanddollar
Flame scallop
And various CUC hermits and snails


Any help is greatly appreciated.

Forgot to add, for filtration I have about 40lb rock in dt and another 5lb in the back sump
Of the AIO cube, along with a TWL 150, chemi pure and filter floss changed once a week.

For pumps mrunning two stock pumps at 376g each along with a koralIa 3

Thanks,

 

[Ginu]

Well, got the skimmer tuned after a few modifications.

1st I did the air mod and mounted a longer tube for easy access.
2nd the skimmer works much better and produces smaller bubbles when salinity is high
3rd to dial it in the skimmer has to be open on pretty much max which will pull out mostly water however judging by the smell, I'd have to say that's just a wet skimmate. After the skimmer is dialed in to the max, the user can make small adjustments to bring the air down by 1/4 then 1/8 of a turn until it produces just the desired size of the bubbles.
4th the skimmer worksite better when the cup is seasoned and salty instead of clean and sparkly.

In the frustration period of trying to get the skimmer to work I managed to crack the cup, so I'm looking for a replacement as it does not look very good with the glue used to bind the crack.

Another thing to mention us the quality of the API test kits. I have both the reef and marine kits and they are brand new, however both nitrate kits from both kits measure about 80 times higher than the real. It turned out that my nitrates were around 2.5-5 and not 160+ ppm as diagnosed by API.
THE 5ml line of the API test tubes is off by about 1m which over concentrated the test showing a higher then the reading was by about 1/5. With that being said the API nitrate tests still show around 80-120ppm when the correct measurement was applied. In conclusion the API kits are junk and that's why they are 49.99 per kit instead of 29.99 for a single kit which is actually accurate.

I've sent an email to API, but I really don't expect them to do anything about their bad and in accurate test kits. I
Have to say that I'm now second guessin all the additives, salts and other kits which I've purchased from API and most likely will not purchase another item from them; it's just simply not worth the risk in using their kits which ultimately can lead to secmverely unbalancing my aquariums which will leads no nothing good in the end and costly not to mention lost fish/corals which can be a pita to replace.

 

[rvitko]

Keep in mind that a skimmer cannot remove Nitrate or Phosphate, it can only remove large organic molecules like proteins that break down to produce Nitrate and Phosphate. What is present can only be removed by ion exchange resins, binders, water changes and carbon dosing.

What you describe is not unique to API, Nitrate test kits generally test total Nitrogen, only more expensive professional kits can measure Nitrate only (Lamotte, Machery Nagel, etc). Most of the general consumer test kits will have a similar error, though that does seen unusually high even with the total Nitrogen.

 

[Ginu]

Keep in mind that a skimmer cannot remove Nitrate or Phosphate, it can only remove large organic molecules like proteins that break down to produce Nitrate and Phosphate. What is present can only be removed by ion exchange resins, binders, water changes and carbon dosing.

What you describe is not unique to API, Nitrate test kits generally test total Nitrogen, only more expensive professional kits can measure Nitrate only (Lamotte, Machery Nagel, etc). Most of the general consumer test kits will have a similar error, though that does seen unusually high even with the total Nitrogen.

Well I'm aware skimmers don't pull out nitrates and phosphates and I got what I was expecting with the 9002... Once it got dialed in it started to pull done nasty suff which my nano skimmer would never pull so I'm happy now. Just ordered a new cup from intank and that should clear that.

In regards to the test kits... I'm well aware they will never be bang on and was expecting some error but it seems with the API kits test nitrates either 0 or 160 ... How is that for an "error"?
The ELOS nitrate test kit seems quite accurate for a price of 29.99 per kit instead of API at 29.99 for four tests within the kit...