Tunze 9011 performance?

[Fordemups]

Hi there

First post. Selfishly, I'm after some advice!

I have my skimmer in the sump. It doesn't have the snorkel tube but is up to the correct level for if you were to place it in display.

I don't think it's performing well though. No matter how much I unscrew the air screw, I never get a really wet flow. It just limps up the cup and slowly spils over. Giving me a small amount of skim in 24 hours. Much less than that results in very a dry collection of bubbles that don't pop and collect.

I have the gate fully open at the bottom and the water level is consistent. Slimmer was bought 2nd hand and cleaned by me a few weeks ago.

Is this skimmer affected by too much flow in its chamber? There not a mega amount of turnover but maybe it's an issue?

The skimmer is oversized for my system but I don't see that as bad. My total water is about 170 litres.

Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[rvitko]

It is substantially oversized so it could be simply that their is not enough organic matter to build a consistent foam head.

Other possibilities would be that the impeller housing which has the venturi nozzle is damaged or does not fit properly (part 3130.130) the air nipple has to fit snug and the venturi end cannot be loose or their will be a substantial loss in air production. A kinked air hose can also cause this.

If the water movement is very high and turbulent, this can reduce the performance.

 

[Fordemups]

Thanks for your response.

Would you say that it's too large for my system? Could this have a negative affect on the water quality?

 

[Fordemups]

Attached to the air hose is a cylinder. I take it this is the silencer?

Can this be removed for cleaning? I've given it a tug and it seems pretty stuck in there.

 

[rvitko]

The silencer should not be removed in general, you can clean it by just submerging the whole skimmer in water/ vinegar mixture and running the pump, this will clean any salt creep inside the silencer and should be done every year. It is hard to say, with enough bioload, it could be OK, but with a low bioload, their is not enough waste to produce enough foam to rise into the cup, a shorter neck or narrower diameter neck on a smaller skimmer would then remove more waste overall.

 

[Fordemups]

Great, thanks again for the reply.

I stripped the skimmer, cleaned it again and put it back together very carefully. Everything seemed to line up truer this time. It's seems quiter and started to make a head pretty quickly.

It's a small tank but heavily stocked. Hope I've made the right choice. Sure I have!

Thanks again.