JeF4y
El Conquistidor
Has yours ever run right?
Is the motor loud?
Reading from your post, I'd try opening the vent tube 100% for a few days to see what happens.
Vertex Skimmer club
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
Has yours ever run right?
Is the motor loud?
Reading from your post, I'd try opening the vent tube 100% for a few days to see what happens.
It has ran right for several days in a row and then BAM it just fills with water. I cleaned the entire skimmer yesterday, just passed warm RO/DI water through the air hose now, and am running it 100% open. I will let that run for a day or two and then try to dial it back and see if it happens again. Oh yeah, and the discharge pipe is angled in the water so it can discharge easier than if it were just facing straight down.
JeF4y
El Conquistidor
Update on my issues.
To recap, IN-80 ran fine for 4 months then noisy as hell and randomly filling skimmer cup with water.
Last night I pulled everything apart. Like every tube, everything. I cleaned the heck out of it all.
Problem 1 Motor Noise: After pulling the motor and soaking it in vinegar and then cleaning it meticulously, I found the bushings to be in good shape and after setting back up, it runs MUCH quieter. 12 hours later and it's quieter yet. It's still the noisiest motor I have, but it's tolerable for now.
Problem 2 Cup overflowing randomly with water: This turned out to be a huge piece of salt creep stuck in the venturi "cap" thing that attaches to the motor. I cleaned the hose by running water through it, and cleaned the "L" fitting on the standpipe using a small hose brush (pipe-cleaner thing). I tried to clean the venturi cap using that same pipe cleaner thing, but the angle of it was too sharp. What finally did it was sticking the venturi cap in hot water, and then taking the other end of the airhose in my mouth and rapidly/forcefully forcing water in/out of that cap. It broke loose a HUGE chunk. I was amazed. (just don't suck the water all the way into your mouth & rinse it all afterwards).
When I set everything back up, I left off the return pipe and just run the elbow into the water for returning water to the sump from the skimmer. This alleviated a LOT of back pressure, so my bubble level will need tweaking over the next week or so. I started by closing off the air tube about 40%. This morning I am noticing big bubbles are finally breaking over the top of the cup. This will need to be tweaked to raise the bubble level just a tick more, but again that's a set/wait/set/wait thing.
Anyhow, sorry for the novel. Hope this helps someone!
-Jeff
To recap, IN-80 ran fine for 4 months then noisy as hell and randomly filling skimmer cup with water.
Last night I pulled everything apart. Like every tube, everything. I cleaned the heck out of it all.
Problem 1 Motor Noise: After pulling the motor and soaking it in vinegar and then cleaning it meticulously, I found the bushings to be in good shape and after setting back up, it runs MUCH quieter. 12 hours later and it's quieter yet. It's still the noisiest motor I have, but it's tolerable for now.
Problem 2 Cup overflowing randomly with water: This turned out to be a huge piece of salt creep stuck in the venturi "cap" thing that attaches to the motor. I cleaned the hose by running water through it, and cleaned the "L" fitting on the standpipe using a small hose brush (pipe-cleaner thing). I tried to clean the venturi cap using that same pipe cleaner thing, but the angle of it was too sharp. What finally did it was sticking the venturi cap in hot water, and then taking the other end of the airhose in my mouth and rapidly/forcefully forcing water in/out of that cap. It broke loose a HUGE chunk. I was amazed. (just don't suck the water all the way into your mouth & rinse it all afterwards).
When I set everything back up, I left off the return pipe and just run the elbow into the water for returning water to the sump from the skimmer. This alleviated a LOT of back pressure, so my bubble level will need tweaking over the next week or so. I started by closing off the air tube about 40%. This morning I am noticing big bubbles are finally breaking over the top of the cup. This will need to be tweaked to raise the bubble level just a tick more, but again that's a set/wait/set/wait thing.
Anyhow, sorry for the novel. Hope this helps someone!
-Jeff
KCMO Reefer
New member
Anyone know a place to get the Alpha Cone 200 at the $749 introductory price still? Looking to buy today!
krazysvede
New member
Does anyone know what size/schedule the return pipes from the IN80 are? I was cleaning the skimmer and set both pipe "A'' and ''B'' on the floor and can only assume one of my dogs got to them and they buried it in the yard someplace! :thumbdown
yongpanda
New member
I am now officially a member of this club! Just recieved my Vertex IN-100 from premium aquatics since they recently got it in stock. I put everything together and int eh sump. many microbubbles inside so i think it's a plus.
I am planning on having it in 7~8inches of water, any opinions on this?
Question is what is the water gate thing for? is it to get the skimmer to dial in to skim dry or wet? if so, which is which?
hope it'll break in but i'll post a pic of it once it's all skimming!
so far i love it
I am planning on having it in 7~8inches of water, any opinions on this?
Question is what is the water gate thing for? is it to get the skimmer to dial in to skim dry or wet? if so, which is which?
hope it'll break in but i'll post a pic of it once it's all skimming!
so far i love it
VitalApparatus
New member
What is it with animals and this skimmer??
My cat ate my drain plug...
maybe they used some tasty compound to weld the seams lol.
JeF4y
El Conquistidor
Should be ideal. Many run theirs deeper (I run in 11 or so), but they are apparently designed to be in 7-8".
You are correct! It is to dial wet/dry. It controls the air flow through the skimmer. Fully closed will create more of a vacuum and raise the bubble height (water level) in the skimmer. Fully open and you'll have less vacuum and a lower bubble height.
At 7-8", I would suspect you would need to close this pipe a bit to raise the bubbles up to skim.
The higher the bubbles, the wetter the skim.
JeF4y
El Conquistidor
So on my IN-80, when I took everything apart, I managed to swap the A & B labeled tubes. This wasn't really a problem on the exit side of the skimmer because I left the exit pipe off as the elbow is already in the water. However, on the standpipe side, it's now around 2-3" shorter.
It still skims fine, but the top of the standpipe is now like 1/2" below the top of the skimmer cup.
What says ye? Problem or no?
It still skims fine, but the top of the standpipe is now like 1/2" below the top of the skimmer cup.
What says ye? Problem or no?
spoofer
New member
i've had my IN-100 for about a year, but i'm starting to have problems with motor - when i turn it off to dump the skim-mate - 4 out 5 times it won't restart with messing with it?? no coraline build up - or unusal amounts i clean it reguarly every 2 months... any thoughts?
i guess i could give it a vinegar bath....
i guess i could give it a vinegar bath....
moondoggy4
Team RC
spoofer you could try boiling RO water and then put your air tube in it and suck and have the pump suck it through .
Has anyone had issues with their Vertex's randomly filling up the skimmate cup and overflowing back into your sump?
Mine does it every 2 weeks and I clean the cup every 3 days.
Currently I took the skimmer apart and cleaned it and the output pipe is 100% open and the skimmate cup is filling quickly with foam.
FYI...I'm running the skimmer in 7" of water in a constant level section of my sump.
The really strange thing is that I've been running this skimmer for 5 months with no problems, then I start getting this overflow issue. Nothing has changed in my tank in terms of more a bioload that would call for a large increase in skimmate.
Mine does it every 2 weeks and I clean the cup every 3 days.
Currently I took the skimmer apart and cleaned it and the output pipe is 100% open and the skimmate cup is filling quickly with foam.
FYI...I'm running the skimmer in 7" of water in a constant level section of my sump.
The really strange thing is that I've been running this skimmer for 5 months with no problems, then I start getting this overflow issue. Nothing has changed in my tank in terms of more a bioload that would call for a large increase in skimmate.
Ok, I figured it out. The issue was a clogged venturi. Until I took the venturi off the pump and disconnected the air hose going to it, I couldn't see the clog.
What was clogging it was a build up of salt/minerals from my tank which makes sense. If you think about it, whenever the skimmer is turned off for cleaning, etc, salt water enters the venturi as there isn't air going through the line anymore. Once you turn the skimmer back on, air is sucked back down the line but some water remains. Once this water dries out, the salt/minerals in the water are left behind.
Repeat this process over the course of the life of your skimmer and eventually it will clog leaving you with an overflowing skimmer cup for no apparent reason.
To clean the venturi I heated up some RO/DI water and soaked the venturi to get the salt/minerals to dissolve. 10 minutes later, I'm back in business.
Below are pics of the clog and the salt "plug" was able to get out of venturi. Once I got this first plug, 3 more followed. Major build up!
What was clogging it was a build up of salt/minerals from my tank which makes sense. If you think about it, whenever the skimmer is turned off for cleaning, etc, salt water enters the venturi as there isn't air going through the line anymore. Once you turn the skimmer back on, air is sucked back down the line but some water remains. Once this water dries out, the salt/minerals in the water are left behind.
Repeat this process over the course of the life of your skimmer and eventually it will clog leaving you with an overflowing skimmer cup for no apparent reason.
To clean the venturi I heated up some RO/DI water and soaked the venturi to get the salt/minerals to dissolve. 10 minutes later, I'm back in business.
Below are pics of the clog and the salt "plug" was able to get out of venturi. Once I got this first plug, 3 more followed. Major build up!
dylanhenderson
New member
Skimmer Ozone Safe?
Skimmer Ozone Safe?
Does anyone out there know if a Vertex 100N skimmer is ozone safe. Let me know, I am planning on using a Red Sea unit but I want to make sure it is safe to do so.
Skimmer Ozone Safe?
Does anyone out there know if a Vertex 100N skimmer is ozone safe. Let me know, I am planning on using a Red Sea unit but I want to make sure it is safe to do so.
yongpanda
Things are good with the skimmer but it's getting loud. I heard that it's quiet but the pump is making some random rattling or random flucuation in sound. It goes from one type of silent humming to a loud buzzing and such. Anyone have had same issues? I have the IN 100
I have the same issue, IN-100 2 days old. Hoping it will 'settle in'
Things are good with the skimmer but it's getting loud. I heard that it's quiet but the pump is making some random rattling or random flucuation in sound. It goes from one type of silent humming to a loud buzzing and such. Anyone have had same issues? I have the IN 100
I have the same issue, IN-100 2 days old. Hoping it will 'settle in'
