Lord Magnus
New member
I had found this skimmer at a great price from a member on 3reef and it worked like a champ for my brother in law for about 4 months. After this time, the skimmer stopped splitting bubbles. Meaning it will put bubbles in the reaction chamber through the venturi, but they're big bubbles, like the pinwheel isn't doing its job. The pump still does put water in the reaction chamber, and adjusting the knob would accomplish nothing.
This model did not come with a flow control valve as others do, but upon some hours of reading, I found that the pump may have been too deep in the tank, causing the skimmer to not work properly. I took the pump out and cut the plastic tubing that hooks the pump to the skimmer to make it about 3 inches long, putting the pump at about 2 inches under his tank's water line.
A second thing I found reading, is that the venturi may be clogged, so I took the plastic pre-filter from the pump input and took the venturi out. The hole is pretty big and didn't seem clogged, so I turned it back on, and started blowing some air from the venturi's air intake. This made the skimmer bubble up nicely until I stopped blowing on the air tube. As a temporary solution and only because my brother in law had a small air pump laying around, I hooked it to the air intake and it started foaming like crazy, producing tons of skimmate.
This temporary fix worked for about 2 more months, until recently my brother in law called me to let me know it wasn't working again.
I brought the skimmer to my home and as I've done with my own skimmer a couple of times, I sat the whole thing in a 10 gallon tank with water and muriatic acid, just to make sure it was clean. I ran the skimmer in the water/acid bath for about 4 hours, then proceeded to take it appart and manually brush off all the components, including the pump, shaft, pinwheel impeller, collection cup, etc.... the whole thing is shiny new.
The problem is, that when I hook the skimmer back up on a 5 gallon bucket to test it after re-assembly the same problem persisted. I examined the components and nothing seemed broken/defective. The pump is impecable inside and out, the venturi just as clean and replaced the air line tubing for the venturi's air intake. The muffler or silencer was working well, and I've tried running it with and without the silencer with the same results.
I Can't figure out why this bubbles are so big!
I would take a picture but I'm afraid it is too dark already outside to show the bubbles, but I may give it a try if anyone thinks it will help.
Thanks in advance for your help and advice 3reef!
- Mag.
PS: buying a new / different skimmer is not an option. It took me a year to convince him to get a skimmer at all.
VIDEO LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcT3COeqWXs
This model did not come with a flow control valve as others do, but upon some hours of reading, I found that the pump may have been too deep in the tank, causing the skimmer to not work properly. I took the pump out and cut the plastic tubing that hooks the pump to the skimmer to make it about 3 inches long, putting the pump at about 2 inches under his tank's water line.
A second thing I found reading, is that the venturi may be clogged, so I took the plastic pre-filter from the pump input and took the venturi out. The hole is pretty big and didn't seem clogged, so I turned it back on, and started blowing some air from the venturi's air intake. This made the skimmer bubble up nicely until I stopped blowing on the air tube. As a temporary solution and only because my brother in law had a small air pump laying around, I hooked it to the air intake and it started foaming like crazy, producing tons of skimmate.
This temporary fix worked for about 2 more months, until recently my brother in law called me to let me know it wasn't working again.
I brought the skimmer to my home and as I've done with my own skimmer a couple of times, I sat the whole thing in a 10 gallon tank with water and muriatic acid, just to make sure it was clean. I ran the skimmer in the water/acid bath for about 4 hours, then proceeded to take it appart and manually brush off all the components, including the pump, shaft, pinwheel impeller, collection cup, etc.... the whole thing is shiny new.
The problem is, that when I hook the skimmer back up on a 5 gallon bucket to test it after re-assembly the same problem persisted. I examined the components and nothing seemed broken/defective. The pump is impecable inside and out, the venturi just as clean and replaced the air line tubing for the venturi's air intake. The muffler or silencer was working well, and I've tried running it with and without the silencer with the same results.
I Can't figure out why this bubbles are so big!
I would take a picture but I'm afraid it is too dark already outside to show the bubbles, but I may give it a try if anyone thinks it will help.
Thanks in advance for your help and advice 3reef!
- Mag.
PS: buying a new / different skimmer is not an option. It took me a year to convince him to get a skimmer at all.
VIDEO LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcT3COeqWXs
