Bubble Magus Z6 keeps skimming clear

[The_Skrimp]

Hi folks
I have a new bubble magus z6 that I'm breaking in. Really cool design but I'm having some trouble setting it up. I don't know what the norm is for breaking in a new skimmer so I figured I'd ask you all. It is just under 8 inches in the water which is the recommended depth and it's turned all the way down but the bubbles keep going all the way up the neck and filling my collection cup with clear water. Over the past three days I've lost and had to replace a couple gallons of water because its pulling so much out. At day three now, some of the skimmate is starting to turn a little more brown and foaming up but it's still filling up a full cup every few hours.

I guess my question is, should I keep doing this till it breaks itself in and is working properly or is it a depth issue? Should I elevate the skimmer so it's in less water?
Should I open up the drain and just let the cup drain back into the tank for a few days till it settles in?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Duncan62]

Hi folks
I have a new bubble magus z6 that I'm breaking in. Really cool design but I'm having some trouble setting it up. I don't know what the norm is for breaking in a new skimmer so I figured I'd ask you all. It is just under 8 inches in the water which is the recommended depth and it's turned all the way down but the bubbles keep going all the way up the neck and filling my collection cup with clear water. Over the past three days I've lost and had to replace a couple gallons of water because its pulling so much out. At day three now, some of the skimmate is starting to turn a little more brown and foaming up but it's still filling up a full cup every few hours.

I guess my question is, should I keep doing this till it breaks itself in and is working properly or is it a depth issue? Should I elevate the skimmer so it's in less water?
Should I open up the drain and just let the cup drain back into the tank for a few days till it settles in?

Thanks.

Sounds like you need more air.

 

[The_Skrimp]

It doesn't look like there is a way to change the air intake on these skimmers but I'll try and tinker with it. I reached out to bulk reef supply and they sad it was normal for breaking in a new skimmer but this really seems excessive. I have to babysit the skimmer while it's on so it doesn't overflow ever hour or so.

 

[acanman]

I just switched to the curve 7 elite and it did the same thing for a few days I just left the drain open. And it's skimming like it should now. Hope this helps. And I keep mine in higher water than recommended

 

[The_Skrimp]

Thanks for the reply @acanman
I'll give that a shot and see if it settles down in a few days. This is day four now. I really like this skimmer's design so I'm crossing my fingers I can get it to work properly. I'm glad you had a similar experience with a skimmer of the same brand. Hopefully this one works out the same way.

 

[acanman]

Mine took about a week to settle down. Idk if yours is like mine but they say to keep the gate all the way open also while it's breaking in

 

[The_Skrimp]

Thanks @acanman. I do have the gate all the way open right now. Here's video of the skimmer. I plugged the drain to show how fast the cup collects but between plugging it and picking up the phone to shoot the video, the water was already half way full. By the time the video ends (48 seconds) it's totally full. I guess I'm wondering if this amount of foam look like the norm for a new skimmer breaking in? I'll give it a few more days and see if things change. Fingers crossed.

 

[acanman]

Mine was overflowing like that. If it doesn't change in a day or 2 raise it up out of the water until you get a good dark skim

 

[Duncan62]

It doesn't look like there is a way to change the air intake on these skimmers but I'll try and tinker with it. I reached out to bulk reef supply and they sad it was normal for breaking in a new skimmer but this really seems excessive. I have to babysit the skimmer while it's on so it doesn't overflow ever hour or so.

There's no air adjustment?

 

[The_Skrimp]

@Duncan62
Not that I can tell. Just an air intake hose going into a silencer. There's a gate that opens and closes for water exchange which controls the skimmer. The gate is fully open now which gives me less bubbles. That's what we're seeing in the video. If it were fully closed, the cup would be filling up faster than it could drain. Essentially, this is the lowest setting on this skimmer.

As far as water level I've set it all the way up to the point where the bubble diffuser is above the surface of the water so I don't know that I can go higher up without the actual pump taking in air instead of water.

BRS says to give it time so I think that might be my best bet right now.

 

[acanman]

Did you have to put yours together like I did? If so make sure the bubble diffuser is facing the correct way

 

[Neko]

It's day 21. My Z6 is still collecting clear water...

 

[The_Skrimp]

It's day 21. My Z6 is still collecting clear water...

It's a total headache but it does calm down eventually. Mine took about two months before it finally broke in. The issue I still have now is that every time I clean it, the skimmer starts overflowing again but only for a few days. I ended up taking an air control valve like you use on airline tubing and modified it a little bit to add to the air intake hose on the skimmer. If it starts overflowing now, I just tighten the valve and let less air through which helps a lot.

 

[Neko]

Day 28, I ended up with contacting to my seller BRS customer support. The issuue is resolved.

BRS customer support said,

If you have excess silicates or oils in your system the skimmer will non stop overflow. You can remove these by simply capturing and throwing out the water that goes into the skimmer cup repeatedly till it stops overflowing. This would take a decent amount of water out of your system so be sure to have a small bucket of salt water on hand to replenish it.

I did followings.
(1) Prepare bucket of new saltwater and empty bucket
(2) Make skimer water level lowest setting by adjusting the skimmer's belt
(3) Turn off ATO, continue running system, return pump on, skimmer on.
(4) Take out water from skimmer (see picture below), and put it on empy bucket
(5) Repeat taking out water from skimmer until reach to 1 litter
(6) Then, add 1 litter of new saltwater in the sump

Then you will see less overflow. Wait until overflow come back (10min to 30min). Once overflow come back. Repeat process of (4)(5)(6) until overflow is totally gone. In my case, I repeated 3-5 times. It took a few hours including waiting time.

Once it's done, don't forget to turn on ATO.

I hope it helps someone who has same issue