Dissapointed with new Vertex Alpha 170 Skimmer

ToXIc · Jul 30, 2012

i recently purchased a new Vertex Alpha170 its been over a month running. It's sitting in 9" of water volute 4 turns (i've tried from 3 to 6 turns)..
and i'm really disappointed with its performance... ive been reading sites and blogs, tried everything but it isnt producing as much skim as expected..
i have a heavily stocked 120g thats fed heavily also and dont run any filter sox..

any help welcomed..

wrasseluver · Jul 30, 2012

I'm not saying it would make a big difference but I ran my alpha 200 at 8.5 inches and it ran perfect. Did you adjust the volute on the pump?

tnyr5 · Jul 31, 2012

What foods do you feed? I find that if I feed PE mysis or other oily foods without rinsing them, my skimmer will shut down for quite some time.

ToXIc · Jul 31, 2012

I've tried adjusting the volute anywhere between 2-6 turns with no difference. How many turns on the volute do you guys have it at and what water height?

I also rinse my frozens before feeding.

Oh yeah and the water level is at a constant 9" because of my ato.
____________________________
Sent from my iThingy using Tapatalk

ToXIc · Jul 31, 2012

Although the manufacture recommends between 9-10" of water. I lowered the water level to 8.5 and 3 turns of the volute. Now it's time to tune with the gate valve and wait and see.

And other tips guys?

____________________________
Sent from my iThingy using Tapatalk

ToXIc · Aug 17, 2012

spoke to proline aquatics, they recomended some things to try. now the wait..

clowndude · Sep 13, 2012

I recently got a vertex alpha beginning part of August and have not been happy with it all. I feel like I've thrown a lot of money down the drain. Mine sits in 9.5" of water. Were u ever able to get yours working?

ToXIc · Sep 13, 2012

That's still up in the air. I'm not satisfied but have had ppl tell me that is working great. I did change it to 4 turns and it has been pulling more stuff. What do you have yours at?

____________________________
Sent from my iThingy using Tapatalk

clowndude · Sep 13, 2012

ToXIc said:
That's still up in the air. I'm not satisfied but have had ppl tell me that is working great. I did change it to 4 turns and it has been pulling more stuff. What do you have yours at?

____________________________
Sent from my iThingy using Tapatalk

Currently I have mine 1 full turn out. I can't really tell, but probably with the pipe all the way open. It's the only way I could get mine to semi behave. I believe part of the problem is that it seems this skimmer doesn't like higher water tables even though they say it can handle it. I'm starting to feel like a bought a reef octopus all over again because this skimmer does the same things it did.

ToXIc · Sep 13, 2012

Vertex recommend 2-6 turns. Is the skimmer pulsing? There are some videos on YouTube about the pulsing.

Where do you have your water line?

____________________________
Sent from my iThingy using Tapatalk

clowndude · Sep 13, 2012

If I try 4 full turns the skimmer just starts overflowing no matter where I set the stand pipe. I have mine about 1 turn out to keep it from overflowing. It does do that pulsing effect though. Currently the skimmer is in about 9-9.5" of water.

ToXIc · Sep 13, 2012

Try 2-3 turns. Is there anything blocking the output?

____________________________
Sent from my iThingy using Tapatalk

clowndude · Sep 13, 2012

Outlet is free and clear of anything. I even looked in it and don't see anything. I am at 2 full turns out right now and it seems to be stable. I will give it a week and see what happens. How is your skimmer doing?

zebe00 · Mar 3, 2014

ToXic, I just found this thread because I am having this issue with the same skimmer. I had it running fine for 8 months, then the pump died. I removed the skimmer while waiting for the new pump and cleaned it, long story short, three months later, put it back in and bubbles everywhere! Cup fills in 45 seconds, bubbles out of the gate... I've actually been running it with the drain open just to maybe re-break it in? Its been a week, any input would be appreciated!

ToXIc · Mar 3, 2014

are you getting enough air onto the pump?

i dont have the skimmer anymore since i upgraded tanks.. but i know when there is reduced amounts of air into the pump it will pull alot of water into the body and overflow. check for any obstructions in the air lines and silencer. also microbubbles are a part of the breakin process..

to further tune the skimmer i recommend getting a dwyer air meter and play with unscrewing the volute until you get the most LPH possible..

zebe00 · Mar 3, 2014

Thanks for getting back to me, I'm going to check the two lines again for clogs, but it is creating crazy amounts of bubbles, it doesn't seem logical that its not getting enough air... I think I'm going to cut my losses here!

Eckolancer · Mar 3, 2014

Not sure how much different the 150 and 170 is but had this issue when I used 2 part epoxy to glue frags down. I took all the water that overflowed into the lid out of the tank. Make sure to have more fresh mixxed salt water on hand . Ended up with about 6 gallons of over flow water. Now no issues and thing pulls Nasty gunk out. Have to clean the neck almost everyday. Actually looking at adding the vectra to keep it clean.

zebe00 · Mar 3, 2014

Eckolancer said:
Not sure how much different the 150 and 170 is but had this issue when I used 2 part epoxy to glue frags down. I took all the water that overflowed into the lid out of the tank. Make sure to have more fresh mixxed salt water on hand . Ended up with about 6 gallons of over flow water. Now no issues and thing pulls Nasty gunk out. Have to clean the neck almost everyday. Actually looking at adding the vectra to keep it clean.

That may be my last ditch effort tonight! Thanks for the suggestion!