Help with Aqua C skimmer

[Psychonaut]

hey y’all, so the tank I bought came with a used Aqua C EV- 180 skimmer. It’s wasnt really party of my plan, but I figured if I could use it I would

So when I plugged it in with the pump it came with, it wouldn’t skim. It barley blew bubbles. Comparable to what a person could do with a big enough straw. Anyway I figure the pump was beat.

Today my jebao DCT 10,000 came and I figured, what the heck let’s see what t does and hooked it up. I took it from level 30-100 and it never really made any little bubbles, it just pushed more and more water into the clear part of the skimmer.

Since I have never owned a skimmer before, I wasn’t sure what the problem could be. I understand that they take a while to break-I’m, put even on the videos I watch of brand new pumps, they create a bunch of tiny little bubbles that I could never do with my lungs and a straw like this does. I took a 1 min video of me ramping it up from 30-100 but I can’t figure out how to load it without creating a YouTube video.
Thanks yall

 

[RamsReef]

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0015/9131/2445/files/EV-180.pdf?11667489451085625805

Make sure your air inlets and stuff are clean.

 

[Alexreefer]

Make sure your air valve is open and you airline tubing going down to the pump is clean. You can try cleaning it in a vinegar bath and make sure you skimmer is in the right water depth

 

[Psychonaut]

Yea so I just pulled both of them out and blew thru them. On has a push connect on the ther side and the other one has a valve. But neither extend down into the water they both just bring air into the top of the box

 

[TexasTodd]

They are great skimmers but if anything gets stuck in the mechanism, you have to clean it out. Might do a vinegar soak too since you don't know the skimmer.

 

[Psychonaut]

I have the skimmer in a good water depth, what airline tubing going to the pump? As far as I can see it’s basically just a box that the water pumps into, the only thing different is it has that special spigot that is supposed to blow the water out in a special way or something right?

 

[Psychonaut]

 

[Psychonaut]

 

[Psychonaut]

So essentially this skimmer is just a box that that hose sprays into. Is that the way it’s supposed to function?

 

[Psychonaut]

Are my expectations just to high? The skimmer is running in those photos, is that the appropriate amount of bubbling for a not-broken in bathtub skimmer lol?

 

[Tft12]

Looks like it's running in a bath tub of tap water. You won't produce much/any foam in clean tap water. Have you tested the skimmer in saltwater?

From the pictures it looks like your skimmer is in good shape and your spray nozzle and air valve are clean. The main things that need to be maintained on this model of skimmer are the spray nozzle and air valve. Shine a light into both and make sure that they are clear and periodically give them a vinegar soak and detailed cleaning.

These are good skimmers. Their drawback is generally power consumption.

 

[Psychonaut]

Ok thanks man. I have not tried it in saltwater. I (perhaps naively) didn’t think there would be a difference. Hmm ok, we’ll i won’t give up on it yet then. I’m gonna go get a pump better suited for this and after I get my tank cycled I’ll start giving it a couple weeks to really do something. After that if it still doesn’t skim I’ll go shell out the $250 for a reef octopus but if I can get away with using this one for a bit I’d love to save the money.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to answer my rookie questions (and not be ***** about it at all) I dunno how anyone figured this hobby out before the internet.
-Alex

 

[JPergamo]

Yes use it in tank water. I had an ev 240 and it was good. Aqua c uses a downdraft system not a needle wheel so there is no air tube. You need to read the pdf online for operating the skimmer and setting the water height in the body. Use a flashlight to see the water line through the black acrylic

 

[pasquale petrovia]

Are you still running it. I have a 240 and it works well If you ever want to get rid of it let me know