Help with new skimmer

[AVVITT]

Hi guys,

I just assembled my first ever external skimmer. It's a brand new Bubble-Magus curve 7.
I put it in my sump, switched it on and before I could blink, my collection cup was half full of water. I realised I had the adjustment about half way so turned it down to minimum and went again. Still no better.

After watching several YouTube videos I'm 99.9% sure it's assembled correctly and originally it was sat at the bottom of the sump which is approx 9.5 inches and the recommendation on the instructions says around 9-10 inches.
I've seen a lot about water level affecting it so I raised it approx 5 inches out of the water and set to minimum, I'm still getting bubbles overflowing into the cup far too quickly so within about 20 minutes I reckon the cup would be full again.

What do I do?

 

[Anirban]

Every new skimmer need some time to break in. Just let it run for a week or two at lowest setting and let the cup overflow into some container or back to sump as its a external skimmer. After a week or two it will stop doing it.

 

[AVVITT]

Sorry, my bad, INTERNAL, not external skimmer lol

 

[desagon]

Hey, I had the same issue when I had my Bubble Magus going. I ended up getting a small ball valve that fit the flex tubing of the intake (3/8" maybe) and I turned the exhaust wide open for the skimmer and kept the ball valve closed. Then, veryyyyyy slowly open the valve up to let a little more air in every few hours. You'll know its too much air because the water will start pouring into the cup. You want to keep it adjusted to where it doesn't overflow.

This is what the ball valve looks like:

After a few days, it should be fine to take the valve off and adjust your skimmer normally.

That worked for me, let me know if it works for you, or if you've already done something else lol.

 

[desagon]

Oh, and for the water level - I would go right in the middle of the manufacturers recommendation. If it's not always at that level, it'll not work correctly.