Is this the best you can do Curve5?

[Zoaeasy]

Curve 5 problems.
I find this skimmer to be unreliable and any input appreciated.
This is a weeks worth of skimming at max setting.Running in 8.5” of water and recently vinegar bathed for two days .
Any advice?

 

[Diesel]

You might be low on nutrients in your tank.
Test results with reliable test kits will tell you more.

 

[Zoaeasy]

Thanks Nitrates at 30. (Redsea) Po4 undetectable ( salifert)Feeding 4 to 6 cubes daily for 4 fish in a 60 gallon. Niger Trigger 5"' two clowns 2" each and angel 3".Trying to lower nitrates with NoPox. Running Rowaphos but planning to remove it for now.
Had problems with high Phosphate earlier and algae.

 

[Diesel]

Let me ask you this.
How is the overall look of the tank?
Corals are doing great?

 

[teller]

I have a curve 5.
By seeing your picture seems your venturi is partially blocked.
Known problem.
Take your venturi, plastic tube attached to the pump, and clean the hole that connects to the air tube.
Usually this air hole is stucked with salt.

 

[Zoaeasy]

I have a curve 5.
By seeing your picture seems your venturi is partially blocked.
Known problem.
Take your venturi, plastic tube attached to the pump, and clean the hole that connects to the air tube.
Usually this air hole is stucked with salt.

Thanks will do today .

 

[Zoaeasy]

Let me ask you this.
How is the overall look of the tank?
Corals are doing great?

corals are doing ok. Mostly LPS and sofites

 

[Amps Reef Life]

My curve5 pulls some super nasty stuff. I have owned three total all used in three different tanks. They all worked really well. Let me see if I can find a picture.

 

[Diesel]

corals are doing ok. Mostly LPS and sofites

In that case I wouldn't worry much about it
Yes you can double check the Venturi

 

[Water Dog]

In addition to making sure that salt creep isn’t clogging the venturi, raise the skimmer up. Although they suggest an 8ish inch water level for operation, back when I owned a Curve 5, I found that the skimmer actually performed much better at a 6” water level.

 

[madweazl]

Set it at a depth of 10"; a lot of people have trouble tuning them and place them at all kinds of depths out side the recommended window of 9.5-11" to make up for it. At 10", it will work quite well (most of the time) with a setting around 3 (2.5-max'ish). These skimmers are extremely sensitive to water level changes in the skimmer compartment and a fluctuation of just 1/4" will make the difference between it not skimming and it overflowing once you have it dialed in.

It can work...

I dumped it after a couple of months and grabbed a Deltec that I rarely have to adjust.

 

[solitude127]

Set it at a depth of 10"; a lot of people have trouble tuning them and place them at all kinds of depths out side the recommended window of 9.5-11" to make up for it. At 10", it will work quite well (most of the time) with a setting around 3 (2.5-max'ish). These skimmers are extremely sensitive to water level changes in the skimmer compartment and a fluctuation of just 1/4" will make the difference between it not skimming and it overflowing once you have it dialed in.

It can work...

I dumped it after a couple of months and grabbed a Deltec that I rarely have to adjust.

I was thinking of the opposite. lol.. The bubble breaking point in the OP's picture shows that the BBP is pretty low. So I was thinking he should raise the skimmer and and bring the BBP up higher.

 

[Water Dog]

Based on my experience when I owned one, I found the 6” depth gave me optimal performance, nice dry skim. At deeper water depths, I found the skimmer was overly sensitive and very prone to overflowing.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I just upgraded to a Curve 7, but I had very good results with the Curve 5. I ran mine in about 9" of water and usually had the bubble level set to break at the bottom of the collection cup. For me that setting was around #1.

To me it looks like you have your bubble level too low and the skim is collecting on the inside walls of the neck/collection cup instead of it being pushed over the edge into the cup itself. From the pic it seems like you have a dark, thick skim...just not in the cup. Are you saying that you have the skimmer turned all the way up and can't get the bubbles to break higher? It's counter-intuitive, but to raise the bubble level you turn it away from "Max" and towards "Min".

My Curve 5 worked best if I cleaned the buildup inside the neck of the collection cup frequently.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I have my curve 5 pulling some nasty dark fluid right now... I'll have to get water height and setting after work.

 

[Zoaeasy]

Thanks for all the input.
So if I raise it up, the BBP will be higher? Seems counter intuitive to me but going to give a try. I cant go 10 " due to sump limitations I cleaned the venturi and no change noted.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Quick question: What do you have your flow control pipe setting at currently?

 

[Amps Reef Life]

In addition to making sure that salt creep isn’t clogging the venturi, raise the skimmer up. Although they suggest an 8ish inch water level for operation, back when I owned a Curve 5, I found that the skimmer actually performed much better at a 6” water level.

I also had the same finding. I had to raise mine higher then recommended levels.

 

[Amps Reef Life]

Here's a older pic.

 

[Charlie brown]

Mine did the same thing exactly like your pic what I did was pull apart pump and took everything apart and cleaned with tooth brush after that thing is working like a champ cup is getting full every day hope this helps