Maxspect AD600 Aeraqua Duo

Butcher333 · Jun 15, 2020

I’m having trouble dialing down this skimmer. Setting 1 and 2 do nothing and setting 3 is off the rails. Foam pours out the top of the collection cup. I can’t understand why I would need to start hacking into and modifying this thing that’s supposed to be controllable. Before I start cutting and drilling into this thing to add a way to control the air into this skimmer, does anybody have some advice to control this skimmer. The 6 settings aren’t really settings that are useful to me and the flow from the dials aren’t useful in this manner. How hard would it be for companies to install a valve to control air intake. Seriously. Could someone with one of these offer up some advice or what they’ve done. I can’t imagine a need under any circumstance that would merit setting 4 and up. I’ve got a drill and 2 valves for garden emitters and some super glue if no one can advise. Jeff@coralvue ?

Big G · Jun 17, 2020

Bump

JohnGP · Jun 18, 2020

I have that skimmer and so far I love it. When I first set it up it cranked out the foam on setting #2 but now that it's been running a while it's stabilized and running on #6 producing about 1/3 of the cup full every week or so. Your skimmer looks pretty new, how long have you had it set up? Have you tried adjusting the gate to lower your foam level? The more you have the gate open the lower the foam/bubble level is. Have you tried adjusting the two different inlets for the pump? If you want to page Jeff you'll need to use the @Jeff@CoralVue hopefully that gets him in here.

Butcher333 · Jun 18, 2020

Thanks JohnGP and Big G. I guess I forgot the @ before Jeff@CoralVue. I did set it up per the instructions on the inlets for low bioload. I have it right on the mark for water line. When I tried settings 1 and 2, I didn’t get any air. 3 however was massive. I’ve never added a skimmer initially. I’ve always added them down the road.

I was originally letting the skimmate drain back into the tank because it’s a new build and figured I’d solve the issue later, but it was keeping the water aerated. I added pods and macro’s from Algae Barn, so I turned the skimmer off for 10 days. On Monday I turned it back on and shortly after made the post. A few hours later it calmed down and is acting the way I expect. LOL.. I was confused as to how new salt water without any dissolved proteins or organics would create so much foam when I first set it up and never saw any deviation from this state until after I made the post. That just figures. I was originally going to wait until the MJ-SK400 came out because I thought this would be too big for my tank, but decided to just get the AD600 because it would be able to handle anything I added up to heavy bioload and I wouldn’t have to wait. Usually I’m able to edit a post, but am not able to on this post.

The awesome thing is that I just checked the collection cup and it hasn’t collected anything since it calmed down. I’ve never had a skimmer that would skim clean an entire tank in a couple of hours before. I probably will still add the valves to have tighter control of the air intake, but don’t feel the same pressure to do it now. It will just be for the better control if need be. This thing is so quiet that I had to have my wife tell me when it was on because the controller was on the outside of my stand at the time(1 1/2 ft away). After studying it a while I figured out how they made it that way. Pretty smart. The water it sits in is the muffler. Even if you take the air inlet off, you cannot hear anything. I’m pretty happy with it now. I’m glad I made the right choice with this skimmer.

Vinman · Jun 18, 2020

I run mine on 7 and both dials are set about at this position I like to skim a little on the Wet Side so this is what I pull out a day

JohnGP · Jun 22, 2020

@Butcher333 Glad you got it running proper now. Mine did the same thing at first and then settled down. For a while I couldn't figure the darn thing out, it would skim fine and pull all kinds of gunk out and then it would just stop producing, I tried all kinds of different settings and just recently realized what you said, it will strip a tank clean in no time and then there's nothing left to skim for a while. I absolutely love this skimmer, built like a tank and works like a charm.

@Vinman Where do you have your gate set at? Have mine almost completely closed...

Vinman · Jun 22, 2020

JohnGP said:
@Butcher333 Glad you got it running proper now. Mine did the same thing at first and then settled down. For a while I couldn't figure the darn thing out, it would skim fine and pull all kinds of gunk out and then it would just stop producing, I tried all kinds of different settings and just recently realized what you said, it will strip a tank clean in no time and then there's nothing left to skim for a while. I absolutely love this skimmer, built like a tank and works like a charm.

@Vinman Where do you have your gate set at? Have mine almost completely closed...

The gate valve controls water height so I bring my bubbles all the way to the edge that's why it's a wetter skim so if I lower the water level it'll be thicker and darker but you won't get as much

JohnGP · Jun 22, 2020

Same here, have mine pretty much closed and this is getting the water level where I like it. Just cleaned the cup last night, man the stench would gag a maggot!

Vinman · Jun 22, 2020

JohnGP said:
Same here, have mine pretty much closed and this is getting the water level where I like it. Just cleaned the cup last night, man the stench would gag a maggot!

My wife loves when I empty the cup lol