MTC HSA 250 protein skimmer help

Justfbilly · Mar 8, 2017

I have a MTC HSA-250 protein skimmer. It's been working great and then it stopped skimming. I have been making adjustments for about a week now and it still will not skim? Looking to see if anyone might have a manual for these skimmers or any ideas why the skimmer would stop suddenly.

Reef Man · Mar 8, 2017

Did you already clean the beckett valve?

Justfbilly · Mar 8, 2017

No I haven't, I will clean it and see if that helps. Thanks Reef Man!

Reef Man · Mar 8, 2017

Normally rocks and crab shells block the air holes and not air is sucked.

Justfbilly · Mar 9, 2017

I removed and cleaned the beckett valve and no luck. I am getting a good abut of bubbles in the water but I cant get any skimmate

Reef Man · Mar 9, 2017

What pump are you using? Any video?

Justfbilly · Mar 22, 2017

I am running a Auquatic Life 3700 pump on my skimmer. Here is a link to a video of the skimmer running.

jason2459 · Mar 22, 2017

That's a fairly underwhelming pump for that skimmer. If you an an internal AC pump I would put at least a mag18 or mag24 on that.

Justfbilly · Mar 22, 2017

I have the flow backed off on the skimmer, if I open the flow it immediately fills the cup and overflows. This skimmer was working great up till a few weeks ago? Do I need to increase the flow and reduce the length of the output tube?

skim · Mar 23, 2017

It looks like your bio load is not that high. From what I see in the Video you have clear liquid in the cup and your water level in the skimmer is too high it should only come up to the top of the skimmer body or less not into cup. I assume this is a new skimmer? How old is the tank and what size? There has to something in the water for skimmers to work and it looks like your organic load is low so the Skimmer will just keep doing what it is doing right now until the load builds and you will see foam then it will stop again.

http://www.marinetechnical.com/page10.html

jason2459 · Mar 23, 2017

Justfbilly said:
I have the flow backed off on the skimmer, if I open the flow it immediately fills the cup and overflows. This skimmer was working great up till a few weeks ago? Do I need to increase the flow and reduce the length of the output tube?

I would email Jeff and make sure your phone number is in the email.

Reef Man · Mar 23, 2017

And use a mag 18 for that skimmer.

Justfbilly · Mar 23, 2017

jason2459 said:
I would email Jeff and make sure your phone number is in the email.

The tank is a few years old, it's a 125 gallon and the protein skimmer i have been running for about 4 months.

Reef Man · Mar 24, 2017

Do you see less bubbles or same ammount like in the past when skimmer was working fine?

Justfbilly · Mar 24, 2017

I am seein the same amount of bubbles.

Reef Man · Mar 24, 2017

So, maybe it is just adjusting. Try put water level without air at half, 3/4 at much of the skimmer body, then open air and wait pair of hours and see if it works.

luke33 · Mar 24, 2017

Did you recently clean out the skimmer with vinegar or dose chemiclean or any sort of additive? Have you added any new equipment? The skimmer looks to be functioning correctly but it may just be breaking in for some reason or being offset by some chemical.