Nyos 160 help!

[JoshMack]

Hi all,

I bought a tank second hand and it came with a nyos 160. Great skimmer by all accounts.

Now the trouble I'm.having is two fold:
1. Skimmer leaks a lot of micro bubbles into the tank, the bubbles never get high enough above the outlet

2. If I open the air completely, it overflows like crazy.

The skimmer has run for a few days or more as I know there's generally a run in with new tanks, but no change.

If I close the air a bit I can stop it from overflowing but can't stop the bubbles in the sump.

I've tried letting it run, raising it to 6 inch water depth, pulling apart and reassembling.

Really not sure what else to do!!

The micro bubbles are the issue, I can get it to skim fine otherwise.

 

[Dragon52]

How much water is it in & where is the water valve set at.

 

[JoshMack]

It's currently sitting 6 inches deep.

Reefer 525 sumpsare 11 ish inches.

Currently the air valk is half closed and the water level is half closed. See pics for more.

 

[Dragon52]

Mine sits in roughly 9", I have my air almost all the way open & water is more closed. I'll attach a document that may help you, I can;t remember where I found it but it helped me. I do have the Nyos 160.
OK R2R wont let me upload a word Doc. so I will copy & paste the info.

1

Place the skimmer right next to your overflow drain pipe
Put it in an average depth of water. If the manufacturer recommends 7"-9", put it in 8". Open the gate and the airline intake all of the way at first
With the collection cup off, close the gate to bring the bubbles right to the top where the collection cup attaches
Now start to close the airline intake until the bubbles coming up are really small
This will raise the bubbles, so adjust the gate accordingly until the bubbles get back to where they are breaking right before where the collection cup attaches
Make small adjustments every 2-3 days until desired skimmate consistency is achieved.

2

Try closing the air intake all the way and readjust water level to the top of the body. Open air a little and the level should drop as this happens adjust the water level to bring it back to the top of the body ( all water level adjustments should be with the COARSE adjustment for now ) and repeat until you have a nice snow white colour inside the body and not a lot of turbulence. You can make fine adjustments later as needed.
I have never used one but from what I have seen and read about it, it still runs like a basic skimmer but with some fine tuning adjustments ( air and water ). If there is too much air, pump will not be able to pump water, so yes this answers the question that is asked many times, can a skimmer have too much air? Yes and it will not process enough water and this in turn is like having a skimmer that is too small. The key is like I described, get the water as white in colour as you can without causing too much turbulence, the less the turbulence the better the contact time.
I hope this be of some help.



3

One of the first things I learned from Red Sea when I set up my tank was that a skimmer will only produce skim if there is stuff in the water to take out so if it's a new tank that could be part of the problem. Also try dialling it in around 2 hours or so after feeding when there may be stuff to skim out.

I set my NYOS up and it's been running now for about 6 days. It didn't do much for the first day or so but now it's working away producing Skim.

To set the water height I turned the main tube for 'rough' adjustment towards closed. I don't know how much it's closed because I can't seem to see it but I turned it until the water height was around were the cup fastens on. I had the air partially closed, just a bit. Pretty much what Broadfield said above.

Over the last few days I've fiddled around making slight adjustments to the water height with the fine adjustment and now the air valve if fully open and it's churning out the sludge. Sometimes nothing is produced and the bubbles are clear but then it changes generally after feeding etc.

With my previous skimmer (C Skim 1800) it took me a few months to get the feel for it, and you just make small adjustments here and there. It seems like you always messing with it. The NYOS is however no comparison and in a different league and I'm only just starting to fine tune it.

Also bear in mind that the skimmers can have a run in period from days to weeks depending..

 

[minus9]

It should be around 8 1/4" (21cm) deep. New skimmers need a little break in time, then the fine bubbles go away. I have the 160 and if I remember, it started with a few fine bubbles, but diminished over time. Have you adjusted the outlet flow/main tube that the fine adjustment is connected to? It will most likely take a couple days to settle down.

 

[Dragon52]

Are there any baffles in your sump that separate the skimmer from the return pump. can't tell in the pics

 

[JoshMack]

It should be around 8 1/4" (21cm) deep. New skimmers need a little break in time, then the fine bubbles go away. I have the 160 and if I remember, it started with a few fine bubbles, but diminished over time. Have you adjusted the outlet flow/main tube that the fine adjustment is connected to? It will most likely take a couple days to settle down.

Yeah I tried a little deeper, didn't help.

So the problem is, if I open the air all the way, micro bubbles disappear from the sump but the skimmer overflows.

If I close the main tube by turning it or the screw, the skimmer overflows and I need to close the air line to lower the level.

No matter what I do, the skim seems too high and there's too many bubbles.

I've been trying all of the above, not sure if there's something wrong or if it's run in.

Is the air line meant to have such a drastic adjustment to the height of the skimmer??

 

[Dragon52]

It can. When I first started mine it took me many months to get it figured out, moving the water level it was in & all kinds of stuff, it would work for awhile & the mess up, then I found the info I posted & that helped. I made sure the hole at the bottom of the water adjustment tube was open to the skimmer motor then turned the water valve closed & the air all the way open & adjusted from there. Like I said it sits in 9" of water & works, going on 4mths now.

 

[JoshMack]

Sounds like I just need to keep tuning. Hopefully I can get rid of those micro bubbles soon ! Haha

It can. When I first started mine it took me many months to get it figured out, moving the water level it was in & all kinds of stuff, it would work for awhile & the mess up, then I found the info I posted & that helped. I made sure the hole at the bottom of the water adjustment tube was open to the skimmer motor then turned the water valve closed & the air all the way open & adjusted from there. Like I said it sits in 9" of water & works, going on 4mths now.

 

[Dragon52]

Good luck.

 

[Crabby48]

It can. When I first started mine it took me many months to get it figured out, moving the water level it was in & all kinds of stuff, it would work for awhile & the mess up, then I found the info I posted & that helped. I made sure the hole at the bottom of the water adjustment tube was open to the skimmer motor then turned the water valve closed & the air all the way open & adjusted from there. Like I said it sits in 9" of water & works, going on 4mths now.

So there is hope for me. Mine was good for awhile then overflows the cup. It will now be good for a couple days or a week then overflow. I had it for 7 months a fight with it most of them. I’ll try your posted method and hope it works

 

[Dragon52]

So there is hope for me. Mine was good for awhile then overflows the cup. It will now be good for a couple days or a week then overflow. I had it for 7 months a fight with it most of them. I’ll try your posted method and hope it works

One thing I found out was every time I changed the socks in the sump it would go crazy & take a cpl days to straighten back up especially if they were new even if I washed in water before using.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Hi

If I could say how much I feel your pain. I bought mine when the first came out to replace my vertex. I could never get it tuned. It ran for years as a giant aerators. I finally got mine right and it is great.

Your depth is almost exactly where I am at using the O in nyos as a guide.

My first thought is give it a week or 2. It should stop on its on.

If not I would open it wide up and then start closing it up slowly. There are bubbles in the tube where it should just be water showing the level. I have my black screw wide open for air, the large gray adjuster out from the body about 4 inches and the fine acrylic adjuster set about mid point.

 

[Crabby48]

One thing I found out was every time I changed the socks in the sump it would go crazy & take a cpl days to straighten back up especially if they were new even if I washed in water before using.

I noticed that also. I don’t always use sock and still have the problem. Thanks for the info

 

[Karl M]

I have one......and it is the devil or it’s possessed . I may have to call a priest

 

[minus9]

I'm going to clean mine this weekend, so I can take pics of how it's set up? I've cleaned mine several times already and I've had to start from scratch a couple times, but I've never had an issue getting it dialed in. I do remember that I've had to play with the height a little, but as soon as I hit the recommended depth, it worked. 8 1/4" (21cm) was the magic height for me and it's what's listed in the manual.
I did have an issue with it not starting, but later discovered it was a voltage drop in the incoming AC, which my local utility fixed.

 

[JoshMack]

I'm going to clean mine this weekend, so I can take pics of how it's set up? I've cleaned mine several times already and I've had to start from scratch a couple times, but I've never had an issue getting it dialed in. I do remember that I've had to play with the height a little, but as soon as I hit the recommended depth, it worked. 8 1/4" (21cm) was the magic height for me and it's what's listed in the manual.
I did have an issue with it not starting, but later discovered it was a voltage drop in the incoming AC, which my local utility fixed.

So I have it at the recommended 8 inches, more micro bubbles than before and a lot harder to dial in..

I can get it to skim, but can't stop the micro bubbles. What I notice is that my bubbles cover the whole pump.

Could it be set up wrong? What would cause that

 

[minus9]

They will diminish in time, but it takes a few days, possibly a week. You'll have to live with micro bubbles until it breaks in. It happened to mine, but it didn't take long, just let it be. You can always use poly fiber to catch the bubbles before they reach your return section.

 

[minus9]

I just cleaned mine yesterday (citric acid bath) and I started it with the internal water level a little lower than usual, knowing that it will rise and it's already back to its normal level in less than 24hrs.
My water level is currently 7 1/2", a little lower than usual, must've bumped my gate when I was working in there? I also increased my return pump a little, so that would explain the drop. Sorry, thinking out loud, how's yours doing now?

 

[Crabby48]

8 months running mine and it fills the sump with micro bubbles. Figured that was normal. I’m new lol.