Protein skimmer bubble plates

[Circular potato]

Hi everyone, I have a question about bubble plates. Are the bubbles suppose to be equally spread out across the whole unit? This is because my reef octopus elite doesn't do this, the bubbles only come out in a straight line.
Thanks

 

[redfishbluefish]

That doesn't sound right.

Is this a new skimmer?
Is the air valve open?

You should be seeing a sold column of white bubbles totally filling the skimmer body.

 

[Circular potato]

The skimmer is a few months old, the bubble plate holes don't seem to do too much diffusing the bubbles seem to be very turbulent as they rise up.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Here's what I'd do.....pull out the pump, take it apart, and clean it. I'd also pull off the venturi part and clean that.....this is the donut shaped piece on the front of the pump that has the air line attached to it. Pay special attention to inside this donut, where the air enters. You can get hard build-up here, partially blocking the air from coming in.

I also found a short video of a RO Elite HERE. Note that it's a solid white column of bubbles were the bubble plate is not visible. Hope this helps.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Two more points:

1. If you're not running ozone (the smaller tube going to the venturi), make sure you have it capped off.

2. Make sure the pipe piece coming from the pump into the skimmer is not only going through the outer hole in the skimmer body, but also through the hole in the bubble plate assembly.