Tips for Dialing In Your Skimmer

Shaun Sweeney · Oct 7, 2016

john.m.cole3 said:
I've heard of people doing a mid week neck cleaning. Do you remove the cup and clean?

I remove the cup and clean it well in the sink. It definitely works better clean so I do that at least twice a week. Originally, I'd sometimes leave it for a couple of weeks but frequent cleaning is the trick.

Reefpro · Oct 7, 2016

Sroufe7 said:
Yep, the both the water level adjustments are wide open and the air adjustment is wide open too. That's what I'm hoping for, has quite a bit of mirco bubbles too.

Try putting skimmer on a small stand. It may simply be in too much water to get it to stay in the neck without overflowing and at lowest setting. Just a thought

Sroufe7 · Oct 7, 2016

john.m.cole3 said:
That's how mine was too. What additives did you use? And what's your salinity at?

32oz of Fritz Zyme 9 Salinity is at 1.026

Sroufe7 · Oct 7, 2016

Reefpro said:
Try putting skimmer on a small stand. It may simply be in too much water to get it to stay in the neck without overflowing and at lowest setting. Just a thought

I do have it on a stand to get it at 8 1/2" My next step was to try it at 8"

I'll let it run a little bit longer the way it is now, it seems to be getting better, if it stays the same I'll move it up to put the water level at 8"

fragit · Oct 7, 2016

skim said:
Unit is made to run with one nipple covered, if you were to add ozone you would use the second nipple. When you bring your water height up to where the cup joins the body it should not overflow put cup on and it will rise. Fine tune by looking at the neck just below the cup, you want to see about Pea size bubbles that should rise and start to burst at the bottom of the cup level. YOU MUST DO YOUR SETTINGS BEFORE ANY FEEDINGS OR ADDITIVES AND WATER UNTOUCHED, you want to do them when skimmer is functioning at it's most stable time.
For Skimmers with Air Adjustable Silencer's. Turbulence is the killer for skimmers if it is too aggressive skimmer will not be as efficient. You want to adjust the airflow so you have more of a tumble or like a swirling river or as close to it as you can, not like a raging river. If you lower the air too much you will lose efficiency so great idea but it can drive you nuts fine tuning. That is the biggest down fall for skimmers that fit in cabinet, having a short body it is hard and at times impossible to get an area in body where there is stability/lack of turbulence.

Just set mine up like this.... this morning. Seems to be working a bit better, certainly skimming a larger water volume. Thanks for the tips!!!!

airmotive · Oct 8, 2016

Sroufe7 said:
The bath helped it seems, but it still bubbles over with the skimmer adjustments all the way down. Could be from the additives from kick starting it I suppose? It's been over a week since I added it, so I figured by now it would of settled down.

Did you use any adhesives with your rock work? (Those clay-like sticks that you kneed together and eventually harden)
That stuff will cause skimmer insanity for a week or more.

vanpire · Oct 9, 2016

I can't believe how much better my skimmer is working after tuning it per John's suggestions. I have a Vertex Alpha 200 and a friend has a Bubble King - forgot the model. His worked so much better and I thought paying the extra money for a Bubble King was worth it. Now, I know better.

Again, thanx John.

john.m.cole3 · Oct 9, 2016

vanpire said:
I can't believe how much better my skimmer is working after tuning it per John's suggestions. I have a Vertex Alpha 200 and a friend has a Bubble King - forgot the model. His worked so much better and I thought paying the extra money for a Bubble King was worth it. Now, I know better.

Again, thanx John.

You are very welcome. It makes me feel good when I am able to help others.

Sroufe7 · Oct 9, 2016

airmotive said:
Did you use any adhesives with your rock work? (Those clay-like sticks that you kneed together and eventually harden)
That stuff will cause skimmer insanity for a week or more.

Yes and some mortar also. The 2 part epoxy was added a couple weeks ago and the mortar was added last week.

john.m.cole3 · Oct 9, 2016

Sroufe7 said:
Yes and some mortar also. The 2 part epoxy was added a couple weeks ago and the mortar was added last week.

Any change in skimmer performance?

Sroufe7 · Oct 12, 2016

john.m.cole3 said:
Any change in skimmer performance?

It defiantly seems to still be getting better. It's not overflowing like crazy now, but the bubbles are up to the top of the collection cup with the skimmer adjustments open all the way. And the micro bubbles are less also.

john.m.cole3 · Oct 12, 2016

Sroufe7 said:
It defiantly seems to still be getting better. It's not overflowing like crazy now, but the bubbles are up to the top of the collection cup with the skimmer adjustments open all the way. And the micro bubbles are less also.

It's breaking in! How fast does the collection cup fill up? Hours? Days?

Sroufe7 · Oct 12, 2016

john.m.cole3 said:
It's breaking in! How fast does the collection cup fill up? Hours? Days?

At first it would been less than an hour and it would of been full. Yesterday is the first day I plugged the out of the skimmer cup to collect the overflow and it only has about a 1/4" of water in it right now.

_Alex_ · Oct 12, 2016

My cousin has the same quantum skimmer on his 150. It's a little beast but has a tiny cup. I'll check with him later on water level as he works 3rd shift and still asleep. But it took us a week or more for his to fully break in and settle down so that we could adjust it.

john.m.cole3 · Oct 12, 2016

Sroufe7 said:
At first it would been less than an hour and it would of been full. Yesterday is the first day I plugged the out of the skimmer cup to collect the overflow and it only has about a 1/4" of water in it right now.

Ok, great! Leave it alone for 2 or 3 days. Let me us know what color the skimmate is. Pictures=thousands of words. I'm willing to bet the bubbles quit breaking as high in the neck of the cup in this time. Then, you can start closing the air intake to adjust bubble size and fine tune the gate to get it where it should be. You'll probably need to make fine adjustments every 3 to 4 days for the next month. I have been cleaning the neck of my cup every week, but may start doing it mid week also. Some theorize that a clean neck allows the bubbles to rise to the top and break into the cup easier. I used a tooth brush on my neck of my collection cup w/ the cup off of the skimmer last night, and this morning there was a nice dense foam at the top spilling over.

_Alex_ · Oct 12, 2016

And I'll agree my reef octo diablo does 10x better if I can clean the cup and neck with a tooth brush once a week.

I take cup off and rinse in the sink. The neck I just hit with toothbrush while I have the cup off.

Sroufe7 · Oct 12, 2016

I was going to upload some pictures last post and forgot!

The collection cup drain tube is just looped and plugged on the end because I wasn't sure if I was going to need it hooked up still or not.

It now looks like the bubbles are breaking right before the top of the collection cup. I did add some pieces of acrylic to the bottom of the skimmer to raise it, so it now has a water height of 8-1/4"

john.m.cole3 · Oct 12, 2016

Sweet! Now, if you take the collection cup off, do the bubbles overflow or break inside the body of the skimmer?

_Alex_ · Oct 12, 2016

Also on that quantum be cautious on your adjustments. And give them ample time to adjust to the adjustment. We fought my cousins for about a month because he kept fiddling with it to often. Once I got him to leave it alone it was easier to adjust.

john.m.cole3 · Oct 12, 2016

_Alex_ said:
Also on that quantum be cautious on your adjustments. And give them ample time to adjust to the adjustment. We fought my cousins for about a month because he kept fiddling with it to often. Once I got him to leave it alone it was easier to adjust.

+ 1