Tunze 9410 water filling the cup

[DMC112]

Hi all.
l bought my tank used so l’ve never actually had the skimmer running. It’s now cycled (4 weeks) and l’ve had a couple of fish and soft Corals in for a week. I went to switch the 9410 skimmer on today and the chamber fills right up with water, it pours out through the holes at the top as well as literally filing the cup. I’ve tried with the pump set at minimum and maximum??
I’ve set the water height at 150mm (their website states a minimum of 140mm and maximum 240mm). I’ve tried it at 210mm, 170mm and now 150mm.
The 150mm is about the best it gets but l can’t lower any more, following the 140mm minimum guidance. The video shows how it’s running at 150mm.
Any 9410 experts that can off any guidance?

 

[X-37B]

Well first your air filter is upside down.
150mm/6" is perfect.
Here is mine.
You do not have enough doc in the system for it to skim correctly.
Just let it run/cup off or turn it off until your tank matures some.
Here is mine for reference.

 

[DMC112]

Thanks bud. I had the air filter that way up to start with, but didn’t seem to generate any air bubbles. The manual is rubbish as the pictures are tiny and there’s not one clear one of which way up that should go??
I posted on a FB forum and someone said it was upside down and should be as l’ve shown above. I turned it around and got bubbles straight away. It kinda made sense to me as I thought that the black plastic cup is where it pulls in the air. If the water/skim rises to much then it comes out of the short hose, in to the black plastic cup and lowers the air intake as water then runs down the long hose in to the pump. That really makes sense to me‍
l’ve turned it over, like in your photo, and l get no air bubbles again.
l’ve attached two videos showing it in either position. Surely if the black plastic cup goes below the water level then there’s no point in having it, you may as well just connect the silicone pipe straight from the chamber to the pump, no..??

 

[DMC112]

I realise being that there’s only a couple of fish means l won’t get much dark skim but l don’t get how as it beds in, the water level will somehow lower?

 

[X-37B]

It pulls air from the cup that helps keep the intake from clogging with salt buildup and you are running it upside down.
Is this the DC version?
I have both and have ran them for over 5 years.
If its not the DC version you are missing the air screw adjustment which will lower the water level and needs to be almost closed.

The manual is excellent and shows the correct posion is several pic so not sure what you mean by rubbish.
Here is a pick.

 

[DMC112]

Thanks again for responding. I have the dc model so it’s adjustable via the pump, rather than an air screw. My manual doesn’t show a clear picture of the position of it so l really can’t tell. So, just to be clear, l attach the long hose to the nipple just below the cup and the short hose to the pump.
This will then leave the black plastic cup between the two hoses under water, correct?
As you can see from the video, when l do it this way l get no bubbles at all??

 

[DMC112]

l’ve just found the answer. I removed the stand pipe that the adapter ring sits on and found a black plastic disk stuck in it. Obviously the water couldn’t escape from the stand pipe so went up in to the skimmer chamber instead.
Thanks for all your advice.
lm now going to play with the height as l should be able to lower it too

 

[X-37B]

Yes the long end of the hose goes on top.
Your water level must be below the air intake in order for it to produce bubbles.

Contact Roger at Tunze for additional help. He is awesome and can be reached here just do a search. He is in Texas.
My guess is you have a bad controller/broken knob maybe.
I have had to replace the knob and keep several on hand as they are very easy to break.
The only way to raise the water level is to turn the dial up.
I run mine at the lowest setting and always have as the pump is very powerful.
It appears that your pump is running wide open if you cant lower the water level.

Also your tank is so new it may take awhile for it to produce skim.
On a system that has been up and running their is little to no breakin required from my years of experience running Tunze skimmers.

I run a 9430dc on my 120. I can not turn the pump up much or it will overflow too.
It replaced a 9410dc and its now in my frag system.

 

[X-37B]

l’ve just found the answer. I removed the stand pipe that the adapter ring sits on and found a black plastic disk stuck in it. Obviously the water couldn’t escape from the stand pipe so went up in to the skimmer chamber instead.
Thanks for all your advice.
lm now going to play with the height as l should be able to lower it too

Awesome! Let us know how it goes. You will really like the 9410 once its performing.

 

[DMC112]

Yes the long end of the hose goes on top.
Your water level must be below the air intake in order for it to produce bubbles.

Contact Roger at Tunze for additional help. He is awesome and can be reached here just do a search. He is in Texas.
My guess is you have a bad controller/broken knob maybe.
I have had to replace the knob and keep several on hand as they are very easy to break.
The only way to raise the water level is to turn the dial up.
I run mine at the lowest setting and always have as the pump is very powerful.
It appears that your pump is running wide open if you cant lower the water level.

Also your tank is so new it may take awhile for it to produce skim.
On a system that has been up and running their is little to no breakin required from my years of experience running Tunze skimmers.

I run a 9430dc on my 120. I can not turn the pump up much or it will overflow too.
It replaced a 9410dc and its now in my frag system.

Thanks bud. Just to be clear, the air intake being the top of the silicone hose, right?

 

[X-37B]

You

Thanks bud. Just to be clear, the air intake being the top of the silicone hose, right?

Last video is correct. Keep us posted. I will follow yoir build thread.

 

[DMC112]

You
Last video is correct. Keep us posted. I will follow yoir build thread.

Thanks again bud

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Thanks I just got back from vacation and I had a double break down, so my new 9410 DC skimmer overflowed, so after reading this thread my air line was also upside down as well, so I just flipped it to the correct way and I will monitor it to see how it goes.

 

[DMC112]

Thanks I just got back from vacation and I had a double break down, so my new 9410 DC skimmer overflowed, so after reading this thread my air line was also upside down as well, so I just flipped it to the correct way and I will monitor it to see how it goes.

Glad to help…

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Boy I am not having luck with this skimmer, my son woke me up last night at 3 am to the sound of my skimmer pump throwing a bearing.