I thought I was doing a good thing when I cleaned my coralife protein skimmer but I was wrong! Its been a pain in the but since, its extremely sensitive now to everything, water level, if food was added, if I add calcium, magnesium... I have it turned to its lowest setting and still have to empty the collection cup 3 or 4 times a day. What really bothers me is acts normal if I let the water level go down about an inch and half or 2 inches but that looks like crap. Anyone else have this problem? Any known solutions?
Just cleaned my protein skimmer
- Thread starter rufus2008
- Start date
David Shaw
Well-Known Member
You will need to break it in again i think.
I had one of them.I never had that problem though.Usually I had salt creep clogging my air intake and i wasn't getting any bubbles sounds like your getting plenty of air if your bubbles are overflowing.Well considering the skimmer it self is just a big cylinder I would think the problem is with the pump im no pro though but if you have the 125 hob skimmer i got a pump for you.Or if you notice the skimmer you use has the same pump I have you can have it for just shipping.I didn't keep any other parts to it though just thought the pump will come in handy someday.
LPS_Blasto
Member
Which model is it?
Is there an outlet adjustment so you can adjust how much water comes out?
Is there an outlet adjustment so you can adjust how much water comes out?
Its making too much bubbles no problem with air restriction. And its turned all the way down and it is producing skimmate. Its a coralife 125g. The good news is it has finally slowed down hopefully it stays this way, but I have a feeling it will still overproduce when I put additives or certain types of food in (soaked in garlic for instance)
Thespivster
Member
What happens if you cover the airline? Does it overflow faster? If not then you most likely have a restriction in your air supply My BubbleMagus puts out the same amount of bubbles on matter what during normal operation. Water level is the The main thing. If I have it too high the bubbles break over the top of the cup and it fills several times a day. The same thing happens if the airline gets restricted. The pump blows mostly air and is very inefficient at pumping water on purpose. Cut off it's air and it gets really efficient at pumping water. If I cover my airline for 5 seconds I'd have a full blown fountain of water spewing out of the top of the skimmer.
imsobored152
Member
sounds like it sits too deep in your tank/sump, raise it up a bit. Mine was in too deep of water and it would fill up real quick with water, stuck an inch piece of PVC under it, and now it works great. nice dark stinky stuff
I do have the adjustment dial turned all the way down (I've had this skimmer for 1 year plus) and I put the hose on the pump that the instructions recommended (3 inch piece) but maybe that is my problem. It came with 2 pieces of hose, one for hob and the other for in sump, maybe I got mixed up way back when when I first installed it, maybe...
Well I finally found out what my problem was! The vent hole in the output line was plugged. Apparently this creates a siphon effect in the skimmer and dramatically affects its operation. So if anyone else out there has the same problem, its a real easy fix. Just take a toothpick or nail and clean out the hole, done, and to be honest I now have the adjustment dial turned almost all the way up (instead of down) and I have a nice dry foam. My thoughts on this is my skimmer hasn't worked this well since it was brand new and must've plugged up very early on so I will now check the vent hole weekly, to save the torture of trying to clean and fix things that weren't broken. And to think I almost bought a brand new one because I lost hope with this one!
