RSM 130D Skimmer help

[Reefers Unite]

Ok, so here is the situation, my skimmer on this tank has never worked well since day one. I have it dialed all the way open and keep my water levels up to par, and never has it pulled more than a cm of water into its cup in a week, and yeah ... water .. it was always clear.

So today .. I was doing some maintenance and decided to turn on my skimmer, I have had it off for a while, when i did, it overflowed .... something it has never done before, or even come close. Then I noticed my return pump was off, so I turned it on, immediately the skimmer bubbles dropped back down into the neck where they usually are when they don't do anything. I turned the return off and once again, skimmer overflows .. like it probably should considering I have it all the way open.

So, it seems that having the return pump running prevents my skimmer from functioning correctly. Would anyone have any clue as to why? and has anyone else had this problem with their 130D? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

To me this sounds like a classic case of the water level being to low

best guess... skimmer cup not set high enough & water level in tank too low (not almost touching hood arm trays)

secondary guess... filter material clogged and blocking flow

see what others think...

 

[Reefers Unite]

Yeah, it seems it will only work if the water level is well above the window on the side of the tank. My water is touching the hood arm trays, it always has been. I don't have any filter to clog, just that sponge which I change/clean weekly. ... beginning to wonder if i just need to keep my water level in that back chamber an inch over the top of the glass window

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

That's the key keeping the water level to the point it skims properly

it sure does not hurt anything to run it high, that's how I always ran mine

 

[Gastel]

Get rid of the sponge for a start. At the very least cut it down so it is only a centimeter or two thick. The full size sponge doesn't allow enough water flow into the sump to feed the skimmer. I haven't used the sponge since the first week after I got my 130. Put in a bag of matrix instead to assist the bio process. The 130 skimmer is notoriously difficult to adjust at the best of times.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

 

[Reefers Unite]

Thanks guys. I will up my water level and see what happens. I was gonna ditch the sponge a while back but someone here told me that is a bad Idea, so I left it in. Maybe i will try cutting it in half.

 

[Reefers Unite]

well so much for that plan .. I put my water level up to where the skimmer works (pretty much right up to the bottom of the collection cup) .. fired it up, and well, it worked, by my return just constantly filled the tank with microbubbles :/

 

[Reefers Unite]

I have decided to ditch the crappy skimmer altogether. As I do daily water changes anyways, I doubt I will need the extra noise and hassles from this thing lol