HELP! RSM 250 Protein Skimmer-Stop me before I take a hammer to it!

jringold

Member
I really want to like the RSM Protein Skimmer. I’ve even tried talking nicely to it. I’d bring it flowers if I though it would help! I’ve tried all the suggestions on here as far as where to place the skimmer door, opening up the air valve, etc. But it seems to have a mind of it’s own. Saturday I got it dialed in just perfectly. Collection tube raised all the way up and a nice froth at the top. Sunday, same thing. I get up this morning and the froth is at the bottom of the tube – water level has not changed, air setting has not changed. What the heck! So, I pull the whole assembly out and inspect it. No air line blockage. I take it completely apart and clean it up. Put it back in and get the same results – froth is extremely low in the collection tube. So I lower the tube – now I have froth again at the top (with the tube lowered) and it is once again skimming. My fear is that the froth will all of a sudden start rising when I least expect it and start filling the collection cup with clean salt water.

So, if there is no blockage in the air line, and the water level has not changed, then what is making the froth lower in the collection tube than it was a day ago?

Thanks!
Morgan
 

jringold

Member
Actually – I just figured it out. The water level didn’t look low but I added a half gallon of RO and the skimmer went crazy. It looks like it is very sensitive to water level. A half gallon could not have made much difference in a 65g but Once I poured it in, that did it.

Every day is a learning experience. Will the RSM skimmer ever get to the point that I won’t have to mess with it every day?
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Do you have an ato or are you topping off daily? When say the water level has not changed... do you have a chiller? If not you should be losing about 3/4 of a gallon a day to evaporation & if not replaced daily - this is exactly why the foam has dropped in the neck. :nessie: very common...
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
We were posting at the same time... :) you have come to the exact correct conclusion - the RSM 250 skimmers, skim well, if the "proper" water level is maintained :)

You don't have to skim daily, though a good idea, an ato will solve that probelm, or get in a habit of manually topping off daily.
 

pablomay28

Well-Known Member
Rather than manualy toping off a large ammount I recommend an automatic top off. The tunze osmolator nano works perfect and it runs $107. I have used it in my rsm 250 and now use it on my reefer 450
 

jringold

Member
Thanks! I am going to get in the habit to just dumping 3/4 gal of RO in daily. I will look at the ATO but I've had several unplanned expenses since I got this bad boy (chiller, lots of replacement parts, etc) so my reef budget is tapped out. I'll put it on the list for next month. (Looks like I can get one for $98 at Amazon - with Prime shipping...)
 

Danreef

Well-Known Member
When you have solved your ATO issue and you have a nice smile watching the skimmer working......Remember !!! .....that depending on how high in nutrients is your water you will see the skimmer producing foam.....and sometimes no !!. So do not enter in panic.

My skimmer works more at night than during the day. Since day 1 that I setup the door I never had any problem. From time to time I adjust the air valve. The skimmer air valve is fully open. I have a standard air valve connected to the income air tube. That is the one I use to regulate air income.

Cheers

Ps : before hammering it.... ship it to my house. I can have it as a backup ... just kidding :)
 

jringold

Member
Dan, I think I'll hang on to it - it helps me develop my colorful vocab of foul language! :) Actually, it is starting to make more sense the more I mess with it. I also went ahead and ordered the tunze osmolator nano - should be here tomorrow.

As a side note, the tank ugliness is starting to fade away. It is really strange - when I put the CUC in, GHA was on all the rock work. It is like they ALL decided to start at the top and work down - keeping the same level all the way across the rock work. I only have GHA on the bottom 1/2 of the rocks - all the way across..... Interesting!
 

jringold

Member
I think I have arrived at skimmer Nirvana. My discovery is that the RSM skimmer (at least mine) is extremely sensitive to water level. Yesterday the Tunze Osmolator Nano arrived (Thanks pablo for the suggestion). Since last night the skimmer has been 100% consistent in its output. I noticed this evening that the ATO has added a little over 1/2g over the past 24 hours. My water is clear as I could hope for. Also the GHA is about 80% gone - I attribute this to the new light cycle (9 hours on) as well as my kick butt CUC.
 

Danreef

Well-Known Member
I think I have arrived at skimmer Nirvana. My discovery is that the RSM skimmer (at least mine) is extremely sensitive to water level. Yesterday the Tunze Osmolator Nano arrived (Thanks pablo for the suggestion). Since last night the skimmer has been 100% consistent in its output. I noticed this evening that the ATO has added a little over 1/2g over the past 24 hours. My water is clear as I could hope for. Also the GHA is about 80% gone - I attribute this to the new light cycle (9 hours on) as well as my kick butt CUC.

Great !!!!!
 

pablomay28

Well-Known Member
I think I have arrived at skimmer Nirvana. My discovery is that the RSM skimmer (at least mine) is extremely sensitive to water level. Yesterday the Tunze Osmolator Nano arrived (Thanks pablo for the suggestion). Since last night the skimmer has been 100% consistent in its output. I noticed this evening that the ATO has added a little over 1/2g over the past 24 hours. My water is clear as I could hope for. Also the GHA is about 80% gone - I attribute this to the new light cycle (9 hours on) as well as my kick butt CUC.

You are welcome. One thing I can say about the RSM 250 skimmer is that it pulled very thick sludge when I ran it. It would stay in the neck of the skimmer but none of the other skimmers I have tried pull that thick of a sludge. You will notice that there is not much skimmate in the collection cup but it does work. If you have issues with the adjustment knob you can buy white plastic air valves at petco or petsmart that make the adjustment a lot easier. The stock adjustment knob is a bit hard to adjust, very little either way on the stock adjustment knob will make a big difference in the skimmer. On the rear sump I had the water level on the left side 3 bars down from the top. Here are a couple helpful links.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct...IhMsNUVQ1NAk4CTv4OlAedaQ&ust=1442026047379508

Here is a link to the picture of the air valve.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct...aEE6hWfw4gP45iXmq2pTjRNw&ust=1442026544910725
 
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