proclear 150 skimmer tuning?

rullman7 · 09-03-2006, 11:12 AM

I've had a proclear 150 w/d fliter running on my 55gal for about a week and a half now. Can anyone suggest how to tune the skimmer that comes with it? What to do with the drain tube? It seems like even if I get it set to a good amount of bubbles (but not too many or it will just fill up the bucket I have under the drain tube!) it will either produce more or less 30 min or an hour later.

Geoff · 09-03-2006, 01:03 PM

Welcome to TRT!!

tuning skimmers is a fun process.

do you know if the skimmer is venturi driven or needlewheel driven?

my DIY skimmer i have set to remove about a gallon of skimmate a day.

G~

rullman7 · 09-03-2006, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rullman7

I've had a proclear 150 w/d fliter running on my 55gal for about a week and a half now. Can anyone suggest how to tune the skimmer that comes with it? What to do with the drain tube? It seems like even if I get it set to a good amount of bubbles (but not too many or it will just fill up the bucket I have under the drain tube!) it will either produce more or less 30 min or an hour later.

I'm pretty sure it's venturi driven. wow that much? I'm still getting used to the increased evaporation losses with this system. what I've been doing for the last couple days is leave the drain hose plugged up, then the cup fills up, the bubbles keep overflowing into the cup, some water drains back down into the skimmer, but it looks like the skimmer keeps pushing that water back up into the cup and the cup gets darker and darker with stuff.

Geoff · 09-04-2006, 07:07 AM

you are not looking for dark skimmate. you are looking for a tea coloured liquid. the dark coloured skimmate is just the heavy organics. you want to remove as much of the organics as possible. this is what is known as running your skimmer wet. there is a lot of water loss with running SW systems. both due to evaporation and a properly set up skimmer.

G~

motorslave · 09-04-2006, 12:43 PM

One thing to be aware of when tuning a skimmer is that dang neer anything can affect them as far as changes in the tank. So, when you make a change to the skimmer, do so when you arent making other adjustments to the system. For example, doing a water change at the same time will give you results that you wont be able to pin on the WC or skimmer adjustment. Make one change at a time, wait 24 hours and then check the results. Its a PITA but the best way to get the skimmer dialed in and be able to reallyt know the unit and how to tune it! Patience is very important here.

Robert

depitch · 09-05-2006, 11:32 AM

I use a proclear 150 w/out the bio-balls. Take an old 2 liter soda bottle cut or punch a hole thru the cap to push the drain tube into it. Now you have a container for waste and a monitor for how much water you are losing to wet skimmer operation. You can adjust both the air intake (black dial on small clear tubing) or the water overflow (blue-plate) onto the filter pad to control "the bubbles" in the collection cup