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11-02-2006, 09:57 PM
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#1
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: spartanburg, south carolina
Posts: 4,703
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Help! My super skimmer is not so super
I was looking at my skimmer and noticed that it wasn't producing a fine mist of bubbles in the reastion chamber so I took it out and cleaned it. Like usual, I found some salt creep in the air intake nozle and I cleaned it and the rest of the pump. I put it all back together but, it still doesn't produce a fine mist like it used too. Mostly big bubbles in the reaction chamber. Can't figure it out. I thought maybe the propeller wasn't seated right, but I took it apart and put it together like 5 times and still the same results. When I turn on the pump with it detached from the skimmer, I get a big cloud of fine mist, attach it to the skimmer, and not so good. Any ideas? 
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11-02-2006, 10:02 PM
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#2
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BIG SMELLY MOD
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Livingston Parish, Denham Springs, Louisiana
Posts: 16,922
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I had alot of touble over time with mine, I was alway having to clean it, I took it off and it hads been sitting for awhile, When they work they work great, I don't know the answer to how to have them work great all the time. It is with the air intake I think
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Vince aka VINNIE
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11-02-2006, 10:02 PM
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#3
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senior member
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Walnut Grove, SC, USA
Posts: 13,648
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what kind of skimmer?
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Tom <"))))>(
(TDWyatt)
Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. -Plato
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11-02-2006, 10:04 PM
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#4
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: spartanburg, south carolina
Posts: 4,703
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Coralife super skimmer for 65 gal tank. It has a needlewheel rio pump.
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11-02-2006, 10:10 PM
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#5
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senior member
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Walnut Grove, SC, USA
Posts: 13,648
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ahhhh...
I am SO SORRY.... 
Usually the air line is clogged somewhere along the way, try cleaning it out with a rod (coathanger straightened out) and white vinegar as well as any path obstruction potential. May not help still.
Then call Andy in Atlanta...
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Tom <"))))>(
(TDWyatt)
Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. -Plato
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11-02-2006, 10:46 PM
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#6
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the shutterbug mod!
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: NE Wisconsin
Posts: 2,392
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yeah, I have that same skimmer. I ran it for about two months and then put it away... plugged it in last weekend (in the tank) and nothing. Totally dead. The reef club suggested soaking the motor in straight white vinegar overnight? I thought these were decent skimmers...
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~Jessica~ last blog entry: Dec 2 '06
A lurking freshie with salty hands and memories
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You glue animals to rocks and keep them in glass houses, why would you need therapy , you seem fine to me
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~Doug1
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11-02-2006, 11:26 PM
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#7
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BIG SMELLY MOD
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Livingston Parish, Denham Springs, Louisiana
Posts: 16,922
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They are good when they work, very good, I just found that I have too much calcium buildup and don't want to be messing with it all the time,
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Vince aka VINNIE
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11-02-2006, 11:41 PM
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#8
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moddin aint easy
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: newnan, ga
Posts: 5,697
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check the little air filter. try to pull if off and run it straight, if not, i had trouble with the actual nipple on the pump that the air line hooks too. it looked clean, but if you jam at it with a tooth pick, you can get some more residue off. hope you get it working. my works fine. but has its troubles.
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ANDY
You don't stop laughing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop laughing. Which is ironic, because old people are hilarious.
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11-02-2006, 11:47 PM
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#9
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: spartanburg, south carolina
Posts: 4,703
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Thanks for th ideas, I tried to run it without the air silencer thing and it was still the same. I also tried to put it back together once more and it still does the same. I've cleand the air inlet pretty good already. I think there is something wrong with the impeller cause the bubbles are very large for a skimmer, not a fine mist at all. This bums me out cause it was working great before.
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11-03-2006, 12:10 AM
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#10
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Big Fishy
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Norcross, ga
Posts: 560
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there 2 valus on that skimmer. try to play around with it. You may had set it wrong somehow
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PUT THE MEAT ON THE BURNNER!!!!!!!! wolfie is comming over for dinner
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11-03-2006, 06:21 AM
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#11
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Tang Lover
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Rockville, MD
Posts: 7,284
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wow....I'd heard nothing but good things about this skimmer until this thread. Then, a bunch of complaints. Glad I didn't get one, I guess.
Hope it's something simple, and you're back up and runnin' soon!!
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11-03-2006, 07:01 AM
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#12
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I've got the REEF rash!
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 25,834
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They are great I had his problem once and it's were the air tube goes into the body.I used a toothpick and in two min. it was fine!I've had mine 9 months and that was the only problem.But I clean my skimmer top once a week and that's it.I also added a piece of hose on the other side of filter to make it quiet.
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11-03-2006, 07:41 AM
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#13
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Rockin-Roll Mod
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Coal Valley Illinois
Posts: 5,397
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tdwyatt
ahhhh...
I am SO SORRY....
Usually the air line is clogged somewhere along the way, try cleaning it out with a rod (coathanger straightened out) and white vinegar as well as any path obstruction potential. May not help still.
Then call Andy in Atlanta... |
Ditto!!! i found this to be very true! i have a 65 and a 125, keep the air nozzle clean, i use a safty pin and scrape out the nozzle, and it seems to work great.
Brent
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11-03-2006, 07:51 AM
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#14
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: evans,ga.
Posts: 68
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I had a 220 until I got a killer deal on a euro cs8-3 and I noticed when I put certain additives in my tank it did the same thing for a few days.I thought it was the skimmer until I got the euro and it does the same thing.Have You added anything to the tank and how long has it been doing it?They`re IMO a great little skimmer for the money.Would`ve kept mine but for $200 I couldn`t pass up the euro.Good luck.Rick
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11-03-2006, 08:31 AM
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#15
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: OHIO
Posts: 475
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hng
I was looking at my skimmer and noticed that it wasn't producing a fine mist of bubbles in the reastion chamber so I took it out and cleaned it. Like usual, I found some salt creep in the air intake nozle and I cleaned it and the rest of the pump. I put it all back together but, it still doesn't produce a fine mist like it used too. Mostly big bubbles in the reaction chamber. Can't figure it out. I thought maybe the propeller wasn't seated right, but I took it apart and put it together like 5 times and still the same results. When I turn on the pump with it detached from the skimmer, I get a big cloud of fine mist, attach it to the skimmer, and not so good. Any ideas? |
I ran a 125 for a while and the older it got it did the same thing, I found that if I rasied the pump up it worked better. It got sensitive about how deep the pump was, maybe the pump gets weeker as it gets older 
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