problems with skimmer

[sls]

i bought an americle quadII in sump skimmer this summer. the problem was the venturi air intake was melted shut like it sat in a hot window. i guess thats why it was 20bucks at a truckload sale. i drilled the hole back out and insstalled a new air intake/shut off valve. just the small size, i cant remember exactly but i thiunk it was under 1/4 in. im usingh a via aqua model va306 with it rated at 526gph at 0 head. i installed it in my new 40gal fuge yesterday. i dont seem to be seeing any skimmate from it at all. is that hole big enough. do i need a bigger pump for it? i know ive seen pretty big skimmers running just fine with maxijet 1200's which run like 350 gph. any suggestions or input would be greatly appreciated.

[tkjeffrey]

IMHO a new skimmer you prolly wont see skimmate for a couple days until the skimmer gets broke in and a slime kinda builds up on inside of skimmer throat and stuff.

[sls]

but shouldnt i at least be getting real watery skimmate making it to the skimmer cup???

[thefatman]

give it a day or two for the skimmer to break in.. COULD be something wrong with it.. but, better to wait a few days and see, than to spend unneccesary dollars.

i bought a precesion marine skimmer from casey, used.. hooked it up and got nothing. for two days nothing. i thought something was wrong with it. nothing made it to the collection cup, not even watery stuff.

ten 2 days later, out of nowhere. BAM! it started creating thick dark green muck! the manufacturers instructions on it, said it needed a few days to break in, before it would start producing.

a few weeks ago, i took it out and cleaned it real well, and again it took about two days before it started producing anything again.

hope that's all that is wrong with yours!

[sls]

yeah, you and me both. the only reason i went with such a big fuge is because i thought i got an awesome deal on a skimmer that could handle the water volume. if this dont work its back to the drawing board, then to the bank, then maybe to the divorce lawyer.lol

[Geoff]

if you are getting a lot of little bubbles inside the skimmer then i would not worry about. like the others have said it takes some time to get going.

G~