[tacer84]

Hi guys. New to this site and my first post, glad to be on board.
Got a problem with my skimmer, a coralife which I know is not the best but figured id ask..

My skimmer is sitting in 11 inches of water and the bubbles are about halfway up the cup.. which is still not enough

The other day however, it was skimming fine in 8.5 inches of water, almost overflowing without even opening the air intake all the way.

Why the sudden change I don't understand??

(I have a 75 gallon tank with the protein skimmer thats rated I believe up to 125 gallons so I'm doing plus 1)

 

[theplatypus]

What is the recommended water depth for that skimmer?

 

[tacer84]

Im assuming around 9 inches because for the last month it was in roughly 8.5 to 9 inches of water and was skimming fine.

 

[helenwheels]

And welcome to the reef tank! You will love it here. The model of skimmer will help the skimmer experts here to help you out a lot more quickly.

 

[eisel]

as the water levels is deeper, the less air gets pulled in. Go back to the 8.5" depth you had it before.

 

[[email protected]]

I'm guessing here, but it sounds like you may have to Coralife Super skimmer 125. This model doesn't actually have a stated water level height - only that the minimum level should be no less than 1/4 from the top of the diffuser box(that goes over the outlet tube).

If this is the Super Skimmer model, you should have a water level adjustment knob. You can turn this to raise the water level inside the skimmer. For a decent wet skim on these, you'll want to raise the level so the top layer of bubbles is about .5-3" high inside the cone of the collection cup

 

[Geoff]

Welcome to TRT!!

:wavey:

needlewheel driven skimmers are very picky about water height. any amount of head pressure really messes with their output. it is very important that the water level remains constant. you might need to raise the skimmer up in the sump in order to get back to the recommended water height for the skimmer. is there not a water line mark on the skimmer?

G~

 

[tacer84]

see thats the problem, even with the water height at over 10 inches, the bubbles do not reach the top of the collection cup. as if it were too weak or something. could something be stuck in the motor maybe?

 

[eisel]

see thats the problem, even with the water height at over 10 inches, the bubbles do not reach the top of the collection cup. as if it were too weak or something. could something be stuck in the motor maybe?

the more the skimmer is submersed in water, the less air it pulls..Go back to 8.5 inches or less. Your adding water and taking away air which is the opposite of what you want to do.

 

[tacer84]

i did that already just before. its even lower than it was at 10.5 inches. when i reduced it down to 8.5 inches the water doesn't even reach the bottom of the cup as opposed to halfway which was a little higher when it was at 10.5

 

[tacer84]

and HERE is something i just found out.. when i push my thumb over the air venturi-outflow tube (the part thats above the water attached by a clip) the bubble level goes over the cup. is there a dial on it that can adjust it?

 

[[email protected]]

and HERE is something i just found out.. when i push my thumb over the air venturi-outflow tube (the part thats above the water attached by a clip) the bubble level goes over the cup. is there a dial on it that can adjust it?

Do you have an exact model of skimmer? We'll better be able to identify how it's supposed to work. Covering the air-intake will increase water height as the pump is now sucking more water into the skimmer.

Most skimmers have either a dial or a riser tube that adjusts the water level inside the skimmer body. If you adjust this, you'll be able to raise the level inside the skimmer in the same manner as you can with covering the air intake. However, you'll want to keep the intake open as more air=more bubbles which is what you want.

 

[tacer84]

i do its the coralife 125g hang on/in-sump skimmer
and i was looking for the dial on the air venturi valve but there seems to be none. its just the hose attached to a grey plastic tube. can't do anything to it