Mojo Reviews the new CS 200 cone skimmer.

[Russ]

No, nothing blocking the output; I have actually had the gate valve removed for the last week and a half just to be sure. Since I have tried that, the overflow issues have been reduced, but do still occur. Water level is low, if anything, as I have progressively raised it to where it is now at about 5 1/2" depth. I have removed the airline to check it, and do rinse it with RO once every week or so.

To be honest, I still cant be completely certain that the issue is with the skimmer. Until kelleyga36 mentioned the overflowing I was concerned there was something with my system causing it to randomly go nuts.

As I said, it seems to be calming down. For the majority of the time it skims extremely well IMO. Occasionally (and randomly as far as I can tell so far), it just starts skimming very wet (almost clear), and fills the cup in just a few hours. Usually by the time I notice, the skimmer has calmed back down and I can just drain the cup and it starts pulling dark skimmate like normal again.

I'm still playing with ideas, and if I get it narrowed down to a specific cause I will be sure to let you know. Thanks for checking up!

 

[JPA]

Also adding new filter pad is a common cause for skimmers to go crazy because of a chemical on them.

 

[kelleyga36]

No over flow issues since I gave it a good soak. Still has the start up issue,but I can deal with that.Is there a pin wheel made for this pump? How can you tell when the mesh is worn out?

 

[BLK94RS]

Mine will suddenly overflow as well...It will skim great for about a week straight (1/8"-1/4" of dark skimmate a day or so), then bam, the collection cup fills up with light brown/green skimmate in the matter of an hour. It seems very inconsistent

I am also not very happy with the pump. Royal Reef told me it had no start up issues, which is incorrect. It started up just fine for a few weeks (other then the loud flutter), now it takes 5 minutes of tinkering with it to start it back up. It flutters for a few seconds, then nothing... It is also the loudest pump on my tank.

The O-ring that seals the neck also leaks badly. Royal Reef told me they would send another O-Ring...it never arrived.

I know we got a great price on these skimmers, and the quality is much better then anything else in its price range, but Im starting to feel like it was "too good to be true"...

Im starting to wish I just shelled the extra money out for an ATB 840...

 

[JPA]

BLK94RS- I was not aware that you have continued to have problems. Try soaking the pump as kelleyga36 did.

IF NOT......

I can have a new pump shipped out if necessary and I will include a packing slip for the return of the pump you have. I will run the new pump on our tanks to make sure it runs perfectly before shipping out. Sorry for the issues and I apologize for the inconvenience. A new oring will be shipped tomorrow as I just saw this post tonight.

 

[BLK94RS]

BLK94RS- I was not aware that you have continued to have problems. Try soaking the pump as kelleyga36 did.

IF NOT......

I can have a new pump shipped out if necessary and I will include a packing slip for the return of the pump you have. I will run the new pump on our tanks to make sure it runs perfectly before shipping out. Sorry for the issues and I apologize for the inconvenience. A new oring will be shipped tomorrow as I just saw this post tonight.

Should I soak it in RO/DI? just the pump, or the entire skimmer? How long should I soak it for?

Thanks

 

[akabryanhall]

Bump
Just ordered the cs200e which is basically the same as the cs200 with thinner acrylic walls. May be overkill for my 92G corner, but gives me an excuse to add more fish!!

 

[reefer10]

I got the economy skimmer also. I have this on a 75 gal. with a high bioload and it works very well. It produced about 1/4" of very dark skimmate in less than 8 hrs.