Skimmer Q&A Thread

[Coolcasino]

The three skimmers i use in my rotation all have loud air draws which make the sound like you describe if not connected to a silencer or my CO2 reactor. My CO2 reactor has two stages which makes the air intake silent. I ran a single BRS chamber and it was still loud so i had an old RO/DO unit in the garage and decided to run 2 of the cannisters in line to the skimmer. The first chamber 1/2 full of water and the second chamber with the media. The water in the first chamber helps keeps the air moist into the media chamber and the added plus is that it knocks out the air draw noise.

mine is like this but i use a short chamber for the water

I actually kinda tried that. I Have the jumbo co2 reactor from BRS. I also have a VOSS glass bottle before the co2 reactor to catch all the water before it goes into the reactor. I have actually now taped the bottom cap of the reactor with some ro/di fittings and have the bottle just collect the access water from the bottom. In all configurations the sound was still present. Not more or less. I would post a video of my popcorn maker but I cleaned it yesterday so its behaving.

 

[Coolcasino]

This 1 isn't mine but its the same sound.

 

[TX_REEF]

That skimmer should not be overflowing like that. Even while its "breaking in". Make sure the gate valve is fully open (counter clockwise) Make sure the gate valve is working by opening and closing and see if the level in the skimmer goes up and down. You don't have any medications or media or anything else in the water that could make that skimmer go nuts. Try dropping the water to 7' or even raising the skimmer itself. I know sometimes skimmers go crazy in the beginning but that just looks a little extreme.

Yeah I thought it was extreme as well, I’ll try putting something under the skimmer to raise it up

 

[OscarHaglund]

bummer. i didn't realize these had that 1/2 turn butterfly screws. I would still try silicone. they make even thinner sheets down to 0.1mm. something to consider
pricy on amazon but may be able to find elsewhere for cheaper

Availability for this kind of stuff is a bit limited in sweden, have not been able to find any super thin silicone. But its worth being on the look out for

 

[OscarHaglund]

The three skimmers i use in my rotation all have loud air draws which make the sound like you describe if not connected to a silencer or my CO2 reactor. My CO2 reactor has two stages which makes the air intake silent. I ran a single BRS chamber and it was still loud so i had an old RO/DO unit in the garage and decided to run 2 of the cannisters in line to the skimmer. The first chamber 1/2 full of water and the second chamber with the media. The water in the first chamber helps keeps the air moist into the media chamber and the added plus is that it knocks out the air draw noise.

mine is like this but i use a short chamber for the water

I have mine connected to a co2 scrubber as well and at least for me it is not related to the air draw

 

[OscarHaglund]

OMG. That's the exact sound my Reef Octopus Elite 200 does since day 1. Its been a year and I have not found a solution. I had contacted Coral Vue and they wanted me to send the pump in and pay 1 way shipping on a brand new skimmer and likely give me a remanufactured pump. BRS would not take it back so I learned to live with it. But when I do take the skimmer out to clean it becomes dead silent but then gets loud in a few days. I don't believe what we are hearing is the pump. I can run the pump underwater with no tubbing and it is silent. What I hear is the pump chopping all the air. I have tried bypassing the silencer and running it straight into my CO2 reactor and the sound continues. I can hear it coming from the skimmer. The impeller magnet does get like a nice coat of slime on it and when I clean that off the noise magically goes away but like I said it comes back. And the noise was present when the skimmer was first installed into service brand new. I must be cleaning something else or something isn't right with the skimmer venturi. My kids call my skimmer the popcorn maker.

When I contacted maxspect support they want me to try and place a 0.8mm spacer between the needle wheel and the motor block. So i guess im gonna try that and see what happens

 

[Coolcasino]

When I contacted maxspect support they want me to try and place a 0.8mm spacer between the needle wheel and the motor block. So i guess im gonna try that and see what happens

You know I did notice that my impeller does have a bit of play but since I don't have another one to compare it to I don't know if that play is normal. Since my pump actually sits vertically that might be causing an issue.

 

[Tuna Melt]

Hey all, I have a Reefer Skimmer 300 on my Reefer G2 170 (38gal, likely 33 total gallons of water accounting for rock & equipment). Its a very young tank (have had fish in there for ~2 weeks) but I'm worried this skimmer is grossly oversized. It's not really producing any skimmate, its just kind of bubbling like a pot of boiling water. Water height is at the high end of the recommended height, this weekend I was going to raise it an inch so its sitting at the low end of the recommended water height. I also have a ReefMat 500 running so there is less detritus to go around. I guess my question is, is it even worth the hassle of trying to get this thing operating, or is it just too big to ever really be effective?

Thanks,
TM

 

[reeftivo]

Hey all, I have a Reefer Skimmer 300 on my Reefer G2 170 (38gal, likely 33 total gallons of water accounting for rock & equipment). Its a very young tank (have had fish in there for ~2 weeks) but I'm worried this skimmer is grossly oversized. It's not really producing any skimmate, its just kind of bubbling like a pot of boiling water. Water height is at the high end of the recommended height, this weekend I was going to raise it an inch so its sitting at the low end of the recommended water height. I also have a ReefMat 500 running so there is less detritus to go around. I guess my question is, is it even worth the hassle of trying to get this thing operating, or is it just too big to ever really be effective?

Thanks,
TM

what size is the neck?
2.75, 3 or 3.25"?
i would run it at the low end of the suggested sump water level and just let it run. it is most likely too much skimmer for the organics that will be coming out of that size tank but then again i ran my ATB nano one on a 39 DT and it skimmed great. that ATB skimmer has a 3.75 inch neck too. the boiling you are seeing is because it's not broken in yet. if you can seed the skimmer it would start off quicker but you would need skimmate from another system to do that.

i keep a 4 ounce bottle of skimmate around just to seed skimmers. a few drops down the neck after it's been running for 24hrs and whalla! Stable foam.

 

[OscarHaglund]

When I contacted maxspect support they want me to try and place a 0.8mm spacer between the needle wheel and the motor block. So i guess im gonna try that and see what happens

After having tried both the spacer and the silicone to no avail i did another inspection of the motor and discovered that the titanium screw that holds the wheels has had its threads destroyed.
This mean that when i screwed in the nut that holds it, it just takes a little for e for the needle wheel to push out the nut 5 or so mm outwards leading to wobbling which is causing the noise.

i reported this to maxspect support and they are sending me a new set of screw and nut

 

[reeftivo]

After having tried both the spacer and the silicone to no avail i did another inspection of the motor and discovered that the titanium screw that holds the wheels has had its threads destroyed.
This mean that when i screwed in the nut that holds it, it just takes a little for e for the needle wheel to push out the nut 5 or so mm outwards leading to wobbling which is causing the noise.

i reported this to maxspect support and they are sending me a new set of screw and nut

good find

hope did the magnets are not scarred up too bad and the bushings are okay.

 

[GT3000XX]

I have a 90 gallon FOWLR aquarium that has always struggled with ph running on the lower side. I ran a CO2 scrubber for a while and decided to scrap that idea. I ran a air intake tube to my attic to draw in outside air to my protein skimmer to lower CO2 in the aquarium and it worked. It raised my ph from 7.85 to 8.15. I wanted to place some sort of filter in line in case a bug or anything else got in the tube. I tried a carbon canister (like the ones used on a Ro filter) but it put too much restriction on the air flow. I found this plastic filter on Amazon and it works great with no restriction to the air flow. I also put some carbon inside the filter. I also am using 3/8" fittings to cut down on any air flow restrictions. (my skimmer accepts 5/16" air line.)

 

[Pavo]

For air draw and gargling sound i found best to make mine own resonating silencer. They are easy to make with some pvc caps and tubes, on inside a two small tubes are positioned parallel with exit on oposite sides, sound do not like to travel like that and quiet it a lot where losed air amount is neglibe. Such design use alot of skimmer manufacturers and its best what can be done, beside putting some foam in it or connect to skimmer cup

 

[reeftivo]

For air draw and gargling sound i found best to make mine own resonating silencer. They are easy to make with some pvc caps and tubes, on inside a two small tubes are positioned parallel with exit on oposite sides, sound do not like to travel like that and quiet it a lot where losed air amount is neglibe. Such design use alot of skimmer manufacturers and its best what can be done, beside putting some foam in it or connect to skimmer cup

looks like a neat set up

how do you remove the lid or cup for maintenance with that set up pulling air from the cup?

 

[Pavo]

Its not glued, inner tube going into lid hole are just tight fit, it stay firm but is also detechable, i plan to glue silencer end and add union but for now its like this. Mine carbon filter are also connected through bottom just with tight fit pvc tube so it can be easy pulled out when needed, with neck cleaner i do not touch cup for weeks, sometimes months, but still, prefer easy access for maintence .
Parts for odor/ozone filter are cut on router but similiar design can be made with tube and two caps, it does not even need to stay on lid, some silicon hose and it can go on cabinet wall etc

 

[reeftivo]

Its not glued, inner tube going into lid hole are just tight fit, it stay firm but is also detechable, i plan to glue silencer end and add union but for now its like this. Mine carbon filter are also connected through bottom just with tight fit pvc tube so it can be easy pulled out when needed, with neck cleaner i do not touch cup for weeks, sometimes months, but still, prefer easy access for maintence .
Parts for odor/ozone filter are cut on router but similiar design can be made with tube and two caps, it does not even need to stay on lid, some silicon hose and it can go on cabinet wall etc

looks great! you are ahead of the game with that set up. Nicely done!

 

[CRABDADDY]

I have a question about my HOB skimmer. It's an aquamaxx bullet 3. I want to only run it a. Few hours a night, but if I turn it off with a timer the siphon breaks after a few days and the pump just runs dry. Is there a way to cut off the airflow with another device on a timer so that the pump can restart the siphon? Maybe some sort of solenoid?

This is the tubing. Looks like 1/4" inside diameter.

 

[reeftivo]

HOBs are tempermental as is. i would hesitate shutting it down for any length of time because the slime coat may partially dry out inside and have to re-establish. it probably wont skim well having to readjust each time it fires back up.

here's a cheaper solenoid valve if you venture to try one

1/2" Plastic Zero Differential Solenoid Valve

Our PSL-15 line of Engineered Nylon Plastic electric solenoid valves are 1/2” semi-direct lift valves operating from a normally closed position. The PSL-15 has a 1/2” female NPT threaded port. It can handle media with a CST of 20 or below and has a flow rate of 4.8Cv (Appx 36 GPM @ 60 PSI)...

www.electricsolenoidvalves.com

only thing else would be to mod it which would void the warranty (aqualifter pump on timer pulling from the top of the intake tube)

maybe someone else here has tried something similar to what you are suggesting and had good results.

 

[CRABDADDY]

HOBs are tempermental as is. i would hesitate shutting it down for any length of time because the slime coat may partially dry out inside and have to re-establish. it probably wont skim well having to readjust each time it fires back up.

here's a cheaper solenoid valve if you venture to try one

1/2" Plastic Zero Differential Solenoid Valve

Our PSL-15 line of Engineered Nylon Plastic electric solenoid valves are 1/2” semi-direct lift valves operating from a normally closed position. The PSL-15 has a 1/2” female NPT threaded port. It can handle media with a CST of 20 or below and has a flow rate of 4.8Cv (Appx 36 GPM @ 60 PSI)...

www.electricsolenoidvalves.com

only thing else would be to mod it which would void the warranty (aqualifter pump on timer pulling from the top of the intake tube)

maybe someone else here has tried something similar to what you are suggesting and had good results.

That's another one of my issues. I've been restarting it manually. It's always skimming very wet, despite the collection cup being all the way up. It's been running for a couple months now.

Tbh, I'm having issues with low nutrients, so I'm considering taking it off entirely. The amount of gunk it pulls out of the water is impressive, but I'm having a hard time finding a balance. I'm thinking it may be too large for my 40g AIO and that I should have gone with a smaller skimmer.

 

[reeftivo]

That's another one of my issues. I've been restarting it manually. It's always skimming very wet, despite the collection cup being all the way up. It's been running for a couple months now.

Tbh, I'm having issues with low nutrients, so I'm considering taking it off entirely. The amount of gunk it pulls out of the water is impressive, but I'm having a hard time finding a balance. I'm thinking it may be too large for my 40g AIO and that I should have gone with a smaller skimmer.

when you shut off the skimmer does the pump chamber drop too low for the skimmer to properly pull siphon at restart?

i was thinking if that's the case you could just run an aqualifter pump with a timer to run when the skimmer is off and pulling from the display to the skimmer pump chamber. the water will stay up in the skimmer and just overflow back into the tank while the skimmer is off and the pump chamber will be high enough to pull a siphon at restart. that would limit the slime coat dry out too. then just have the timer set to shut off the aqualifter around a minute after the skimmer restarts.

hope that makes sense