Help adjusting a Bubble King DX200

[Ironfish]

Photo for reference




See two dots are lined that is full open and telescope pipe all way down and you can try slow wattage from 38, let it run few days if too dry not skimmate maybe up to 40w

Also make sure nothing clog your air inlet and silencer.

water outlet also need be to above water level. Make sure it not full submerged.

Hmmm... I'll try this.

I never heard the outlet pipe was supposed to be above water level.
Thanks!

 

[Ironfish]

I’ll shoot some pics of mine. It took me a minute to get it all sorted out, I think. My tube is probably 25% twisted back. My red dots are pretty spread. It’s in about 8.5-9.5” of water. I dump mine into a locker, 4”round by 15”’. I don’t touch the skimmer anymore, or at least for now. I dial it in with the controller. With 5 bars showing I was skimming wet and emptying my locker every 48 hours. I am now one bar less and it’s much dryer. Holds a great head. I have light bio at this point 500 gallons, 10 fish 5 of them being tangs.

The one challenge I have is for example - I shut my skimmer down often. I only run it about 12 hours a day on schedule. But I also have it shut off when my PH > 8.40. Upon start up, it will overflow for about 7-10 seconds and then instantly settle down. That’s annoying.

Annoying, I know.
Same thing happens to me. When turning it back on it overflows for a few seconds and then it goes back to normal level.

 

[sdreef]

Hmmm... I'll try this.

I never heard the outlet pipe was supposed to be above water level.
Thanks!

I haven't heard this either. @H.herry, how do you find this helps?

I run mine in the sump with a 9" water level. Pump is set to 36 watts. Outflow is submerged. When setting initially, I turn the dots nearly opposite to get the outflow nearly closed and dial back from there to fine tune. The height is set just below the bottom of the collection cup. I like setting the wattage lower as it generates a better quality foam in my system and I can dial the level of collection if going for a drier or wetter skim.

I have a heavier bioload with a 330 gallon system, but I downsized as the skimmer as it is also set past an automatic filter roller.

This is an awesome skimmer, but it's important to maintain inside the skimmer periodically. The bubble plate will get clogged affecting the performance. I've had stomatella shells or bubble algae clog the plate up and having learned from this plan to take apart and clean the bubble plate every 6 months or so.

 

[Ironfish]

I believe it's good to specify what generation pump we are running. The old pump or the new (DC 24v) pump.

When i first got my skimmer in July 2023 it came with the old pump. But I got a defective one so they replaced it in January 2024 with the new DC 24v pump (6 week wait with no pump).

With the old pump my skimmer used to work amazing. Silent, nice foam and very little spraying from excess bubbles in the outlet.

My issues started when trying to dial the (same) skimmer but with the new pump.

 

[sdreef]

I believe it's good to specify what generation pump we are running. The old pump or the new (DC 24v) pump.

When i first got my skimmer in July 2023 it came with the old pump. But I got a defective one so they replaced it in January 2024 with the new DC 24v pump (6 week wait with no pump).

With the old pump my skimmer used to work amazing. Silent, nice foam and very little spraying from excess bubbles in the outlet.

My issues started when trying to dial the (same) skimmer but with the new pump.

I see, that's interesting. I have the old pump from 4-5 years ago.

I have a good friend who has the new style pump. He has a similar tank set up and follows the same dialing process fwiw in case it helps.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I'll try this one more time bc I'm about to give up and replace the bubble king with a different skimmer.

It's been 10 months with the newest model pump on this skimmer and I still haven't been able to tune it to a desirable skim amount. Not to mention the excess noise and bubbles coming out of the skimmer.

Does anyone have experience with this skimmer and the new Red Dragon pump?

Thanks!

When I got my 200 delux I was expecting a different controller, one that only had a digital number. Mine came with this, which appears to be an updated version. I had to zoom in on a low res pic. Is this the controller yours has? If so, then I have the same version as you.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Photo for reference




See two dots are lined that is full open and telescope pipe all way down and you can try slow wattage from 38, let it run few days if too dry not skimmate maybe up to 40w

Also make sure nothing clog your air inlet and silencer.

water outlet also need be to above water level. Make sure it not full submerged.

Interesting. Mine produces super dark wet skim, I’m not doing well with a really dry skim, which is what I did with all previous skimmers. I see several differences right off the bat. I need to take some pics when I get home. My dots are no where near aligned, my tube is below the waterline, it sits in what I think is 8-9” of water and I have the tube up at least halfway. I am wondering if I have this thing all mucked up now.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I believe it's good to specify what generation pump we are running. The old pump or the new (DC 24v) pump.

When i first got my skimmer in July 2023 it came with the old pump. But I got a defective one so they replaced it in January 2024 with the new DC 24v pump (6 week wait with no pump).

With the old pump my skimmer used to work amazing. Silent, nice foam and very little spraying from excess bubbles in the outlet.

My issues started when trying to dial the (same) skimmer but with the new pump.

That’s the controller I have.

 

[Ironfish]

When I got my 200 delux I was expecting a different controller, one that only had a digital number. Mine came with this, which appears to be an updated version. I had to zoom in on a low res pic. Is this the controller yours has? If so, then I have the same version as you.

After looking at this picture I went straight to check out your tank build. Wow! Hats off to that project.
I'm already following

 

[Ironfish]

That’s the controller I have.

Yup. I saw the pic. That's the new generation DC 24v pump.

 

[Ironfish]

I haven't heard this either. @H.herry, how do you find this helps?

I run mine in the sump with a 9" water level. Pump is set to 36 watts. Outflow is submerged. When setting initially, I turn the dots nearly opposite to get the outflow nearly closed and dial back from there to fine tune. The height is set just below the bottom of the collection cup. I like setting the wattage lower as it generates a better quality foam in my system and I can dial the level of collection if going for a drier or wetter skim.

I have a heavier bioload with a 330 gallon system, but I downsized as the skimmer as it is also set past an automatic filter roller.

This is an awesome skimmer, but it's important to maintain inside the skimmer periodically. The bubble plate will get clogged affecting the performance. I've had stomatella shells or bubble algae clog the plate up and having learned from this plan to take apart and clean the bubble plate every 6 months or so.

I just rotated the outlet pipe to have the water exiting above the water level.
What a difference it made!
How in the world I never knew this! The instructions manual or website doesn't say anything about it!

Skimmer started behaving different right away and I opened the outlet more.
It's also more silent.
The consistency of the foam is different.
And best of all the bubbles are not causing that everfescence and spraying anymore!

 

[Ironfish]

This is how it looks now with the outlet pipe above water level

 

[Ironfish]

And btw... I wish the 200 had the same shape as the 250.
On the 200 the pump inlet and the water outlet are next to each other.
On the 250 they are on opposite sides of the skimmer... which makes more sense.

 

[sdreef]

I just rotated the outlet pipe to have the water exiting above the water level.
What a difference it made!
How in the world I never knew this! The instructions manual or website doesn't say anything about it!

Skimmer started behaving different right away and I opened the outlet more.
It's also more silent.
The consistency of the foam is different.
And best of all the bubbles are not causing that everfescence and spraying anymore!

That's interesting, it's good to know that can help. Does the water make noise coming out of the outlet?

Here are photos showing how I have it dialed, the foam, and quantity of skimmate is going to vary based on other filtration and bioload but this 2.5 days of skimmate for a 330 gallon system.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Here is where I am at:

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I just rotated the outlet pipe to have the water exiting above the water level.
What a difference it made!
How in the world I never knew this! The instructions manual or website doesn't say anything about it!

Skimmer started behaving different right away and I opened the outlet more.
It's also more silent.
The consistency of the foam is different.
And best of all the bubbles are not causing that everfescence and spraying anymore!

I’m on my way to go do this now.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

That's interesting, it's good to know that can help. Does the water make noise coming out of the outlet?

Here are photos showing how I have it dialed, the foam, and quantity of skimmate is going to vary based on other filtration and bioload but this 2.5 days of skimmate for a 330 gallon system.

So your pipe dumps under the water though. I just rotated mine out of the water and the thing woke up. I upped from 22w to 30w and aligned the dots. Made great foam. I left the pipe 3/4 extended up and the skimmer is sitting in 8” of water. But the pipe sticking out of the water is loud…

 

[Ironfish]

So your pipe dumps under the water though. I just rotated mine out of the water and the thing woke up. I upped from 22w to 30w and aligned the dots. Made great foam. I left the pipe 3/4 extended up and the skimmer is sitting in 8” of water. But the pipe sticking out of the water is loud…

Yes. If the water flows directly from the pipe into the sump water it does makes a waterfall noise.
I rotated my skimmer a bit and I have that water flow over a sponge on the bubble trap of the sump. Right before the return pumps.

 

[Ironfish]

Here's a video of my skimmer right after rotating the outlet.

 

[sdreef]

So your pipe dumps under the water though. I just rotated mine out of the water and the thing woke up. I upped from 22w to 30w and aligned the dots. Made great foam. I left the pipe 3/4 extended up and the skimmer is sitting in 8” of water. But the pipe sticking out of the water is loud…

That's true the outflow is submerged. I'm currently happy with how the skimmer performs and it's also silent. The manual says for internal skimmers the outflow pipe can be set in any direction. Only recommendation is that it is directed away from the pump inlet to prevent re-skimming water which can affect performance.

I'm not sure I understand the reason turning the outflow out of the water has helped, but good to know that's been the experience of a few folks. I imagine it reduces that back pressure on the outflow. Makes sense that would require adjusting the pump wattage and interesting that has improved the quality of the foam skimmate.