Coralife biocube protein skimmer v2 micro bubbles

[Wrothgar]

Alright doing a 10 gal reef build getting everything in order and cycled so after my water change today I thought hmm let's put the coralife biocube protein skimmer v2 in and let it do some work... Well it's been on for 3 days on minimal air intake as expected not much skimmate but boy there's microbubbles POURING from the bottom overflow. I see some break-in time is needed something about a 1-10 water vinegar ratio operation for quicker break-in time but dang ... Please help I've also tried placing sponge ring around bottom but it just causes the water to come up and through the collection tray.

 

[Wrothgar]

 

[Wrothgar]

I'm seeing dead end threads about this everywhere so .. if I let pressure build up by placing my finger on the collection cap hole and let off quickly it stops and seems to work if only for a second.. I feel like the pump on this guy should be able to be adjusted maybe too much psi and it's unable to siphon correctly.. when the water enters the chamber it's circulating too rapidly and going straight out of the overflow... But I'm just talking

 

[rmorris_14]

Have you tried reaching out to Coral life and see if they have any suggestions. My experience with their customer service is they go above and beyond and really surprised me when I reached out to them for a replacement part for my biocube skimmer. Maybe they can determine if yours is defective or help come up with something else to try. The email is [email protected]

 

[rmorris_14]

Other than that I don't have any advice. My skimmer sits in a back chamber.. produces tons of bubbles but then get filtered out by passing through a series of sponges in the next two chambers before water enters the return pump.

 

[Uncle99]

This problem has been reported by a few.
Cora life indicates this escape of bubbles is mainly due to high surface water tension (oils and the such in the water) and will dissipate after they are removed.

In addition, they found that using some medias in the skimmer chamber can result in bubbles escaping.

The system is new, pulling skimate is going to be tough right now and if your going to skim I would not try and speed the process up any faster, fast is usually associated something bad happening.

 

[Wrothgar]

Have you tried reaching out to Coral life and see if they have any suggestions. My experience with their customer service is they go above and beyond and really surprised me when I reached out to them for a replacement part for my biocube skimmer. Maybe they can determine if yours is defective or help come up with something else to try. The email is [email protected]

So this is what I ended up doing they reached back after 36 hours and said it required a break in period, of which is indefinite it's been running for a while now and I have noticed micro bubbles receding however its still present. I may end up getting something else would you have any suggestions for a 10 gal pico reef?

 

[rmorris_14]

So this is what I ended up doing they reached back after 36 hours and said it required a break in period, of which is indefinite it's been running for a while now and I have noticed micro bubbles receding however its still present. I may end up getting something else would you have any suggestions for a 10 gal pico reef?

lid or no lid? AKA would you be able to do a hang on the back? A skimmer might not even be needed to be honest. With that size tank water changes should keep the nutrients in control.

 

[Wrothgar]

lid or no lid? AKA would you be able to do a hang on the back? A skimmer might not even be needed to be honest. With that size tank water changes should keep the nutrients in control.

No lid yet I ordered a clear lexan sheet that I'll cut to fit.

 

[rmorris_14]

No lid yet I ordered a clear lexan sheet that I'll cut to fit.

Honestly I don't have a lot of experience with Skimmers other than the one I have on my biocube. I looked into the bullet one when I came across a thread a couple days ago but it doesn't appear to be in stock. Here is the thread. There might be other useful info for you.

Vote for my nano skimmer! (Tideline 11.3g)

I have been scurrying the internet looking for options and information on skimmers. I've never purchased one before so any advice is welcome! What's your favorite brand or if you have experience with these and like it vote for it! If you hate one of these let me know! The tideline 11.3 only...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Wrothgar]

Honestly I don't have a lot of experience with Skimmers other than the one I have on my biocube. I looked into the bullet one when I came across a thread a couple days ago but it doesn't appear to be in stock. Here is the thread. There might be other useful info for you.

Vote for my nano skimmer! (Tideline 11.3g)

I have been scurrying the internet looking for options and information on skimmers. I've never purchased one before so any advice is welcome! What's your favorite brand or if you have experience with these and like it vote for it! If you hate one of these let me know! The tideline 11.3 only...

www.reef2reef.com

So this was the direct response after I sent my perameters and set up to him, "If this is the first skimmer on the tank, it will over-react for a while until it can pull enough from the water. There will be built up organics in the water. You will end up having micro bubbles in the tank until the skimmer can get enough out of the water to calm down. The bubbles won’t hurt the fish. As the skimmer pulls stuff out, even if it looks clear, toss it out. There are still organics and other stuff in it. You can turn the skimmer down a bit, but the lower you go on the air intake, the longer the process will take." I'll update if the bubbles stop.

 

[Wrothgar]

Update it's been a couple of weeks since I posted this and the microbubbles have diminished significantly. Only time it ramps up is after a feeding which is to be expected I'm satisfied with the coralife protein skimmer v2. It does indeed take time to break in, around a month. Hope this settles most of the microbubble protein skimmer topic's.