Skimmer leaves residue in neck or removes lots of water

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Reef Octopus 110int

I can't find a happy medium here.

My skimmer is doing an awesome job removing gunk, however getting it into the collection cup is a little hard.

So either, i get brown cloudy water, a lot of water.

OR

I get a lot of gunk left in the inner walls of the collection cup and nothing makes it to the cup.

Now the difference between these on the gate valve is about a 16th of a turn.

I imagine airflow changes are what i should try next. I previously had 2 bleeder valves installed to reduce airflow when dr tims first defense would not allow me to skim for bearly a week, but i want to make sure I am not going to damage my skimmer further reducing the vollume of air, or even if that would be a solution.

Currently it is in it's default configuration of 1 cap on one of the 2 air inlets.

The pic is reference to the 2 bleeders i installed to severely restrict air intake a month ago with the dr tims.

 

[Gtinnel]

Restricting airflow with valves won’t harm anything, and can be used to help tune your skimmer. I have to do it with my Vertex Omega 180i

 

[StatelineReefer]

Water height could solve your issue.
If you can find a way to increase the sump water height in that chamber or raise the skimmer, you might find your middle ground between adjustments.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Water height could solve your issue.
If you can find a way to increase the sump water height in that chamber or raise the skimmer, you might find your middle ground between adjustments.

I currently have it sitting on a stack of aquamesh to keep it at 7.5 inches. The depth of its chamber is 10.5

Would that have a different effect than using the gate? The gaet is about a 1 and half turns from fully open. And i think its 10 turns until close

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Restricting airflow with valves won’t harm anything, and can be used to help tune your skimmer. I have to do it with my Vertex Omega 180i

Great! So my mext question would be. Does restricting aur help creat a dryer skimmate? If so it sounds like raising the water level, AND restricting air, would get me to where I want to be

 

[StatelineReefer]

I currently have it sitting on a stack of aquamesh to keep it at 7.5 inches. The depth of its chamber is 10.5

Would that have a different effect than using the gate? The gaet is about a 1 and half turns from fully open. And i think its 10 turns until close

The gate will affect the water level in the skimmer, that combined with air restriction for a finer foam from a precise height will get you a nice dry skimmate. Set your bubble height just as the cup meets the neck, and your skimmate will be about as good as you can get it. You'll always have a little scum on the neck of the collection cup, as long as it's not too thick a layer you're good

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Thanks guys!!

I had a hard time finding this advice out there for this specific gap in performance, i mean, it was reeaaaallly close water adjustment between the 2 means of performance.

Thank you all so much again. Restricting air a little now to see where that puts me, with the bubble height at the neck when not under load.

 

[Gtinnel]

Many newer skimmers will use a DC pump which allows you to limit airflow by turning the pump down. On skimmers that use AC pumps adding a valve in the airline is the easiest way to adjust air flow.
If you were getting a stable foam before then I’m not sure you will get the result with the air restriction that you’re wanting but it won’t hurt to try. I had to add a restriction to my airline because my skimmer wouldn’t produce a stable foam (It just had the boiling water look).

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Many newer skimmers will use a DC pump which allows you to limit airflow by turning the pump down. On skimmers that use AC pumps adding a valve in the airline is the easiest way to adjust air flow.
If you were getting a stable foam before then I’m not sure you will get the result with the air restriction that you’re wanting but it won’t hurt to try. I had to add a restriction to my airline because my skimmer wouldn’t produce a stable foam (It just had the boiling water look).

It was usually a very small foam head that would not travel far above the bubbles, so it was either a layer of scum had to be built up all through the neck of the cup, before the surface tension would change on the surface of the walls of the neck of the cup allowing it to make it up into the cup, which at that point would bring a lot of water with it.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

I reduced the air intake by about 70%ish, and I just this last hour, have a 3 inch foam head that is just dancing at the top falling back into the neck of the cup everytime it almost spills out, its getting darker and darker.

I think I just got it!! Letting it go a little longer and I'll take a quick video. I had no idea the effect would be this profound. I don't know why I waited to try it.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Open the airflow back up. Leave it where the water level on the inside of the skimmer is sitting just below the neck of the skimmer where the foam head starts to foam.
Adjust.from their.
Skimmers work on and off of the doc in your tanks water. They are not meant to skim 24/7.
D

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Open the airflow back up. Leave it where the water level on the inside of the skimmer is sitting just below the neck of the skimmer where the foam head starts to foam.
Adjust.from their.
Skimmers work on and off of the doc in your tanks water. They are not meant to skim 24/7.
D

I ended up following your advice right after i saw you posted it. Posting an update here because I see this is coming up in google results frequently.

After I read this, i removed the bleeder and put the air back into the default configuration.

I was disappointed when it seemed like it wasn't going to skim, but patience paid off. I just emptied the cup for the first time today, thick skim, not as much wasted water.

Setting the bubble height, just to the point where it won't spill when removing the cup worked perfectly. It took a day, but it formed a thick foam all through the cups neck that slowly poured over the edge into the cup over a week.

This is clearly the right way, now i don't worry i will come home to a cup filled with mostly water and near overflow.

I do stand by how I handled the ridiculous waiting period from the dr tims first defense making the skimmer go crazy, but without a chemical misbehaving, @monkeyCmonkeyDo is right.

If you googled and ran into this, let it be a reminder that patience is important in this hobby, and nothing great happens fast.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Glad it worked out for u bro.
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Yes the ratio of water and air matter but most skimmer manufacturers have already figured that out into the design and engineering of their product.



No point in modding most modern skimmer products these days. In the past in the 90s and earlier 2000s yes.
Maybe a cheaper model of today I would modify but anything in the $100+ used or new purchase range no.
Again glad it worked out for u and ya patience is key when it comes to protein skimmers. Small incremental adjustments as well.
D