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jessedidthis 
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Joined: September 26 2007
Location: West Jordan, Ut
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 Topic: no bubbles in protein skimmer
Posted: June 01 2008 at 4:39pm |
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my protein skimmer does not suck in bubbles anymore. The tube is not clogged, in fact I removed it and cleaned it up today. The tube that allows the air to come in to the inlet of the powerhead seems to be sucking water in and up the tube just a little. When I blow in the tube a bit, it seems to work and then stops after I stop blowing in it.
I beleive this is a coralife skimmer.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Jesse Stewart
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Will Spencer
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Posted: June 01 2008 at 6:03pm |
Is the skimmer in the sump or hanging on the back?
I don't know why this is, but when I had a coralife skimmer in my sump it would not pull air in if the water level was too high. When I topped of my sump with water, no bubble in the skimmer. After a few days of evaporation a few bubbles. After a few more days, Normal bubbleation. I never was able to figure out why that was, but keeping the water level a bit lower seemed to keep the skimmer functioning properly.
Edited by Will Spencer - June 01 2008 at 6:04pm
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pa_reptileman_4
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Posted: June 01 2008 at 6:33pm |
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put an air pump on the airline, thats what i do, it not only quiets it down but it also puts lots of bubbles in it.
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pitiful guppy tank.
shane
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jessedidthis
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Posted: June 02 2008 at 10:16am |
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ah, the splot thickens. When I lift up the skimmer, bubbles come back. Thanks!
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Jesse Stewart
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: June 02 2008 at 11:51am |
Then just put it up on blocks and let 'er rip.
If it's air driven then the airstone needs replacing and/or the pump needs an overhaul.
If it's venturi driven then the air hole may be clogged, or the pump is too low relative to the water column or it isn't pushing water fast enough to create the venturi effect. This effect is to pull air through a small hole as the water zips past.
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BobC63
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Posted: June 02 2008 at 7:00pm |
 jessedidthis wrote:
ah, the splot thickens. When I lift up the skimmer, bubbles come back. Thanks! |
Is the pump output connected to the skimmer body with a section of clear tubing?
If it is, you need to cut down that tubing so that the pump intake is no more than 3" from the water surface.
I used to own the 220 model. Stock that section of tubing was around 6.5" long; it was designed so that the pump was even with the bottom of the skimmer... but on these pumps that's too much backpressure... I cut the tubing down to under 2", basically as short as I could and still have enough tubing to connect the pump to the skimmer body. I also drilled out the venturi (air intake) hole very carefully so that it was the same diameter as the airline tubing.
These 2 mods more than doubled the amount of air going into the skimmer -
and doubled the quantity of bubbles inside the skimmer body, and the amount of skimmate it could manage to pull from the water
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- My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) -
* Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 *
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: June 03 2008 at 4:00pm |
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