Skimmer Help(EuroReef)

[buffalobill]

I just emptied my skimmer cup. It was reall watery and then when I rinsed the cup out it had some sludge around the cup that I removed. I plugged the skimmer back in and it seems as if the bubbles aren't making it to the collection cup. Is something wrong? My old skimmer was HOB cup would seemed to foam up real quick. Also I've been playing around with airline tube which has some type of valve on it. I was wondering if there are supposed to be two valves on the Euro Reef skimmer. Not sure model other then it's good for a ninety gallon. I got the skimmer used so that's why no manual.
Any comments would be great
Kevin
AC 68
Tank at 80
house85

 

[marco67]

Of course a pic would help but there will be one of two ways to adjust the height,
an adjustable stand pipe that slides into a fixed stand pipe, raise this and you'll see the foam in the skimmer rise also.
second would be a gate valve, it would be attached to that fixed stand pipe and if you close that down (go slow ~1/2 to 1 turn at at time) your foam column will rise.
Not sure about the valve on the air line? I've never seen an ER with one before.Maybe some type of muffler?

 

[MikeG]

If you have recently fed or had your hands in the tank, the oils will do it. One other thing to check is theat the verntir on the pump isn't blocked. I use a 1/8" drill bit to make sure they are completely open.

 

[buffalobill]

Still no picture but the skimmer is EuroReef RS80. Do these particular skimmers have a gate valve or adjustable stand pipe?
Thanks
Kevin

 

[Jennifer]

My newer RS 80 has a tube on top of the outlet pipe that you turn to adjust the height inside the skimer. There are stickers that say open and closed on mine.
And you want to close the stock air inlet to about half way and start to tune it to your liking from there.

 

[biggyclops]

is this the first time you emptied the cup? did you clean the riser tube too? when i clean the cup i usually clean the riser tube with a brush thingy.. sometimes sludge builds up on it and the bubbles will start bursting before it can reach the top.. this is also how i know when i need to clean it.. hope it helps!

 

[Mr.HaHa]

bill..

i have the rs80 with stand pipe (not the one with the foam cover).
to start, it is imperative that you clean the neck of the skimmer body as well as the cup. also, i added a gatevalve to my rs80 which was pretty simple to do.

a couple things you might want to consider:
1) the water level in your sump needs to be a consistent 5-6 inches or so. if your water level fluctuates 2-3 inches that will lead to inconsistent skimming.
2) keep your air line tube 100% open and then adjust the stand pipe accordingly.
3) when making adjustment to the pipe/airline tube give the skimmer time to reflect the changes. perfect skimming will not occur 10 seconds after your adjustments. sometimes it can take the skimmer hours to reflect the adjustments.
4) certain foods/supplements will just kill your skimmer. ie selcon, cyclopeeze tend to drop the bubble level in my skimmer for a couple hours but then will return to normal.

 

[buffalobill]

bill..

a couple things you might want to consider:
1) the water level in your sump needs to be a consistent 5-6 inches or so. if your water level fluctuates 2-3 inches that will lead to inconsistent skimming.
adjustments.

I usually let the sump get low before I topoff. Should I topoff more frequently to avoid the inconsistent skimming? I had no idea that the water level was that important as far as the skimmer goes.

Also just want to thank everyone for their responses. I woke up today and the cup was filling up with foam. I didn't do any changes other then learn the parts of my skimmer.
Thanks
Buffalobill

 

[Mr.HaHa]

bill..

a couple things you might want to consider:
1) the water level in your sump needs to be a consistent 5-6 inches or so. if your water level fluctuates 2-3 inches that will lead to inconsistent skimming.
adjustments.

I usually let the sump get low before I topoff. Should I topoff more frequently to avoid the inconsistent skimming? I had no idea that the water level was that important as far as the skimmer goes.

Also just want to thank everyone for their responses. I woke up today and the cup was filling up with foam. I didn't do any changes other then learn the parts of my skimmer.
Thanks
Buffalobill

Bill,

if the water level in your sump fluctuates from 4" to 7" you will certainly see inconsistent results.

I noticed that you mentioned that you top off when your sump level becomes low. Is there any way you can rig up an auto top off? this will help you maintain levels more consitently than dumping water in manually.

 

[MikeG]

These skimmers really need a consistent water level to perform. If you can't do an auto top off and even if you can, you can put a baffle juat after the skimmer that the water goes over. This will keep the water in the first part of the sump where the skimmer is constant. Then the level in the section after that (where the return pump would be) would drop with evaporation. The down side is this section would now drop much quicker since it is smaller.

 

[buffalobill]

I came home from work tonight and already see a huge drop of water in the sump. I can put 20gallon bin next to the tank but what device would I need to set this up. Can anyone recommend auto top off device to use?

Thanks for all your advice. I think auto topoff will make things alot easier especially this summer

 

[Mr.HaHa]

Bill,

you have a few options for top off:

http://www.autotopoff.com/
http://www.aquahub.com/store/index.html
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searchItem.aspx?IdCategory=&SearchText=top off&parsed=1

 

[buffalobill]

Thanks. Mr Haha and everyone else for their responses