need some help with skimmers

[christopherjay]

Okay..I know this skimmer sucks but I just aquired from my wife a super skimmer 100..Its powered by a maxi jet 1200..My problem is that the bubbles never make it up the collection cup..All my skimmers are doing this..The bubbles seem to pop before anything happens..I dont understand it..They used to work great..So i thought my skimmer was messed up..Wife got this one on sale she didnt know any better...But none of them pull ANYTHING out..I mean nothing..it makes CRAZY amounts of fine bubbles..But they just pop..Why is this?

 

[skriz]

Are they small bubbles or large?

Have you tried raising the water level?

The seaclone is powered by the mj1200, so I would figure this skimmer to be about the same. Do you have a stronger pump laying around? If so, it's just a venturi skimmer, so you can try the better pump and see how that affects the skimmer.

 

[christopherjay]

its on a saltwater tank LOL..my 120..But the only way to adjust the water level is buy decreasing the amount of air into the pump..I dont understand why I dont get bubbles that rise up the cup..The bubbles that i do get are only a VERY thin layer

 

[christopherjay]

unfortunantly I do not have another pump laying around..I wish i did..and the bubbles are VERY fine

 

[skriz]

If it's a recent addition, it will take it a few to build up the slime coat needed for optimal performance.

Restrict the water output and that will raise the water level.

 

[christopherjay]

Whoops sorry its a sea clone 100 skimmer..cant adjust the water output!..This thing is a peice but i dont want to hurt my wifes feelings..Im just gonna let it run a couple days and see what happens

 

[skriz]

yeah, the seaclone is weak. There are some mods that can be done to improve the performance...not sure how effective they are though.

Google it and it may still show up. I remember seeing them about 10 years ago!

 

[christopherjay]

yea lol lkooks to me like the pump is the only decent thing

 

[deadeye]

I know nothing of the skimmer that you are using but I had a similar issue with my skimmer. I had my pump on the bottom of my sump under about 10" of water and it didn't do crap. I raised my pump by setting it on a new, food grade plastic container, cut the input hose to size and it now rests about 2" below the surface. The amount of crude that I find in the collection cup is amazing. It's only been running for two weeks. Good luck.

 

[skriz]

lol. I had a seaclone on my 29 when I started! I trashed the skimmer, but kept the pump. That pump failed 10 years later..amazing!

 

[christopherjay]

I have so many skimmers now its not even funny i have an odyssea 75 and odyssea ps 160 the sea clone and some other kinda skimmer and that top phathom..LOL trade em all in for one working one LOL

 

[skriz]

Yeah, I blundered with the seaclone, then bit the bullet and got nicer skimmers and never looked back!

If you do a ton of water changes, it doesn't matter much.

 

[christopherjay]

i recently stared doing about 25 gallons every 2 weeks on the 120..