Protein skimmer issues...

by **jweb** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:29 am

I have a coralife protein skimmer, the smallest one I believe. It is operating in the sump. For some reason I cannot figure out what the problem is. There are no tiny microbubbles. It is like the powerhead just isn't pushing enough or something. In the main chamber there are medium sized bubbles coming out of the tube in the chamber and it really isn't doing anything more than bubbling. The pump is sideways (so the tube is straight vertical) and I am not sure if this is what is causing it. The picture of the protein skimmer shows the pump like this so I assume it can be set up this way. Please help...

by **newbie916** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:07 am

Are there any Open and Close valve adjustments?

by **gonzaimaki7563** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:23 pm

check if it has an air inlet hose, my skimmer has one, and i forgot to put in in the first time, it cannot suck air in the system so it cant create enough bubbles.

by **fihsboy** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:03 pm

Dude mine did the same thing......and I was mad at myself. Make sure the valve is open. I dont have it anymore.....but...I just installed one at the lfs with the owner and I did it again. Its easy to do. Make sure that valve is open or nothing happens.

by **jweb** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:01 pm

All the valves are open that i know of. I have checked everything and disassembled and reassembled probably 4 times. I still cannot fix the issue.... Any ideas?

by **saltwaterpimp** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:12 am

You might have to force it to start, blow down the air inlet see if that helps.

by **jweb** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:40 am

When I do that the air bubbles just come out of the intake...

by **saltwaterpimp** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:50 am

while the pump is on ?

by **gdeeber** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:03 am

jweb:

If you look at my recent post, you will notice I have a coralife skimmer (super Skimmer 65) and I had a similar problem. What I did was pull the pump apart and cleaned every removable piece then I cleaned the air intake tube which had some dried salt in it. This was preventing air from entering the pin wheel pump and creating micro bubbles in the skimmer. Make sure the adjustment valve just above the pump is straight up and down (meaning fully open) than the red knob on the skimmer should be at the lowest indicator mark and then gradually open it until the bubbles move half way up the collection cup cone.

by **jweb** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:04 am

Okay I took a pic of it running and posted it. I took it all apart again and checked everything. It is all clean. I have no idea what it is i have started and restarted it a billion times, repositioned the pump to every which way, done everything i can come up with.

Here:
http://www.gomezcoral.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=178

Please help!

Protein skimmer issues...

18 posts • Page 1 of 2