New skimmer! Too powerful?

[crustytheclown]

I'm having a little trouble dialing in my new skimmer. So I've got the mag pump in the 1st chamber of my sump, where the overflow PVC plumbing comes in and the skimmer in the 2nd chamber, and my return in the 3rd chamber. When I turn on the skimmer, the mag drive pump sucks up all the water in the 1st chamber before the return can replenish the water around it to keep it from running dry. Do you think I should try raising the water level line in my sump? Should I throttle back the mag drive? Any advice would be greatly appreciatedthanks

 

[zombie]

Post a picture of before and after. I would be willing to bet you just need to add a bit more water

 

[crustytheclown]

Before

After

 

[zombie]

Does it do the same thing if you open the valve up all the way?

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

It just needs enough water to chill the skimmer. Just throw some new salt water in the sump. As long as the sump is large enough to handle the back siphon from the tank as well as the water volume from the skimmer if the power is turned off you are good.

 

[crustytheclown]

If I open the valve up on the mag pump all the way, it happens definately faster

 

[jda123]

Pump needs to be in the same chamber as the skimmer. That is a pretty small chamber.

 

[zombie]

While it is running, add enough saltwater to get the return pump completely submerged plus an inch or so buffer. After that, simulate a power failure by unplugging both the return and the skimmer. If it doesnt overflow, you are good to go. If it does, you will need to modify the second baffle from the left to be shorter.

 

[crustytheclown]

Pump needs to be in the same chamber as the skimmer. That is a pretty small chamber.

From what I read in the directions for the skimmer, I should be pulling water from the first chamber/dirtiest water in the sump to the skimmer. Than the output should be close to the return, right!

 

[zombie]

From what I read in the directions for the skimmer, I should be pulling water from the first chamber/dirtiest water in the sump to the skimmer. Than the output should be close to the return, right!

The way you have it set up is right. You just might not have enough free space because your baffle is so high. The reason it is doing this from what I can see is that your skimmer has a large volume compared to your sump size and the pump chamber is relatively small compared to the skimmer chamber. I wouldnt worry about it at all if the power test doesnt leak.

 

[crustytheclown]

While it is running, add enough saltwater to get the return pump completely submerged plus an inch or so buffer. After that, simulate a power failure by unplugging both the return and the skimmer. If it doesnt overflow, you are good to go. If it does, you will need to modify the second baffle from the left to be shorter.

Ok. Ill try that! That seems like it'll work! Thanks
Ill report back

 

[FishTV]

In your set up, there is no difference between the first and second chamber, one spills into the other. Its easy enough to solve by putting both the pump and skimmer in the same chamber. Skimmers rely on contact time, your not going to skim out all the proteins, and waste the first time through, they are just not that efficient. Your starving your pump because the drain from your display is not enough to keep up. If you have the pump, and exhaust from the skimmer feed into the same chamber you will have more skimmer contact with the same water, and that's a good thing.

 

[FishTV]

As a side note for that skimmer, the valve off that pump is used generally to throttle back a larger than needed pump. Its an easy way to use a larger pump, and make sure you have enough pressure to make the bubble column run where it is most efficient, but be able to cut back the flow if its too much. If your cutting back your flow for sump level, instead of bubble level, the skimmer is not going to work correctly.

 

[Walter White]

In your set up, there is no difference between the first and second chamber, one spills into the other. Its easy enough to solve by putting both the pump and skimmer in the same chamber. Skimmers rely on contact time, your not going to skim out all the proteins, and waste the first time through, they are just not that efficient. Your starving your pump because the drain from your display is not enough to keep up. If you have the pump, and exhaust from the skimmer feed into the same chamber you will have more skimmer contact with the same water, and that's a good thing.

^^^^THIS^^^^

think about out all the the skimmers out there with the pump at the bottom or at the side of the housing, by design the inlets and outlets are in the same chamber of the sump. You will not lose any efficiency by moving the pump into the same chamber as the skimmer.

The only time I know of a skimmer being "too powerful" is if the skimmer is rated for such a high bio load that your tank inhabitants can't produce a bio load large enough to fill the neck enough to make into the collection cup. In my opinion you'd need a much larger skimmer than what you have for that to be an issue.


i can see the logic in pulling the dirtier water from the first chamber if you had a much larger longer sump and even then I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Walter White]

Oh and as Dr Harlem has already mentioned, it looks like that skimmer is going to take some volume to fill it. So even if you move you pump into the same chamber with the skimmer you man need to add some more water depending on what that does to the water level where your return pump is.

I had this problem a little with my bubble king which I resolved by lowing the skimmer body into the the sump a bit then just adjusted the skimmer accordingly. Just a thought.

 

[jahmic]

I agree...pump and skimmer in the same chamber. Even if you raise the water level, if the skimmer's pump is moving water faster than your overflow, it won't keep up. Not sure if that's what's happening in your case, but if you add more water to the sump and it still doesn't keep up, then that's where the problem is.

You could dial back the skimmer...but then you are sacrificing efficiency. I'd say just put the pump and skimmer in the same chamber (if it will fit) and allow the water to recirculate through the skimmer before hitting the second chamber. FWIW, I had the outlet on my skimmer pushing water directly into the second chamber for a while...it worked fairly well. One day after a cleaning I placed my skimmer in the sump with the outlet facing away from the 2nd chamber and toward the "back wall" of the chamber...the water essentially recirculated in the first chamber multiple times, and I noticed an immediate increase in skimmate that was pulled out of the tank. YMMV...but as others pointed out, your skimmer won't be removing everything from a single pass of water through it.

 

[DyM]

All sound advice. That is a good skimmer and I really learned how to dial it in, ask away if you're having any issues.

 

[crustytheclown]

So I put the pump in the same middle chamber as the skimmer and have it turned on full blast. Does this seem right?

 

[zombie]

That is exactly what I suspected would happen. The issue as I mentioned earlier is the amount of water volume required by the skimmer in comparison to the sump volume. Leave the return in the far right chamber. That will be the most effective for skimmer efficiency.

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

Not sure what you mean by "full blast" I think you can control the water level in the skimmer with the red ball valve. The water level could be at the bottom of the small riser tube. Then you can tune the amount of air being drawn in. From there you can raise the water level slightly to skim "wet" or "dry" just as you do with any other skimmer.