Hang-On Protein Skimmer

bfogarty4 · Mar 26, 2025

Hello,

Ive had my 75gal tank up and running since October. So its been active for about almost 6 or 7 months now and I just installed this protein skimmer yesterday. I wasnt previously running a skimmer before this.

It is a Macro Aqua M-100 Hang-on Protein Skimmer. It is shooting out an extremely large amount of bubbles past the bubble stopper into the tank. Idk why it is doing this but I have the Skimmer on the lowest setting and I have the water outlet adjustment dial almost all the way as closed as it can get. It is also over-flowing bubbles out of the top a little bit.

Idk if the filter sucks or it isnt good for my tank size or what but I bought the M-100 which is up to 105gal because the M-80 was only up to 66gal. I havent seen any information about this specific filter anywhere online.

Please advise.

FUNGI · Mar 26, 2025

need to break in. give it a month or so......
TBH, its supposed to be a not so good skimmer...seen lots of youtube vids on it that show it cranking away and its cheap $$! but....

FUNGI · Mar 26, 2025

also, water out should be wide open....give it a week or so before you start to tune it.

mboley · Mar 26, 2025

Try an airline valve so you can limit/adjust the airflow until your skimmer breaks in.

bfogarty4 · Mar 26, 2025

FUNGI said:
also, water out should be wide open....give it a week or so before you start to tune it.

If I leave it wide open the skimmer starts to quickly overflow

FUNGI · Mar 26, 2025

try this: (But I think it just needs to break in)
With air off, open water out all the way, turn pump down to until the water in the skimmer body is just below collection cup neck. (move collection cup all the way up).
Once its stable, open air going in. This should in theory lower the water. Adjust water out again until just below neck. Adjust air in and water out to get to your setting.......good luck.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Mar 26, 2025

I have that skimmer at home, I would have given it to you for free if you pay the shipping. It flooded my living room twice, it would work fine for a while and then start filling the cup up quickly and wake up to water on the floor. When it’s not flooding the floor it produces a light green, never dark skimmate. I took it off my tank after 2 months. I don’t know how to fix your issue but good luck. And perhaps place a towel on the floor under the skimmer.