Help a newb with an AquaC Urchin Pro question?

[Eel Steve]

Hello all,

72g w 30/sump FOWLR. Melanarus, 2 damsels, diamond goby.

I *was* using a Coralife Super Skimmer 125. I hated it, as it's a terrible thing that I would wish upon no one.

A local reefer sold me an AquaC Urchin Pro, sans pump, for 20 bucks. I had to buy a new O-ring from AquaC, and I bought a Mag Pump 3 for it. No venturi, as I emailed the company and they said I don't need one - just hook up stock Mag Pump 3 to flex tubing on back of Urchin, and good to go.

So I put this on almost 24 hours ago and it's been running, but it isn't doing anything really yet.

I flashed a light to see if I could see inside, and a jet is hitting the water, but I can't tell if it's supposed to be stronger, and NO foam is being produced - well the tiniest amount, but it isnt rising or anything.

This is *not* a NEW unit, it was used, and had a bunch of salt on it, so it was in actual use in a system for a while.

Does this need more break in time, or do I need to take that screw out of the water jet thingie and try to clean it? I'll post a pic in a sec too that may or may not be useful or useless.

 

[Eel Steve]

 

[Eel Steve]

Bump for desperation =P

 

[KorL]

Kind of hard to see but it looks like there's barely any bubbles being made.

 

[twilliard]

Isn't there supposed to be an air venturi on the skimmer??
There has to be a way to inject air :-)

 

[Eel Steve]

Venturis are only for venturi skimmers......Spray injection works via a different method. Air is mixed with the water via a strong stream of water being sprayed into a holding area. The air is mixed by the stream impact.

Taken from the aquac site, imagine putting your thumb over the end of a hose and spraying it in a bucket of soapy water.

Consequently I've gotten it working now - I just had to run a pipe cleaner through the injection spray nozzle. Some calcium or salt buildup came out. Bam, shooting foam all over now.