Help! Bad Remora-C?

Chrisz · Apr 1, 2011

I just purchased my 2nd Remora-c, I have been very happy with my first one and I purchased a 2nd one for my other tank.

Well I am not so happy with my second remora, it is not producing any bubbles! It has been running for about 2 weeks and will not foam enough to get to the collection cup. I put my other remora on the same tank and it works great, I also tried swapping the motors with no luck.

The remora that I have that works good I noticed that the injector is not touching the water and spraying through a hole in the baffling, it is producing lots of foam. The remora that is not working has the spray injector submerged in water, the water is above the baffling and the hole that it is suppose to spray through. From what I can tell it looks to me that the spray injector is installed in the skimmer too low, manufacturing defect?

Anyone experienced this problem? Anyone had any experience trying to get a replacement from Remora? I tried to bring it back to my Local fish store they pretty much told me to take a hike!

Any suggestions?

drainbamage · Apr 1, 2011

it can take up to 3-4 weeks for a skimmer to 'break-in' and start working- don't panic yet! Not sure about the injector nozzle possibly being submerged- have you measure from the top down to see if there's a difference? Otherwise, look towards maybe some form of blockage that's causing the water level to stay too high in the unit. Also- haev you cleaned out the injector nozzle with the supplied pieces?

I'd recommend e-mailing AquaC- they're typically a very good company with customer service and will be able to help you a lot more than a LFS can.

Welcome to AquaC, Inc.

cheers

Chrisz · Apr 1, 2011

Yes, I did clean the injector out there is not any blockage and it appears to be pushing out a good amount of water. I did take a few measurements, there is about a 3/16 difference in the location of the injector compared to the one that works, non working one lower thus submerged

drainbamage · Apr 1, 2011

yea, get ahold of AquaC at the website I linked in- they're good people and should take care of you, or at least give you more exact details to get you working. 3/16 aint a lot, but could be just enough to be causing your problems. Are you getting ANY bubbles at all? or just straight out water?

Chrisz · Apr 2, 2011

I am getting some bubbles, the skimmer is really quiet and I don't have any micro bubbles in the tank like my other one. I am wondering if they tried to change something to fix the noise and micro bubble problems.

macon77 · Apr 3, 2011

I have had quite a few AquaC skimmers over the years, and not one of them has had the spray injector under water.

If you download a manual for the bigger guys (EV series, in which the internal water level can be adjusted), they specifically state that the injector should never be submerged.

One thing to try is this (if it is possible). Shine a light through the skimmers, and observe the bubbles in each of them. I would be willing to bet 25 cents that there is an obviously noticable difference between the two.

macon77 · Apr 3, 2011

Chrisz said:
I just purchased my 2nd Remora-c, I have been very happy with my first one and I purchased a 2nd one for my other tank.

Well I am not so happy with my second remora, it is not producing any bubbles! It has been running for about 2 weeks and will not foam enough to get to the collection cup. I put my other remora on the same tank and it works great, I also tried swapping the motors with no luck.

The remora that I have that works good I noticed that the injector is not touching the water and spraying through a hole in the baffling, it is producing lots of foam. The remora that is not working has the spray injector submerged in water, the water is above the baffling and the hole that it is suppose to spray through. From what I can tell it looks to me that the spray injector is installed in the skimmer too low, manufacturing defect?

Anyone experienced this problem? Anyone had any experience trying to get a replacement from Remora? I tried to bring it back to my Local fish store they pretty much told me to take a hike!

Any suggestions?

As all of the parts are mass-produced, they should all be identical. The only thing that is likely to be amiss is that the hole for the inlet was drilled in the wrong place.

So, yes, manufacturing defect.

Chrisz · Apr 4, 2011

Good news! I was able to get a hold of someone at Remora, I was expecting to half to fight with their customer service rep. but they where very nice on the phone and it sounds like they are going to send me a new skimmer! I will keep you all posted, I had to provide a copy of my sales receipt which I sent to them today, I hope to here back form them soon.

drainbamage · Apr 4, 2011

Chrisz said:
Good news! I was able to get a hold of someone at Remora, I was expecting to half to fight with their customer service rep. but they where very nice on the phone and it sounds like they are going to send me a new skimmer! I will keep you all posted, I had to provide a copy of my sales receipt which I sent to them today, I hope to here back form them soon.

Good to hear that! I think people confuse manufacturers with smaller LFS's. The manufacturer is determined to keep the name and quality of their product in good standing- the LFS's sometimes are worried about getting scammed or stuck with stuff they can't return.

Chrisz · Apr 14, 2011

Well not so good news. It has been almost 10 days since the Remora rep sent me an e mail telling me they where going to send me a new skimmer, still no skimmer! I will half to give them a call in the morning. Below was his reply, it seemed sincere, what do you think?

Hi Chrissy,

Thanks for sending a copy of your receipt. I will get a new Remora (with drain fitting) shipped to your address today via UPS ground. I will include a prepaid UPS call tag with the skimmer - all you need to do is place the old skimmer in the box that the new one arrives in, affix the label to the outside of the box, and UPS will bring it back to us. Please keep and use the pump that came with the original skimmer. If you have any other questions at all, please let me know!

-------------

Jason Kim
President

AquaC, Inc.
7949 Stromesa Court, Ste. E
San Diego, CA 92126
858-689-1121 phone
858-564-3419 fax
www.proteinskimmer.com

drainbamage · Apr 14, 2011

give them time- 10 days via UPS ground isn't all that surprising. Did they give you tracking info on the box or anything like that? I'd suggest just a kind email/phone call asking for that tracking info so you can see where it is. They're good people (of course they are, they're from San Diego :tongue:) and wouldn't just be pulling one over on ya.

Chrisz · Apr 15, 2011

Remora hang on Changes!

:angel:Got it, going to set it up and see if it works better than the old one! Works Great! Started skimming right away! It took a while but I finally got the skimmer replaced, I am a happy customer!

It looks as though the skimmer that they sent me must of been right off the production line, there have been some changes to the skimmer.

One leg instead of 2 to adjust for level. It is much easier to adjust now and is plenty stable.
They added a extra leg that goes against the top rim of the tank to keep it sitting level, big improvement.
The best for last! They added a piece of foam on the injector side, the skimmer is supper quiet!

Chrisz · Apr 15, 2011

Any one else purchased a Remora with the new changes stated above?

braschul · Jul 9, 2011

Another bad one?

I bought my third Remora online and I'm having the same problem as the original poster. I have had the skimmer for several months now (thought it was just taking forever to "break in") and I'm not sure I can find the receipt for it any more. Has anyone had luck fixing a skimmer with this problem or do I have to try to get the manufacturer to replace it?