My skimmer is only skimming wet, or none at all!

[Miami Reef]

I have the bubble magus curve 9 elite in sump: https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/c...mqj8uLk-tT79E2U-89WReuv2YNFd__9DDWBoCrbvw_wcB

I want to start off by saying that it needs a sump with 9-11 inches of water; my sump is about 5-6”. There’s no way to raise the water level.

The skimmer only came with one valve: to control the water intake. No matter which way I moved the valve it wouldn’t even reach the neck of the skimmer, so I put a clothes pin on the air intake and that raised it.

I’m having a little issue where the skimmer makes a thick, dark gunk of the neck of the collection cup, but it won’t actually go into the cup. If I try raising the water level, it will skim too wet and be a light brown liquid inside the cup.

I will show pictures of my skimmer cup tonight. I’m not home right now, but if anyone has any ideas that would be great.

 

[OutsideBrian]

Can you move it to a deeper section of your sump?
Guess if the shoe doesn’t fit you can’t wear it?

 

[Brett S]

Unfortunately you’ve already identified the issue. The skimmer needs to be in deeper water. They don’t provide a water depth specification because the skimmer looks best that way, it’s because it needs that depth to function properly. You can make modifications like your clothes pin to get the water level higher, but that will also affect the air/water ratio and affect the skimmer’s performance. A skimmer needs a lot of air to function properly and by restricting the air intake it’s just not going to work well.

The only option you have is to find a way to get the skimmer into deeper water or get a different skimmer with a more shallow water requirement or an external skimmer.

 

[Hemmdog]

What sump do you have ? There has to be a way to be able to make it deeper. My triggers have adjustable baffles for this reason exactly.

 

[Hemmdog]

I have the curve 7 elite fwiw, it’s not a bad design or anything like that, this is the best skimmer I’ve ever had hands down. Much better than my reef octopus on my other tank too.

 

[Miami Reef]

When I close the main pump, the water level will rise to about 3 inches from the rim of the sump. I can raise the water level of the sump with a valve, but won’t the sump overflow when I close the main pump?

I’d like to keep my skimmer and maybe fix my sump problem. It sounds like the smarter and cheaper fix than wasting my money that I spent if my skimmer, and buying a complete new one.

 

[Brett S]

When I close the main pump, the water level will rise to about 3 inches from the rim of the sump. I can raise the water level of the sump with a valve, but won’t the sump overflow when I close the main pump?

I’d like to keep my skimmer and maybe fix my sump problem. It sounds like the smarter and cheaper fix than wasting my money that I spent if my skimmer, and buying a complete new one.

Can you post a picture of your sump and this valve you mention? I’m having a hard time imagining how you could change the water level in your sump with a valve... unless the valve is restricting the return pump so more water winds up in the sump. Normally you would raise the water level in the sump by adding more salt water to the system.

You definitely want to make sure that the sump won’t overflow when you turn off the return pump, but if you still have 3 inches to spare then it sounds like you could raise the water level by at least two inches and still have enough of a buffer to be sure that there would be no floods when the power fails or the return pump is shut off.

Also, how big is the sump and how big is the tank? Is the skimmer sitting directly on the bottom of the sump?

 

[Miami Reef]

I will post pictures of it in a few hours from now. The valve that I was taking about is the float valve for the ATO. If I’m not mistaken, it can let me choose the height of the water level and the ATO will continue to fill water until it hits the mark.

The tank is 300 gallons and the sump is +/- 50 gallons I think? I never really put thought on how big my sump is. The skimmer is directly on the bottom. The sump has more width than hight.

 

[Brett S]

I will post pictures of it in a few hours from now. The valve that I was taking about is the float valve for the ATO. If I’m not mistaken, it can let me choose the height of the water level and the ATO will continue to fill water until it hits the mark.

That makes sense. Although you will want to raise the height of the float valve to raise the water level in the sump. Additionally, when you do raise the float valve you will want to add some salt water to fill up the extra space. Otherwise the ATO will just add a bunch of fresh water and that could lower the salinity level of your tank slightly.

The tank is 300 gallons and the sump is +/- 50 gallons I think? I never really put thought on how big my sump is. The skimmer is directly on the bottom. The sump has more width than hight.

A 50 gallon sump for a 300 gallon tank is definitely on the small side and might be downright undersized. That’s probably part of your problem... a larger sump would be able to maintain a higher water level without worrying about the water that backflows from the display tank when the return pump is shut off.

 

[Miami Reef]

@Brett S

I have a cool, interesting update. So I was playing around with the skimmer, and I popped off the clothes pin off the air valve and turned the water level up, and it is reaching to the top of the skimmer fine! The bubbles are excellent now.

I feel kinda dumb because when I first got the skimmer I did the same thing and it didn’t reach the top, maybe it broke in after these few months? I don’t know, but I’m very content and happy that the skimmer will work as it should.

 

[Brett S]

@Brett S

I have a cool, interesting update. So I was playing around with the skimmer, and I popped off the clothes pin off the air valve and turned the water level up, and it is reaching to the top of the skimmer fine! The bubbles are excellent now.

I feel kinda dumb because when I first got the skimmer I did the same thing and it didn’t reach the top, maybe it broke in after these few months? I don’t know, but I’m very content and happy that the skimmer will work as it should.

That’s great news, skimmers can change a little as they break in. It should run better without the clothes pin, but it really won’t run at 100% in half the water that they recommend. I would still look into trying to raise the water level in your sump if you can. But it sounds like you’re definitely making some steps in the right direction