Skimmer Help!

AydenLincoln

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I just bought the IceCap Neo Skimmer! It’s a manual not an automatic adjustment. How far should I put it down? I keep playing with it and messing it up. Why is the top part so loose it just sits on the bottom part…that’s normal? And I don’t want the bubbles to be splashing out. I’m very confused with the wet vs dry skim too. One takes longer and is more powerful? Someone please explain! Skimmers are new to me.
image.jpg
 

Dav2996

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I just bought the IceCap Neo Skimmer! It’s a manual not an automatic adjustment. How far should I put it down? I keep playing with it and messing it up. Why is the top part so loose it just sits on the bottom part…that’s normal? And I don’t want the bubbles to be splashing out. I’m very confused with the wet vs dry skim too. One takes longer and is more powerful? Someone please explain! Skimmers are new to me.
image.jpg
If this is a new skimmer it could take 2 weeks to break in. I try to make it dry, I have tunze 9001 not this model though. Not sure if it’s a wet skimmer
 

Dav2996

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I just bought the IceCap Neo Skimmer! It’s a manual not an automatic adjustment. How far should I put it down? I keep playing with it and messing it up. Why is the top part so loose it just sits on the bottom part…that’s normal? And I don’t want the bubbles to be splashing out. I’m very confused with the wet vs dry skim too. One takes longer and is more powerful? Someone please explain! Skimmers are new to me.
image.jpg
When I mean break in it will bubble like crazy
 

Eagle_Steve

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I just bought the IceCap Neo Skimmer! It’s a manual not an automatic adjustment. How far should I put it down? I keep playing with it and messing it up. Why is the top part so loose it just sits on the bottom part…that’s normal? And I don’t want the bubbles to be splashing out. I’m very confused with the wet vs dry skim too. One takes longer and is more powerful? Someone please explain! Skimmers are new to me.
image.jpg
When I used this skimmer on my bc32, I started with the skimmer higher than needed for a about a week, so the skimmer could break in.

See below for a rough place to start with where the skimmer needs to sit.

Blue line is the water level
Red is to point out the hanger and that it needs to move down to “raise” the skimmer up.

Set the skimmer so that when it is running, the water/bubble mix inside is about an inch from where the collection cup meets the skimmer body.
728BDA56-11F9-46E3-B390-16DACAD8CC8C.jpeg


After a few days, you may be able to “lower” the skimmer some. Or you may not need to. What you want to look for is where the bubbles pop and where the “nasty foam” (it will have a brown tint to it) forms. By moving where this foam forms up or down on the inside of the skimmer determines a wet or dry skim. Higher up in the body is more “wet” and lower down is more “dry”.

for now, with the skimmer being new, it will go nuts for a bit. This is why I suggest raising it up for the time being.
 
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AydenLincoln

AydenLincoln

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When I used this skimmer on my bc32, I started with the skimmer higher than needed for a about a week, so the skimmer could break in.

See below for a rough place to start with where the skimmer needs to sit.

Blue line is the water level
Red is to point out the hanger and that it needs to move down to “raise” the skimmer up.

Set the skimmer so that when it is running, the water/bubble mix inside is about an inch from where the collection cup meets the skimmer body.
728BDA56-11F9-46E3-B390-16DACAD8CC8C.jpeg


After a few days, you may be able to “lower” the skimmer some. Or you may not need to. What you want to look for is where the bubbles pop and where the “nasty foam” (it will have a brown tint to it) forms. By moving where this foam forms up or down on the inside of the skimmer determines a wet or dry skim. Higher up in the body is more “wet” and lower down is more “dry”.

for now, with the skimmer being new, it will go nuts for a bit. This is why I suggest raising it up for the time being.
Thank you so much. This really helps!
 

Eagle_Steve

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Thank you so much. This really helps!
That skimmer is a little finicky, even when broke in, but it does work great once you get it broke in. I suggest aiming for a little on the drier side of skimming, as this will allow for it to go a little nuts and not just over flow the cup when it does it. Also, be sure that you get the screw in the hanger tight to the body, not super tight to crack the body, but good and snug. Mine would slide down a bit over time due to vibrations if it was not good and snug. Due to this, once I found a good height, I removed the skimmer and put a zip tie around the body and flush with the bottom of the hangar. This stopped it sliding down over time, if I didn’t get the screw tight enough.
 
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AydenLincoln

AydenLincoln

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When I used this skimmer on my bc32, I started with the skimmer higher than needed for a about a week, so the skimmer could break in.

See below for a rough place to start with where the skimmer needs to sit.

Blue line is the water level
Red is to point out the hanger and that it needs to move down to “raise” the skimmer up.

Set the skimmer so that when it is running, the water/bubble mix inside is about an inch from where the collection cup meets the skimmer body.
728BDA56-11F9-46E3-B390-16DACAD8CC8C.jpeg


After a few days, you may be able to “lower” the skimmer some. Or you may not need to. What you want to look for is where the bubbles pop and where the “nasty foam” (it will have a brown tint to it) forms. By moving where this foam forms up or down on the inside of the skimmer determines a wet or dry skim. Higher up in the body is more “wet” and lower down is more “dry”.

for now, with the skimmer being new, it will go nuts for a bit. This is why I suggest raising it up for the time being.
Like this so no bubble are in the collection cup?
image.jpg
 

Eagle_Steve

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Like this so no bubble are in the collection cup?
image.jpg
Correct. Give it time and the proteins/waste will accumulate and form a head. That head will build up and eventually work it way into the cup.

You will start to see this happen over the next few days.

After a week, if there is a ton of brown crud in the neck, but none in the cup, lower the skimmer just a bit. You will start to see the head move to the top of the neck and over the lip into the cup.

Once you get to that point, that is where you start to adjust for a dry or wet skim. Bubbles breaking higher in body/neck is a wet skim and lower is a dry skim.

And remember to give a few hours between adjustments, as it takes some time for the adjustment to “settle”.
 
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AydenLincoln

AydenLincoln

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Correct. Give it time and the proteins/waste will accumulate and form a head. That head will build up and eventually work it way into the cup.

You will start to see this happen over the next few days.

After a week, if there is a ton of brown crud in the neck, but none in the cup, lower the skimmer just a bit. You will start to see the head move to the top of the neck and over the lip into the cup.

Once you get to that point, that is where you start to adjust for a dry or wet skim. Bubbles breaking higher in body/neck is a wet skim and lower is a dry skim.

And remember to give a few hours between adjustments, as it takes some time for the adjustment to “settle”.
Thank you so much!
 

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