Skimmer Q&A Thread

reeftivo · Apr 30, 2020

mattrez80 said:
I appreciate the response. I am at 8”. The spec says 7.5 -9” I believe.

Oroborous said:
I am currently using eschops Auxium series and i really hate this protetin skimmer. Each time i do a water change i need to adjust it and it such a pain to do it. Any suggestions for a 90g tank? I mean each time i do a water change this thing goes nuts overflowing and i just don't like the fact i have to spend so mcuh time adjusting it.

reeferdude1888 has the right idea.

is it just with the Eshopps skimmer or have you experienced that with others?
All skimmers may react to some extent with additives in some salt mixes after a fresh w/c, but that is usually at start up and settle relatively quick.
i would suggest powering off the skimmer for an hour or so during and after the w/c. That way the sump level can stabilize and any additives or conditioners in the new salt mix can be dispersed into the aged tank water.

I have some other ideas but that would be the first step i would take

Oroborous · Apr 30, 2020

reeftivo said:
reeferdude1888 has the right idea.

is it just with the Eshopps skimmer or have you experienced that with others?
All skimmers may react to some extent with additives in some salt mixes after a fresh w/c, but that is usually at start up and settle relatively quick.
i would suggest powering off the skimmer for an hour or so during and after the w/c. That way the sump level can stabilize and any additives or conditioners in the new salt mix can be dispersed into the aged tank water.

I have some other ideas but that would be the first step i would take

I had a Urchin before and it never did that. I did not have any other than the Echopps now

reeftivo · Apr 30, 2020

Oroborous said:
I had a Urchin before and it never did that. I did not have any other than the Echopps now

I hear ya! ;-)

you ran the Urchin with the spray injector? I had one of those and it worked pretty well for office tank. I hated having to clean the injector port and lost the injector screw a couple times (just disappeared!). the axium is venturi driven with needle wheel impeller so two different animals. How long have you had the Eshopps?

Oroborous · Apr 30, 2020

I don't remember the spray injector. Echopps i had it for few months but it kind of sucks to tune it

reeftivo · May 1, 2020

Oroborous said:
I don't remember the spray injector. Echopps i had it for few months but it kind of sucks to tune it

Ya the urchins use a smaller pressure pump like an mj1200 and push the water which pulls air through that little injector nozzle into the mixing chamber. It's like when you take a high pressure nozzle on a water hose and spray it into bucket of water and it generates a ton of bubbles. Just much finer!! ;-)

So you went from a hang on skimmer to the axium in sump skimmer? Which Model Eshopps?

Oroborous · May 1, 2020

it's the Axium X-120 model. The urchin had a cracked on me and i had to replace it. I tried doing my homework on skimmers and really i had the SCA 302 and reef octopus classic 110 on the list but went with this one

reeftivo · May 1, 2020

Oroborous said:
it's the Axium X-120 model. The urchin had a cracked on me and i had to replace it. I tried doing my homework on skimmers and really i had the SCA 302 and reef octopus classic 110 on the list but went with this one

does your sump level in the skimmer chamber rise significantly when you shut off the return during w/c's?

How long does the skimmer overflow when you restart the system?

You really never want to re-adjust a skimmer after it's been set to where it is performing well. if you constantly tweak a skimmer it changes the dynamics of the slime coat in the skimmer body each time just enough to where the skimmer will need to settle in again. it can feel like you're chasing your tail sometimes. some skimmers can be hypersensative to even micro adjustments to surface tension in the water or sump levels which may be your case. I would strongly suggest you leave the skimmer off for an hour or more after a WC and let the new water settle in with the system before you start the skimmer back up. What type of salt mix are you using?

Oroborous · May 1, 2020

does your sump level in the skimmer chamber rise significantly when you shut off the return during w/c's? Yes,

What type of salt mix are you using? Instant Ocean

Thing is that i never turned off the skimmer during the water changes. Maybe i will try that and see what happens. It is such a pain in the rear to adjust this skimmer that i really started to hate it and thus after 10 water changes am here finally asking about it

nonetheless i was patient with it for a bit until just could not deal with it anymore

reeftivo · May 1, 2020

so this is a hang on axium skimmer? sorry, i though you had a sump and it was an internal

i didn't know there were any axium hang ons

reeftivo · May 1, 2020

Oroborous said:
does your sump level in the skimmer chamber rise significantly when you shut off the return during w/c's? Yes,

What type of salt mix are you using? Instant Ocean

Thing is that i never turned off the skimmer during the water changes. Maybe i will try that and see what happens. It is such a pain in the rear to adjust this skimmer that i really started to hate it and thus after 10 water changes am here finally asking about it nonetheless i was patient with it for a bit until just could not deal with it anymore

regardless. you're best off to unplug the skimmer for an our or so after each WC.

hang on skimmers are always pretty sensitive to any chamber level movement. when you shut down the return the rear chamber rises and that changes the head pressure on the pump which can cause overflows

Oroborous · May 1, 2020

No the urchin was. This one does not hang it;s just places in the sump

reeftivo · May 1, 2020

Oroborous said:
No the urchin was. This one does not hang it;s just places in the sump

gotcha! just shut it down for a while and you'll be fine. i always shut mine down just for that reason alone

Oroborous · May 1, 2020

Thank You. I will try that next time

Oroborous · May 1, 2020

Hmm, So i was playing around with this skimmer Echopps Auxium x-120 but i only see a little of the bubbles. I know after i went through the initial breaking period these bubbles where going nuts and it was nothing but bubbles around.

reeftivo · May 1, 2020

my guess is an obstruction at either the airline where the nipple is bonded to the intake venturi, or the needle wheel impeller has something in it. The impeller usually will make the pump louder though if it has something stuck throwing it out of balance a bit. I would say look at both and I'll bet you have some salt/carbonate build up inside that nipple where the airline attaches to the pump venturi. clear that out and whalla!

also check the silencer and make sure that is clear

Oroborous · May 1, 2020

reeftivo said:
my guess is an obstruction at either the airline where the nipple is bonded to the intake venturi, or the needle wheel impeller has something in it. The impeller usually will make the pump louder though if it has something stuck throwing it out of balance a bit. I would say look at both and I'll bet you have some salt/carbonate build up inside that nipple where the airline attaches to the pump venturi. clear that out and whalla!

also check the silencer and make sure that is clear

Wow, You were so right. There was a little rock stuck in the pump, a tiny one but was there and the little air thingy had salt in there and it was blocked. there is also a little nipple cup in there and i am not sure what it does if you take it off.

Oroborous · May 1, 2020

Nevermind.... Lesson learned the nipple has to be on. I noticed that i can also adjust the skimmer for small bubbles and big bubbles. There has to me a difference between and i assume small bubbles are better or vice versa?

reeftivo · May 1, 2020

looks like you are good to go then

. Great! I wouldn't fiddle around with fine tuning the air just yet. Maybe after you get more comfortable with the skimmer and it settled in well, you can fine tune it. If you try tweaking the air now, it will only frustrate you. Just work with skimmer depth and the internal level adjustment for now until it starts performing well.

Start low and work the foam head up in small increments. I monitor my adjustments for at LEEEEAST an hour before adjusting again. It takes time for a skimmer to settle in on any adjustment.

toaster77 · May 16, 2020

I have a 5-yr old Reef Octopus Regal 170-INT with a DC-3500S skimmer pump. The skimmer pump starts making bubbles pretty well, but then gradually the bubbles disappear over the span of a minute. Any thoughts on the issue? Is it the impeller? I took apart the pump, cleaned impeller with vinegar, but same issue remains - upon turning on the skimmer pump, it makes a ton of bubbles, but then gradually fewer and fewer. It maintains a constant water level, just few to no bubbles...

Thanks for any input.